My Journey through Thailand Part I The First Steps

My First Steps

My Journey through Thailand Part I - My First Steps is the first in the series of travel journals on my trips to explore the various provinces in Thailand. Part I covers the first leg of my long journey from late 2009 to mid-2013. It was a logical extension of my exploration of Bangkok. The time had come to move out.

Taking the first steps in this journey, like writing the first chapter of this book, was difficult initially. But once I got started, I was filled with a sense of adventure and excitement for what lay ahead. The journey took me to places that bore silent witness to momentous battles decades and centuries ago that changed the course of history.

I came across vast cultural monuments that are legacies of individuals who left their mark in society long after they have gone.

I met artists, craftsmen and craftswomen who produced exquisite pieces of art, not for fame or wealth but for the love of their craft. I met farmers who toiled their land to produce the food that we eat as part of our staple diet.

My journey took me to the home province of the father of Thailand’s greatest poet. It was a scenic place which must have inspired the poet to pen his most famous poem. From the first leg of this journey what stood out was the cultural and ethnic diversity of the places that I’ve visited.

This was because a thousand years ago the area that is Thailand today was at the crossroads of two major civilizations; China and India. The Khmer Empire based in present day Cambodia covered large tracts of Northeast and Central Thailand and had a profound influence on the region as well.

So did the Lan Xang Kingdom based in present day Laos which extended to Northern Thailand and several provinces on the banks of the Mekong River. The lack of national boundaries in those days made immigration easy. Frequent wars added to the displacement of people.

This resulted in a rich cultural and ethnic mix which is reflected in the architecture, dialects, dress, handicraft, festivals and customs.

The first step I took was a long leap from Bangkok, 700 km to the northeast on the banks of the Mekong looking across to Laos. It took me to the humble home of a man who sought refuge in Thailand, a man who was a fugitive in his own country occupied by a colonial power, a man who struggled his entire life for the freedom and unity of his homeland. It was an honor to step into his home.

Please join me as I take these first steps in my journey through Thailand.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

Lao Tzu (604 BC 0 531 BC)

Contents

Journey to Nakhon Phanom

The Journey

Nakhon Phanom is a province in Northeast Thailand about 740 km from Bangkok. It’s right on the banks of the mighty Mekong River between the provinces of Nong Khai to the north and Mukdakan to the south. Laos is just across the river.

The Mekong starts in China and flows through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, a distance of 4,350 km or 2,700 miles.

Like many provinces in Thailand, the provincial capital shares the same name as the province. Nakhon Phanom City (City of Hills) is on the banks of the Mekong. A road and an esplanade run along the banks.

To get there, I took the morning tour bus from Mor Chit, the Northern Bus Station in Bangkok. Once on the highway, we left the congestion of Bangkok behind and got into open country. I was glad I decided to travel by day. It was a wonderful way to see the countryside.

My journey took me up the rocky foothills towards the Korat plateau, the gateway to Isarn, Northeast Thailand, through Maha Sarakam, Roi Et, Yasothon and Mukdahan. A rather circuitous route but this was the first time I got to see a cross section of rural Thailand in broad daylight.

Miles and miles of rice fields for as far as the eye could see rushed past my window. This is part of the rice bowl of Thailand and many countries where rice is the staple food. Isolated houses, grazing cows, haystacks and tractors were some of the idyllic scenes encountered along the way.

Rice fields on the way

But it hasn’t always been this peaceful. In the 20th century, Nakhon Phanom played host to two of the major adversaries in the Vietnam War. The legacy of that period remains to this day.

At eight that evening, I arrived in the small town of That Phanom where I stayed during this visit. The town is on the banks of the Mekong at the southern end of the province near Mukdahan Province. When I got off the bus, the first thing that caught my eye was the lighted chedi of Wat That Phanom glowing in the dark.

Chedi That Phanom

Recent history of Nakhon Phanom

During the Second Indochina War (Vietnam War 1954 – 1975), the United States maintained several air bases in Thailand from which air strikes were launched against North Vietnam.

Some of these bases were Don Mueang, Nakhon Phanom, Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat), Takhli, Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani and Utapao. However not all the air operations were directed at North Vietnam.

Back in 1963, Nakhon Phanom was a small border town with dirt roads and a small air strip near town. Seabees or the US Navy’s Construction Battalions built a new airfield outside town with a PSP (perforated steel planking) runway and wooden shacks. The airfield then had an air force radar station and three rescue helicopters.

By the late 1960s, the runway was converted to concrete which could take fixed wing propeller planes and helicopters flying a variety of missions; forward air controllers, close air support, insertion and extraction of personnel, search and rescue.

That airfield is the provincial airport in Nakhon Phanom today.

However, there were also some air units that flew planes with no US insignias or markings; their pilots didn’t wear Air Force uniforms. These air units flew missions over neighboring Laos in a war (1965 – 1975) in which American involvement was not officially acknowledged by the US government.

Some of these units operated from Nakhon Phanom. This is where our story begins.

Note of thanks

I am grateful to a former US Air Force pilot who flew out from Nakhon Phanom in the mid-1960s for sharing his memories with us. He currently lives in Thailand and prefers not to be named.

The Vietnamese legacy

A visitor to Nakhon Phanom City, a modern city today, can’t help but notice the Vietnamese influence. There’s clock tower built in 1960 dedicated to the Vietnamese return to their motherland.

There’re a number of Vietnamese restaurants in town. On the outskirts, there’s a Thai-Vietnamese Friendship Village in Ban Na Chok with a Vietnamese cemetery. The local television here includes a Vietnamese channel.

Vietnamese cemetery Ban Na Chok

Vietnamese migration to Thailand began as early as 18th – 19th C when Catholics fleeing religious persecution settled here. Later emigrants were those who opposed French colonial rule. The period from the end of World War II to the Second Indochina War saw further Vietnamese migration to Thailand.

Of those Vietnamese who sought political asylum in Thailand during their struggle for independence from the French, some settled in Nakhon Phanom owing to its proximity.

About 4 km from Nakhon Phanom City, stands a wooden house where a Vietnamese in exile stayed in the 1920s as he continued with his quest for freedom for his country.

Ho Chi Minh’s house

Ho Chi Minh’s house near Ban Na Chok, the Thai – Vietnamese Friendship Village, is now preserved as a museum. The spartan interior consists of a living room and two smaller rooms to the rear.

The austere furniture consists of Ho’s working desk, an altar, the dining table where Ho had his meals or met with compatriots and a wooden platform, a common piece of furniture in rural Thailand, where you can sit and yarn, have meals or even take a nap. Ho’s hats and clothing are preserved in his small bedroom to the rear.

Ho’s desk (l) and altar (r)

The old photos in the hall are a wealth of history. In one of the photos, Ho and his colleagues are poring over a map of Dien Bien Phu in 1953 which was occupied by the French on 20 November 1953.

War Council Dien Bien Phu

The Vietnamese victory at Dien Bien Phu on 7 May 1954 put an end to French colonization of Vietnam since the Treaty of Saigon in 1862. But this only brought on a new adversary and the Second Indochina War.

The man on the extreme right in that photo started life as a history teacher. General Vo Nguyen Giap was Commander-in-Chief of the Vietminh forces and later Minister of Defense.

Ho Chi Minh became President of North Vietnam from 1945 till 1969 when he died at the age of 79. He never lived to see a reunified Vietnam, free from foreign domination. Six years after his death, when North Vietnamese tanks crashed through the streets of Saigon, his life-long dream was realized.

Ho’s humble home in Nakhon Phanom bears silent witness to the early days of that long struggle.

Ho Chi Minh picture taken in 1950

Write in such a way as that you can be readily understood by both the young and the old, by men as well as women, even by children.

Ho Chi Minh (1890 – 1969)

Please refer to map of Nakhon Phanom for the places mentioned in this chapter.

Contents

Sunflowers of Lopburi

The inspiration

"A profusion of bright yellow flowers covered the field on that radiant day under a clear blue sky. The visitors in the field were almost submerged in a sea of huge yellow blossoms.

Behind the field of flowers, the lush, green hills in the distance gazed silently down on the bright fields and the people below."

Back in 2003 when I first started living in Thailand, a Thai friend sent me a picture taken during a visit to a field of bright yellow sunflowers. That was how I described that scene then.

Later I found out that these flowers were from a province called Lopburi. All I knew of Lopburi then was that it is the home of the Royal Thai Army Special Forces.

I told myself I must visit this place and write about it. That image stayed in my mind and the promise was only fulfilled in November 2009. I wasn’t disappointed. It was exactly like that photo I saw in 2003, simply dazzling.

Sunflowers field at Soi Wat Weluwan

History of Lopburi

Lopburi in Central Thailand is 150 km north of Bangkok. It has a long and rich history. Relics of the Bronze Age, over 2,000 years ago found in Lopburi are evidence of early life in the area.

Sometime in the 6th C AD, a Buddhist civilization called Dvaravati, established itself in Central and Northeast Thailand with one of its centers in Lopburi.

Between the 11th and 12th C AD, the Khmer Empire, based in Angkor Wat in present day Cambodia, spread its influence to Northeast Thailand. The outer fringe of the empire reached Lopburi and Suphanburi. Lopburi became a fringe province of Angkor and was ruled by governors appointed by the Angkor kings.

As Angkor power declined in the mid-13th C, Lopburi was able to shake free of Angkor dominance. When King Ramkhamhaeng ascended the throne in Sukhothai in 1279, the city emerged as the new centre of influence in the region. But with his death in 1298, the empire disintegrated.

A new centre of power emerged, Ayutthaya in the Lopburi area. Lopburi and Suphanburi remained centers of power as their rulers, often related by marriage to the rulers of Ayutthaya, took turns to provide the kings of Ayutthaya.

King Narai of Ayutthaya (1656 – 1688), built his summer palace in Lopburi. The ruins of the palace, Phra Narai Rachaniwet, are still there. Lopburi’s influence peaked in the reign of King Narai and lasted till his death in 1688.

Besides its rich history and culture, Lopburi has two relatively new cultural attractions; the monkey festival in late November when monkeys are fed with tons of fruit to bring good luck and the beautiful sunflower fields.

The journey

Early on the morning of 17 November 2009, I finally set off for Lopburi. The tour bus took me through Saraburi Province past a famous religious landmark where the Buddha is believed to have left his footprint.

In the reign of King Song Tham of Ayutthaya (1610 – 1628), a hunter in Saraburi came across a large footprint on a rock face. On closer examination by the authorities, they concluded that this was the footprint of the Buddha. The area was declared a shrine and a temple, Wat Phra Phutthabat, was built in 1624 to house the footprint.

Beyond the temple are green hills of bamboo clumps where the flute makers of Ban Lao get their material for their flutes. This old Bangkok community of ethnic Lao has lived in Thonburi across the Chao Phraya River from Bangkok for more than 200 years.

When I finally got to the sunflowers of Lopburi, the view was breath-taking. Sunflowers are also found in Saraburi, Petchabun and Tak. But somehow the sunflowers of Lopburi just have that special allure. Here’s why.

Fields of bright yellow

I just walked down the soi admiring the bright yellow fields on both sides, snapping these photos as I went along. In full bloom, some of the sunflowers are about 8 inches (20 cm) in diameter. They grow as tall as 5 feet (1.5 m) or more. I could almost get lost among the stalks.

The sunflower season is from November – early March during the cool months of the year. The sunflower fields in Lopburi can found in Amphur Mueang (City District) and Amphur Phattana Nikhom (Phattana Nikhon District), both of which are in southern Lopburi Province bordering Saraburi.

As it was a weekday, the only other visitors in the fields were a young couple who came with me on the bus from Bangkok. I saw them again as I was strolling around. We waved