Ever-deeper levels of remoteness: Sangkhlaburi

January 27, 2011

There are increasing levels of “remoteness” that travelers can explore on their voyages. Each level deeper into the unknown reveals more surprises and electrifies the soul more. If you spend all your time at home and at work, then even going 50 miles away feels like a little adventure into the remote.

From there, the farther you go, the more exciting the adventure.

Mon Bridge in Sangkhlaburi: the second longest wooden bridge in the world.

Mon Bridge in Sangkhlaburi: the second longest wooden bridge in the world.

I got an insight into this phenomenon on my current trip to Thailand when I found myself in a town called Sangkhlaburi (สังขละบุรี) near the Myanmar border. Going to Thailand is already a trip to a different world – but being out here was another few levels removed from, say, Bangkok.

I’d already taken a train all the way from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi, the location of the so-called Bridge Over the River Kwai. From there I’d taken a train line called the Death Railway to a small town called Thong Pha Phum, just because I liked the name. Both felt like ever and ever further universes away from Bangkok.

jeremy-bicycle-mon-bridge-sangkhlaburi

And now, thanks to Thailand’s simple and reliable bus system, I’m in Sangkhlaburi. It’s sunny and hot, and there is a large reservoir nearby. A large wooden bridge connects Sangkhlaburi with a small village called Wang Kha, which is only about 15 kilometers from the Burmese border and which houses a community of Mon people, a stateless group stuck between Myanmar and Thailand.

It feels like it’s taken a series of complicated and obscure modes of transportation to get way out here. I haven’t seen many other tourists, and it’s not a place you hear anything about. It really feels like being in the wilds of some unknown outpost on the edge of civilization.

I bought a fried snack from this woman who told me what it was called. I promptly forgot.

I bought a fried snack from this woman who told me what it was called. I promptly forgot.

My every cell sparkled with the thrilling sense that I’ve achieved something – I’ve reached a place that takes focus, ingenuity, and hardiness to get to.

It’s an overstatement, to be sure; there are a couple of resorts in Sangkhlaburi, and the tourist site Three Pagodas Pass on the border. I came here on a regularly scheduled bus, after all.

golden-figure-cutting-hair-wat-wang-wiwekaram

Diabetes report – low BG snacks in small-town Thailand

Even in a small place like Sangkhlaburi there are shops that sell snacks. I found some little cakes that I carried around as low blood sugar snacks during my time in the area. (I always carry a small backpack with my BG meter, insulin, and juice and snacks.)

I advocate stocking up on low BG snacks wherever possible since you never know when you might be unable to find them in a rural place, but I’m always pleasantly surprised how easy they are to find virtually everywhere.

Low blood sugar snacks.

Low blood sugar snacks.

But nobody on a short trip to Thailand would bother coming here. This is a destination for travelers, not tourists. If you have an open mind, a free spirit, and a restless inquisitiveness, you’re the kind of adventurer who might find themselves spending some relaxing days in the secluded expanse of the Sangkhlaburi area.

NovoLog pen resting on the bed at Sri Daeng Hotel.

NovoLog pen resting on the bed at Sri Daeng Hotel.

Sri Daeng Hotel

My first couple of days in Sangkhlaburi were spent at the Sri Daeng Hotel, a great value for money in town near the small central shopping district with clean, cheap rooms and a nice simple restaurant. Here I tried to fix the watch I bought in Thong Pha Phum (unsuccessfully) and had a base from which to walk around town to get my bearings.

Sri Daeng’s awesome English menu

The dishes on Sri Daeng Hotel’s menu were translated into some of the most glorious English phrases I’ve ever come across. Highlights included:

  • Mischievous fish soup fries
  • Spicy lemongrass domestic fowl soup
  • Boil curve the ompok bimaculatus
  • Soup totals up the friend
  • Waterfall pig
  • Spicy lemongrass lampshade broken
  • Shrimp is startled

shrimp-is-startled-sri-daeng-hotel-menu-sangkhlaburi

“Can I take your order?”
“Yes, how’s the shrimp tonight?”
“Frightened out of its wits, sir.”

P Guesthouse

Eventually I moved to P Guesthouse, recommended by Lonely Planet and situated right next to the reservoir deeper into Sangkhlaburi. A hostel with wi-fi and the usual traveler food in their restaurant, the room here was small but made of large, smooth stones, keeping it impressively cool even in the stifling heat.

Staff at P Guesthouse.

Staff at P Guesthouse.

Unfortunately as soon as I checked in I saw two worrying things on the bedding: rat droppings, and a bedbug. I told the staff and they came and changed the sheets, but I still didn’t feel all that great about it.

But that afternoon as I napped and rested in bed I noticed some new droppings falling into my jeans, just like the ones I’d seen. They were from a lizard scampering across the ceiling.

My room at P Guesthouse. Lizard droppings and bedbugs gave it some, uh, local color.

My room at P Guesthouse. Lizard droppings and bedbugs gave it some, uh, local color.

I laughed out loud at myself – it wasn’t a rat after all, it was a lizard. That I could accept! And I kept to my perennial travel rule of never putting any of my bags on a bed in a hostel or cheap guesthouse. In all my travels I’ve only seen bedbugs once, and that was at a guesthouse in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Fortunately they didn’t get in my bags, and I hoped they wouldn’t here either.

Construction on part of Mon Bridge.

Construction on part of Mon Bridge.

Mon Bridge, Thailand’s longest wooden bridge

The main attraction of Sangkhlaburi is the large so-called Mon Bridge which goes over a small river attached to Khao Laem Reservoir and was built so Mon refugees and Thai people could traverse the area. Signs around the bridge are written in a mesmerizing mix of Thai and Burmese script. It’s practical local touches like this that really set the traveler’s heart a-trembling.

Don't look down.

Don’t look down.

The 850-meter bridge’s official name is Uttamanuson, after beloved local monk Uttama. Some sources list it as the second longest bridge in the world (after Hōrai Bridge in Japan at 879 meters) but reliable information remains elusive. It may very possibly be Number 2.

Diabetes report – Keeping insulin cool

My guesthouses in Sangkhlaburi didn’t have refrigerators in the rooms, and I didn’t cool my insulin supply. I probably could have asked the staff at both places if they could store it for me in some cooler, but I didn’t feel I needed to.

I keep my insulin supply – several brand-new NovoLog and Lantus pens – inside two foil bags, which I wrap up with a rubber band and bury down in my big bag. The big bag stays in my room, out of direct sunlight, and even in the hottest part of summer days maintains a very acceptable coolness.

jeremy-eating-fried-snack-on-mon-bridge-sangkhlaburi

For the two pens I always carry with me (one basal and one bolus), I keep them in a pencil-case inside my daypack. Again, even on hot days they seem to stay cool enough. I do avoid direct sunlight, on the insulin pens or even the pencil-case, and I’ve never had reason to worry.

When I was there, there was construction on part of the bridge, and you had to walk over rickety planks to get to the main part. It seemed scary to me until I saw a bunch of local kids climbing all over the bridge’s structure and doing flips into the water.

kids-jumping-in-water-mon-bridge-sangkhlaburi

Mon Bridge is for pedestrians only – bicycles are ok but no cars. Cutouts along the sides have benches for sitting and watching the water and people; houses on the water cluster in groups in the crisscrossed shadows of the complex wooden beams that hold up the span.

I visited the bridge twice, once on foot and once using a bicycle I rented from P Guesthouse. Both times, there were but few people using the bridge, and no other Western tourists, only locals. Again, the sense of being in a remote (but friendly) place was strong.

rooftop-chicken-figures-wat-wang-wiwekaram

Wang Kha

The Mon village of Wang Kha, across the Mon Bridge, is a curious place: it’s one of the most obscure, hidden places I’ve ever been in Thailand, yet it’s home to several magnificent Buddhist structures. It’s like a special prize for people who bother to make it this far.

sign-beast-head-chedi-putthakhaya

Diabetes report – Food and insulin in Sangkhlaburi

The food I had in Sangkhlaburi was often based on rice, but not huge amounts of it. Breakfasts usually included thin bread slices. Choosing an insulin dose for my meals was not too difficult, since the food didn’t differ much from food anywhere else in Thailand as far as carbs go.

I did have a couple surprises with blood sugar, but I always check often so it’s usually kept reasonably in range. Some vegetarian food – one of the most delicious meals I’ve had in Thailand so far – at a small place near P Guesthouse made me a little high, but that’s probably because I’m not really used to it.

Vegetarian food in Sangkhlaburi.

Vegetarian food in Sangkhlaburi.

All the walking and biking around in the very hot sun also helped keep my blood sugar down, although it also made me woozy and stressed about BG, which could complicate my readings, after dinner especially.

All in all, diabetes once again encourages me to lower my stress levels, eat enough food and make sure it’s reasonably healthy, and get exercise. Traveling with diabetes often relies on these rules – good rules for anyone to follow, actually.

mon-woman-wang-kha-village-path-sangkhlaburi

I had seen the beautiful golden Chedi Putthakhaya from the restaurant at P Guesthouse, but biking to it yielded a much more richly absorbing complex.

Flanked by various figures with fresh, colorful coats of paint – reflecting the area’s unusual mixture of Thai, Burmese, and Indian influences – you walk up the stairs into the main building, which on the day I was there, in the late afternoon, featured more Thai and Burmese signs, figures in simple but lovely robes and scarves, locals paying devotional visits and lighting candles, and sunlight coming in sideways from the West highlighting sleepy dust particles in the air.

buddhist-statues-chedi-putthakhaya

As I left this building, it was being locked up (I was the last one out). The guy closing the gate after me spoke some English and we had a friendly chat about where I was from and what the temple was all about. I gathered that this Uttama guy was really important to local communities.

The bamboo framework on Chedi Putthakhaya was for restoration work.

The bamboo framework on Chedi Putthakhaya was for restoration work.

Another short bike ride away, up a hill, leads to Wat Wang Wiwekaram, a Buddhist temple complex. Even fewer people were here – the light was fast fading, and I only saw a couple of people walking through the area, and they looked like they worked there.

Thai and Burmese script.

Thai and Burmese script.

But the carvings and decorations were magnificent – all this work, all this carefully designed beauty and expression of humble human spirit, on buildings up a dark side alley in an unknown Mon refugee village across a vast rickety wooden bridge so far from any big city. It’s a special feeling, seeing such grandeur tucked away in such a rural-feeling place.

man-praying-at-chedi-putthakaya

These are the sorts of experiences you have to earn: even if you found a package tour that included these sites (and there may be such a thing) it isn’t anything like making your own way there. And, best of all, it’s hard to really plan something as eye-opening and rewarding as this. It may seem a simple destination to plan for in retrospect, but the gratification comes in the discovery of something new that you just happen to stumble upon on your travels.

What surprising gems have you discovered on your travels?

Thanks for reading. Suggested:

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You can support my work via Patreon. Get early links to new videos, shout-outs in my videos, and other perks for as little as $1/month.

Your support helps me make more videos and bring you travels from interesting and lesser-known places. Join us! See details, perks, and support tiers at patreon.com/t1dwanderer. Thanks!