What can older tourists do in Chiang Mai during the day?

[NancyL]

Agree that an overnight trip to Kanchaburi is well worth it for someone in their 60s who grew up listening to their parents' stories of WWII.  You can easily do two days there.  The museum in town, next to the big cemetery is one of the best I've seen in Thailand.  Hellfire Pass is very accessible.  Yes, there are steps, but good handrails, you can take it slow and this is good weather to go down and back up.  You really have to see it to get the full impact of what the men went through.  The train trip is nice, a little touristy, but what-the-heck, you're a tourist when you're there.  

 

I agree that staying in a lodge floating on the river isn't the best.  There are other resorts in the area, or simple, but clean and good guest houses right in town.  TripAdvisor is your friend.

 

We're been there three or four times.  Did the three day/night river cruise once.  That was a disappointment in terms of seeing anything related to the war.  Instead, we were taken to wats, caves and schools with very limited time at the war museum, cemetery and Hellfire Pass.  The Thai guide really played down WWII and wouldn't answer questions about what his family did during WWII.  There were Germans in the tour group, so maybe he didn't want to put them on the spot, but there also was an English woman whose father had "worked the railway" and I thought it was disrespectful not to allow her more time at the cemetery and museum.

[happyas]

1 hour ago, NancyL said:

Agree that an overnight trip to Kanchaburi is well worth it for someone in their 60s who grew up listening to their parents' stories of WWII.  You can easily do two days there.  The museum in town, next to the big cemetery is one of the best I've seen in Thailand.  Hellfire Pass is very accessible.  Yes, there are steps, but good handrails, you can take it slow and this is good weather to go down and back up.  You really have to see it to get the full impact of what the men went through.  The train trip is nice, a little touristy, but what-the-heck, you're a tourist when you're there.  

 

I agree that staying in a lodge floating on the river isn't the best.  There are other resorts in the area, or simple, but clean and good guest houses right in town.  TripAdvisor is your friend.

 

We're been there three or four times.  Did the three day/night river cruise once.  That was a disappointment in terms of seeing anything related to the war.  Instead, we were taken to wats, caves and schools with very limited time at the war museum, cemetery and Hellfire Pass.  The Thai guide really played down WWII and wouldn't answer questions about what his family did during WWII.  There were Germans in the tour group, so maybe he didn't want to put them on the spot, but there also was an English woman whose father had "worked the railway" and I thought it was disrespectful not to allow her more time at the cemetery and museum.

Curious just how and why any Germans could be put on the spot at this area.

[canthai55]

We stayed here - very nice ...

Sabai@Kan Resort

317/4 Mae Nam Kwai Road, Thamakham Kanchanaburi Thailand 71000

 

[NancyL]

5 hours ago, happyas said:

Curious just how and why any Germans could be put on the spot at this area.

Well, they were allies of the Japanese.  

[thaibeachlovers]

21 hours ago, NancyL said:

 

 

  The Thai guide really played down WWII and wouldn't answer questions about what his family did during WWII.  There were Germans in the tour group, so maybe he didn't want to put them on the spot, 

More likely 

The Thai government under Plaek Phibunsongkhram (known simply as Phibun) considered it preferable to co-operate with the Japanese rather than fight them. Axis-aligned Thailand declared war on the United States and Britain and annexed territories in neighbouring countries, expanding to the north, south, and east, gaining a border with China near Kengtung.[1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thailand_in_World_War_II

[roo860]

Well, they were allies of the Japanese.  

 

As Thailand was as well.

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

[happyas]

22 hours ago, NancyL said:

Well, they were allies of the Japanese.  

Yes, they were indeed allies, but AFAIK they never fought together in WW11 and Germany definitely not in SE Asia.

The guide maybe had other motives for not telling the story.

Would be a bit like a tour guide  not telling the story at Auschwitz because some Japanese were present. Doesn't really make sense .

 

I have visited twice and for sure is worth seeing for the insight it will give on the horrors and hardships the young soldiers endured.

Not a nice place to have been in those days as a POW.

Edited December 26, 2017 by happyas

[Rhys]

Really it is time for adventure, so let them explore and share the thrill of doing something new and exciting, even tame....happy holidays.

[sanemax]

On 12/25/2017 at 2:31 PM, NancyL said:

The Thai guide really played down WWII and wouldn't answer questions about what his family did during WWII.  

That is quite a personal thing to ask , Im sure that you would be uncomfortable with someone questioning you about what your relatives did in a war .

    Not being rude, but, it really is none of your business about his family

[NancyL]

1 hour ago, sanemax said:

That is quite a personal thing to ask , Im sure that you would be uncomfortable with someone questioning you about what your relatives did in a war .

    Not being rude, but, it really is none of your business about his family

I've talked at great length with other Thai people, here in Chiang Mai, about their family stories from WWII and found it very enlightening.  The Thai people, at least here in the north, weren't exactly "allies" and the people I've talked with have some horrible stories of starvation, forced labor and small acts of kindness their families tried to do for the westerners they encountered, as in tossing fruit and packets of food from the windows of the trains when they traveled as passengers and saw POWs working along the tracks, sometimes to encounter punishment from the Japanese soldiers on duty on the trains.  The stories I've heard go much beyond this, with grandparents who worked with the Seri Thai movement.  

 

And yes, this guide spent much time talking to the tour group about his family, so I thought it a fair question to bring up.  In many ways, he misrepresented Thailand.  For example, taking the group to a model primary school under royal patronage and saying it was a typical Thai school and that all children in Thailand receive a free education at beautiful school just like that one.  Hubby and I wanted to show photos of some of the hilltribe schools in the mountains where our Rotary club has installed toilets, water systems, libraries, etc, but thought THAT would be too disruptive.   Places where the schools can't be reached during rainy season except on foot, so children who live too distant may not receive schooling.  Yeah, right, "free" education.

 

And, incidentally, the U.S. was never "at war" with Thailand during WWII.  The Thai ambassador to the U.S. never delivered the declaration of war, preferring instead to keep his family in the U.S. during the war.  The U.S. considered Thailand to be puppets of Japan during WWII and showed appropriate consideration.

[sanemax]

2 hours ago, NancyL said:

I've talked at great length with other Thai people, here in Chiang Mai, about their family stories from WWII and found it very enlightening.  The Thai people, at least here in the north, weren't exactly "allies" and the people I've talked with have some horrible stories of starvation, forced labor and small acts of kindness their families tried to do for the westerners they encountered, as in tossing fruit and packets of food from the windows of the trains when they traveled as passengers and saw POWs working along the tracks, sometimes to encounter punishment from the Japanese soldiers on duty on the trains.  The stories I've heard go much beyond this, with grandparents who worked with the Seri Thai movement.  

 

 

Although they were individual stories from their Grandparents , probably on a one to one private basis  , when you have places like Kanchanaburi, were terrible things took place 70 odd years ago , and there are people there whose Grandparents were on opposing sides of the war, whether they be Brits, Thais, Germans or Japanese, things can get rather awkward when the war is discussed . I went there with my Japanese Wife , to a place where out Grandparents were trying to and killing each other .

  There is still quite a lot of resentment among the older generation .

When you are in a group of people whose Grandparents were on different sides in a war, its best not to ask what role their Grandparents played in the war.

    

[finy]

Thanks for all the tips.

 

Just going to stay on Samui, but I will use some of the suggestions later.

[thaibeachlovers]

13 hours ago, NancyL said:

 

 

 

And, incidentally, the U.S. was never "at war" with Thailand during WWII.  The Thai ambassador to the U.S. never delivered the declaration of war, preferring instead to keep his family in the U.S. during the war.  The U.S. considered Thailand to be puppets of Japan during WWII and showed appropriate consideration.

However, they certainly dropped a lot of bombs on it, including the bridge, which is why a couple of spans are different from the rest.

At the end of the war, I believe Britain destroyed the railway that so many died to build.