Wednesday Walk: along the railway track to northeastern Thailand.

Passengers have been using the new main railway station instead of the old Hua Lamphong station for about five months now. Most people don’t want to start or end their train journeys at the new main station as it involves extra traveling costs and time. But as always, small people’ s voices aren’t important for the authority. People have been trained to be passive and follow orders by those in power. The new main station is still fraught with design and technical problems. Looking at the structure of the whole station, one couldn’t help wondering the amount of corruption involved in this huge project.

The train journey would take up to ten hours to reach my destination which is the last stop. Along the way, train would take about an hour to leave Bangkok. This train is very old and has been very poorly maintained; the glass windows are rately ioopcleaned. So, my photos would look rather dark and spotty. Sometimes i had to ealk to the next compartment or the toilet to take photos through open windows. The scenery in Bangkok is rather boring as buildings and motorways with air pollution seems to occupy the horizon.

Bangkok is full of micro dust as there are many building projects and infrastructure constructions going on nonstop. I wonder when the city is going to sink into the sea as it has been estimated that it’s sinking about 3 centimeters each year. But thr flooding in rainy season will get worse as new roads and buildings tend to act as barriers to water flows. The scenery would get a bit more disorderly as the train left the suburban area.

We could see less buildings and more green trees in undeveloped areas. Smaller and simpler houses including abandoned fields could still be seen as these haven’t been sold to big developing companies.

I look forwards to the arrival at the old city of Ayutthaya where lots of tourists like to visit the old ruin of the great city. Ayutthaya was burnt down and pillaged by Burmese troops during the last big invasion which led to the final war for independence by King Taksin. That’s why the new city had to move down the river to Bangkok. The old station was one of the oldest stations bulit by King Rama V.

From then on the countryside becomes less developed and well structured with plenty of fields between clusters of local municipalities and big cities in the northeast part of the country. I like to take photos of old railway stations, big old trees which have survived for over sixty years at least.

We would notice old and tattered looking mountains as the train reaches Rachaburi. This poor town used to be full of mountains and wild like. Over eighty years of allowing companies to explode mountains for building materials meant that very few mountains were left standing. These have been preseved for souvenirs of the past. Some mountains are still being exploded and mined for rocks and ingredients for making cement.

The highlight for me would be when the train approaches Kanchanaburi. This area would be greener as it is close to a big dam and a huge reservoir. In winter we could see many migratory birds around the water. On a sunny day, the view of the lake with blue sky and big clouds would make my day.

The rest of the journey would be typical of countryside in this part of Thailand. Bigger and modern houses could be seen outside the big cities of Khonkaen and Udon. These cities are becoming more like Bangkok with all the expensive shopping malls and restaurants, including traffic jams. So, they don’t excite my curiosity. My attention would zoom in on the remnants of good old days when most areas were covered with dense forests and full of wild animals. I was once inside a wealthy house whose owners were keen hunters in their younger days. The amount of deer antlers, staffed animals and hunting trophies were just mind blowing. I had no ideas that we ysecto have wild places in nature almost the whole country. This country used to have almost seventy percent of forests some eighty years ago.

Now we have less than 20% of forest areas in the country. The main culprits of deforestation are mostly rich and powerful people who could bribe officials to give land deeds of national park lands and watershed areas. Deforestation is often carried out by order of particular hard woods for exporting to certain destinations. Workers would comb the forest for matured old trees and set up their sawing mills. I once went on a forest hike with some local friends and a guide with machete. We stumbled on a group of fierce looking men illegally cutting trees in the forest. My friend sent a signal to let them know that we were harmless. We had to walk very fast in silence just in case they would change their mind and gun us down in the forest. I had learned more about the reality of deforestation problem; had the local officials acted honestly and people in authority refusing bribes, we would still have more than fifty percentage of forest.

We just have to plant more trees and preserve what we have got from the period of intense deforestation. Four of my old acquaintances were so rich that they grouped together to buy land surrounding a mountain. They told me it’s what they could do to stop illegal logging by instaling fences around their lands. The thieves would have to think twocr before trespassing on their land as these were wealthy people with lots of connections. I was invited to visit their camp but I never found the time for that trip. I do wonder how they are doing these days. Hopefully one day our paths shall cross and we would enjoy nice teatime together once more.

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.

#wednesdaywalk by @tattoodjay