Last weekend, Louis and I explored a new area of Thailand. It’s far to the west, only 20 kms from the border of Burma, called Sangklaburi. 
The town is primarily composed of the Mon ethnic group, refugees from Burma. The original settlement was flooded over by the river when the Thai government put up a dam so now they are settled at the northern edge of the lake. Many of them do not have Thai residency cards so there are frequently problems between them and the Thai government.
The town is primarily composed of the Mon ethnic group, refugees from Burma. The original settlement was flooded over by the river when the Thai government put up a dam so now they are settled at the northern edge of the lake. Many of them do not have Thai residency cards so there are frequently problems between them and the Thai government.
Anyway, Sangklaburi has a very large Burmese culture, so I tried my first Burmese curry, which actually tasted quite Indian. 
Louis and I spent the first evening walking over the bridge from one side of the lake to the other and walked through the Mon village, which struck me as quite wealthy with many beautiful teak wooden houses. 
Wonder where all the money came from.
Louis and I spent the first evening walking over the bridge from one side of the lake to the other and walked through the Mon village, which struck me as quite wealthy with many beautiful teak wooden houses. Wonder where all the money came from.The next morning we rented bikes with the intention of biking 20 kms to the Burmese border, called Three Pagodas Pass. We probably made it 5 kms! It’s such a hilly place and the hills were long and steep – I kept having to walk my bike! Embarassing… We gave up and settled for a hilltop temple.
In the afternoon we rented a canoe and boated out to the old temple that was part of the first Sangkla town. It is now almost entirely underwater during rainy season, but juts out from under the water at this time of year. It was really cool!
All in all a nice relaxing weekend in a unique part of Thailand. Was worth the 6 hour bus ride!
