Railway Towns
The quaint Pran Buri train station community serves up charms from its past every Saturday
Suppose you are looking for a place with an interesting historical past, where old architecture still stands, the natural environment is unspoiled and where there is local cuisine to enjoy. A setting next to water and a picturesque old market would be an added bonus.
MEMORY LANE: The community around the old Pran Buri railway station, where different activities and plenty of food stalls keep things lively on Saturday afternoons.
There are communities next to railway lines that combine all of these features. Rail travel has been a part of Thai culture for almost 100 years. Thais were taking trains before there were cars. The railway was the pioneering form of long-distance travel, and even though we now have cars and highways, rail travel has not lost its appeal.
In the past, railway stations were travel hubs. They might have been located at the beginning or end of a dirt trail traversed by ox cart, or near a canal on which travellers arrived by boat to take connecting trains. Surrounding the station would be hotels and other accommodation, as well as a shopping area. In some places, the train station was located near government offices, hospitals, police stations, Buddhist temples, shrines or mosques.
Such stations are still around, complete with evidence of their past prosperity _ at Muang Lampang, Ban Phachee in Saraburi and in many other places.
The community near the railway station in Pran Buri is worth a visit. It is not more than 20km from Hua Hin station, and in the past both held equal importance as provincial stations of Prachuap Khiri Khan. Both had all the facilities needed to support a community, although Hua Hin was more developed because it was already a tourist destination.
Then, some 30 years ago, the Pran Buri district office was moved to a new location on Phetkasem Road, a good distance from the original site, and everything was transferred, including the population _ at least those who chose to relocate.
The old district was downgraded to a sub-district, and the community that had lived near the railway station left. Nothing new has been built there since. All that is left is a smattering of old wooden homes and shophouses, and little happens by way of buying or selling, except for basic necessities and a few leftover goods.
The government offices have lost their importance. The hospital now only provides basic care. Wooden residences built for government workers are deserted while the old school building remains. Everything is old, including the plants and trees. But the older these get, the bigger and broader they become; now lush, they provide shade.
The lifestyle is quiet and slow, and the locals feel at peace with themselves. But tranquillity is not all that the area has to offer. It has an atmosphere of special beauty. On one side of the railroad station is a bridge that crosses the Pran Buri River. Both banks are shaded by trees, and the water is smooth and still. The community has a special atmosphere that sets it apart from most others.
Another special attraction hidden in this largely abandoned area is an old wooden house built in a superb architectural style, one with a big veranda that is perfect for a tropical climate. It contains a spacious room and the rooms on the side are for sleeping. The current owner is a foreigner, but it originally belonged to ML Toy Chumsai, a Bangkok resident who loved nature and adventure.
Sixty years ago, ML Toy was a journalist and writer. His most famous book was Thung Phlai Ngam, an account of a hunting excursion into the Pran Buri forest, which is now taken over by the Pran Buri Dam. In it he describes the forest and beliefs associated with it, the conditioning that was necessary to understand the forest and to be able to live in it, and the animals that lived there and their natures, explaining both their ferocity and their intelligence.
The book is written in an easy style, very direct and in simple language, but it is full of detail.
It is a shame that ML Toy died half a century ago and was not able to write any more books of this kind.
Still, Pran Buri was quite likely the incubator of much Thai writing by authors of that period. ML Toy's house was a popular place to visit and relax for many writers and journalists of the time, among them Malai Chuphinij or Noy Inthanon, the author of Long Phrai, an adventure novel set in the jungle. It is fiction, but many details of the setting probably come from the Pran Buri forest.
The community near the Pran Buri train station has not fallen into stagnation. Every Saturday afternoon there are activities to keep things lively, in an atmosphere that invites walking and eating. Food and different kinds of goods are sold along the road next to the railroad station. Clothes, household articles, antiques, provisions to be given to monks, and different kinds of food are offered.
The food is skilfully prepared, including mieng kham (a mixture of ingredients wrapped in an aromatic leaf and eaten with a sweet sauce) and old-fashioned Thai sweets. Some people make delicious grilled pork for sale, and there is khanom jeen nam ya (fermented rice noodles eaten with a spicy sauce made from coconut cream and pureed fish), haw moke yang (fish meat in spicy curried coconut custard wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled), khanom kui chai (a rice noodle packet with a seasoned leek filling), khao pat haw bai bua (fried rice wrapped in a lotus leaf and steamed), and much more. There are places to sit and enjoy the food and to admire the sights of the old community.
These activities were initiated by a Pran Buri community association, and have been very successful since they began last August. They continue to be held every Saturday.
The community near the old Pran Buri train station has a lot to offer anyone who has had enough of the usual and wants to experience something special and a little out of the way for a change. Being left behind has allowed the community to hold onto the charms of the past.
Credit: Bangkok Post (www.bangkokpost.com)
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