Lone Rider
Blokes Who Can
About a year ago, while doing some mapping work, I made considerable efforts to collect information on the "war" between the Thai Army and the Communists in the north of Thailand - see http://www.rideasia.net/motorcycle-...north-thailand-gps-map-few-other-tidbits.html
At that time I wrote: ......to collect more info and hopefully finding answers to questions I had on the "war" which happened some 30-40 years ago between the Thai army assisted by the remnants of the Kuomintang army against the communists.
During the last year I did quite a bit of reading on the history and trying to piece bits and pieces of information together to get a better insight in what happened during these turbulent years. However, there are still blank areas to be filled in so it was time for another trip, this time to the north-east of Nan to Tung Chang where there is a military museum (Infantryman Museum) and the "Civil, Police, Soldier" monument and quite a bit further on and much closer to the Lao border the 708 Communist Head Quarters at Ban Nam Ri Phattana. Close to Tung Chang and in a way also not very far from Ban Nam Ri Phattana you will find Ban Manipruk (Maneephruek) along Rd. 1291/4017 where there are a lot of caves. Some of these were used by the communist fighters and at least one of these was said to contain traces of their living quarters including some beds in working order, weapons hiding places, food trays and other utensils.
So lets start with the caves and the ride up to Ban Manipruk which is home to Hmong and Lue people as well as the Lum Nam Nan Securities Development Project. Actually there are two villages with the same name: Manipruk 1 which is predominantly a Hmong village and Manipruk 2 which is the vilage where mostly Lue people live and the Lum Nam Nan Securities Development Project Offices
Manipruk 1 and Manipruk 2
The road up to Ban Manipruk is quite steep and over a distance of about 38 km. you go up from about 300 meter at Rd 101 to about 1400 meter at Ban Manipruk. The views from the road.
Just past the Lum Nam Nan Project office you will see this sign for 2 of the many caves - the Ho Ying and Ho Chai cave , Phu Hua Lan which is a mountainous area and the Pha Daeng Battlefield. Still not sure what the Pha Daeng Battlefield stands for as there is no mention of it in the literature I used to better understand the Thai Army/Communist struggle. However, the battlefield may refer to the battle between Hmong people and lowlanders with lowlanders cutting down some 50,000 lychee trees in the Pha Daeng forest at Doi Phu Ka National Park and burnt down some 20 Hmong owned houses in retaliation for the cutting down of trees by the Hmong which had been planted under a reforestation programme to restore the watershed area (Bangkok Post, 23 August 2000).
By the way some 40-50 meters past this sign you will be at the Pha Pheung cave on the left side of the road (look for some concrete steps down the road) but be careful as from the entrance the cave floor slopes down very steep and it is the deepest cave in Thailand (during the last survey in February this year they went down to 476 meter below the entrance).
The Pha Pueng Cave
The reason for getting up here was the Pha Daeng Cave which some 30-40 years ago served as a hiding place for the communist fighters in this area and which was said to contain remains of their presence. The cave is in one of the valleys and you need a local to guide you to its location as it is difficult to find. However, the local people I met and asked for assistance were very reluctant to tell me anything other than that the other caves were easier to get to and anyway, all the remains of the presence of the communists was gone so there was no need to go to this cave. This was confirmed by some people I met later and they gave me some pictures of the Pha Daeng Cave.
I did try to explore the area a bit but as there are tracks and trails going everywhere you'll really need a local guide to "find your way around"
So, after this more or less failed visit, it was downhill again to Thung Chang and the "Civil, Police, Soldier" monument along Rd 101 (formerly known as Rd. 1080) at N19.37306 E100.87453
and the Infantryman Museum or the Museum of Military of Thung Chang District a bit further to the north at N19.37511 E100.87404. Unfortunately, the museum was closed and there was no one around. I did manage to take a peek through the windows to see what it was all about - lots of small photographs and a few weapons but not much else.
To be continued
At that time I wrote: ......to collect more info and hopefully finding answers to questions I had on the "war" which happened some 30-40 years ago between the Thai army assisted by the remnants of the Kuomintang army against the communists.
During the last year I did quite a bit of reading on the history and trying to piece bits and pieces of information together to get a better insight in what happened during these turbulent years. However, there are still blank areas to be filled in so it was time for another trip, this time to the north-east of Nan to Tung Chang where there is a military museum (Infantryman Museum) and the "Civil, Police, Soldier" monument and quite a bit further on and much closer to the Lao border the 708 Communist Head Quarters at Ban Nam Ri Phattana. Close to Tung Chang and in a way also not very far from Ban Nam Ri Phattana you will find Ban Manipruk (Maneephruek) along Rd. 1291/4017 where there are a lot of caves. Some of these were used by the communist fighters and at least one of these was said to contain traces of their living quarters including some beds in working order, weapons hiding places, food trays and other utensils.
So lets start with the caves and the ride up to Ban Manipruk which is home to Hmong and Lue people as well as the Lum Nam Nan Securities Development Project. Actually there are two villages with the same name: Manipruk 1 which is predominantly a Hmong village and Manipruk 2 which is the vilage where mostly Lue people live and the Lum Nam Nan Securities Development Project Offices
Manipruk 1 and Manipruk 2
The road up to Ban Manipruk is quite steep and over a distance of about 38 km. you go up from about 300 meter at Rd 101 to about 1400 meter at Ban Manipruk. The views from the road.
Just past the Lum Nam Nan Project office you will see this sign for 2 of the many caves - the Ho Ying and Ho Chai cave , Phu Hua Lan which is a mountainous area and the Pha Daeng Battlefield. Still not sure what the Pha Daeng Battlefield stands for as there is no mention of it in the literature I used to better understand the Thai Army/Communist struggle. However, the battlefield may refer to the battle between Hmong people and lowlanders with lowlanders cutting down some 50,000 lychee trees in the Pha Daeng forest at Doi Phu Ka National Park and burnt down some 20 Hmong owned houses in retaliation for the cutting down of trees by the Hmong which had been planted under a reforestation programme to restore the watershed area (Bangkok Post, 23 August 2000).
By the way some 40-50 meters past this sign you will be at the Pha Pheung cave on the left side of the road (look for some concrete steps down the road) but be careful as from the entrance the cave floor slopes down very steep and it is the deepest cave in Thailand (during the last survey in February this year they went down to 476 meter below the entrance).
The Pha Pueng Cave
The reason for getting up here was the Pha Daeng Cave which some 30-40 years ago served as a hiding place for the communist fighters in this area and which was said to contain remains of their presence. The cave is in one of the valleys and you need a local to guide you to its location as it is difficult to find. However, the local people I met and asked for assistance were very reluctant to tell me anything other than that the other caves were easier to get to and anyway, all the remains of the presence of the communists was gone so there was no need to go to this cave. This was confirmed by some people I met later and they gave me some pictures of the Pha Daeng Cave.
I did try to explore the area a bit but as there are tracks and trails going everywhere you'll really need a local guide to "find your way around"
So, after this more or less failed visit, it was downhill again to Thung Chang and the "Civil, Police, Soldier" monument along Rd 101 (formerly known as Rd. 1080) at N19.37306 E100.87453
and the Infantryman Museum or the Museum of Military of Thung Chang District a bit further to the north at N19.37511 E100.87404. Unfortunately, the museum was closed and there was no one around. I did manage to take a peek through the windows to see what it was all about - lots of small photographs and a few weapons but not much else.
To be continued
