A Bridge Too Far?
- art58koen
- Oct 25, 2023
- 2 min read
I have been living in Bangkruay for many years now and at times visit a nearby temple called Wat Sriprawat.
This is a canalside temple, bordering Khlong Mahasawat, which also forms the border between Bangkok - Nonthaburi and has several bridges.
Wat Sriprawat is pretty standard, it has a weekly market, and special events on certain holidays, e.g. Loy Krathong, but otherwise doesn't stand out from any other temple.
There is a bridge across Khlong Mahasawat though and for some reason I never bothered crossing it, partly because it looked (& still looks!) rather ramshackle, not yet on the point of instant disintegration, but close...
From a distance, it looks rather fragile.
Yesterday morning I finally collected enough (Dutch) courage, walked through the temple grounds, braved the wild running chickens and ducks (better than dogs!), and got near the entrance of the bridge in question...
This didn't look very encouraging but according to a local lady, it was still safe to cross.
I wasn't particularly impressed by the state of the wooden planks and the nails sticking out here & there, but nothing happened despite me imagining that bridge crossing in 'Sorceror', remember that one? Great movie! (*)
The view across Khlong Mahasawat was very nice though and made it all worthwhile.
At least, as long as you didn't look at the bridge itself!
Standing on the other side made me feel a lot better!
The overgrown (ghost?) house looked intriguing too.
The concrete path wasn't great, but still walkable for sure.
Bye-bye, civilization (or something that supposedly looks like that).
Walking after dark might be a bit tricky here!
A side branch path that might lead to another dog-infested dead-end, better skip it!
Following the examples set by (perhaps not so) great explorers I continued walking...
The concrete parts had disappeared, and the remainder of the path looked quite muddy!
The end of the road, just under the exit of the expressway...
A bit further was the railway track to Kanchanaburi, Suphanburi, and the Deep South, which I could have crossed, but the rest of the way looked seriously overgrown...
Instead, I returned to Wat Sriprawat, happy with having ticked off a semi-bucket list thingie, and another (granted, very tiny) mystery solved!
Really nice post. Must say seeing the Bridge-Too-Far title I half expected it to collaps underneath you. Good it didn't, even though such things make for good stories.
This is a delight, and I can tell you I have had a couple of walks like this in Bangkok, KK. The view of the klong from the bridge made it all worth while, I feel.
Nice mystery tour!