Sangkhlaburi and mon bridge

collapsed Mon Bridge

This is my second visit to Sangkhlaburi (often called Sangkhla for short)- quiet border town near Burma. Its around 5 hours drive from Bangkok.

Sangkhlaburi is western edge of Kanchanaburi Province.

The first trip was to see the wooden bridge and i liked it , but this time i found out that wooden bridge ,famous Mon Bridge in Sangkhlaburi partially collapsed after a storm in july this year.
What a bummer.. Apparently it’s been raining heavily there for three days. There were no reports of injuries. At 400 meters this was the longest wooden bridge in Thailand and a major tourist attraction for Kanchanaburi Province

monk drinking instant greentea on collapsed bridge

it looked like the entire village that was “floating” around next to the bridge is completely gone

I heard that they will be starting to repair damaged bridge next april, meanwhile they set up temporary bamboo bridge next to it.

temporarily built bride next to mon bridge

Sangkhla has an eerily beautiful view of semi-submerged trees and raft houses. It’s a tiny town with no unmissable attractions, but the atmosphere is pleasantly low-key and the best of the accommodation occupies scenic lakeside spots so it’s a great place to slow down for a while.

there’s natural beauty in various waterfalls, whitewater rivers and the remote Thung Yai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary. It sees relatively few foreign tourists, but it’s a popular destination for weekending Thais (come during the week for better deals on accommodation) and resident NGO volunteers add a positive vibe. Though the Burmese border is just 22km away at Three Pagodas Pass, at the time of writing it was closed to foreigners.

Below are photos of mon kids playing at the bridge before collapsed this july.
it looked so happy and peaceful.