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I am from U Thong, born in Suphan Buri province and have lived in U Thong district since I was a child. When I was little, I only remember running around like a child, not knowing anything. When I saw a pile of rocks, I jumped on it. When I saw a canal, I jumped in and swam. We went everywhere as a gang, with friends from the neighborhood and friends from the district office. We played from morning till night, sometimes my mother had to run after us to get us home. Otherwise, we would have forgotten the time and gone hungry. I wouldn't have grown this tall if I hadn't. During that time, I remember it was a lot of fun. The top of Khao Phra temple, which now makes me groan every time I climb the stairs, was a place where we ran into the cave, chased bats, and reached the top in no time. The Lao Song house in the museum, which looks old and dark, was once a playground for us. At that time, the most important gathering place for us was the basketball court in front of the Chao Pho Phraya Jak Shrine. The main reason was probably because it was in the market. After playing, we would walk into the market to find something to eat. Every now and then, there would be a Chinese opera performance for us to sing along to. There were grandparents sitting and chatting over tea, uncles making sugar sculptures for us to try, and movies being shown. Even though it wasn't like watching movies in theaters these days, many people probably remember the feeling and atmosphere. Haha.

When I was a little older, I had the opportunity to visit the U Thong Museum for real. The school organized a field trip there, and a guide explained the different places, the artifacts that were found, and even the Lao Song house, our playground in the evenings. Do you know what I was most interested in when I visited the museum that time? It wasn't the guide's explanation or the expensive ancient beads that are sold nowadays. It was the giant beetle hole under the Lao Song house. There is no other beetle hole in U Thong that is as big as this one. My feeling at that time was probably something like, "I'm going to get blown away by the wind tonight, little beetle!" That's about it. Besides this beetle hole, it was probably the first time I remembered that U Thong was once the capital of the Dvaravati Kingdom.

As I entered higher education, with extra classes and trips, let alone coming back to visit my hometown, the time to come back home became less and less. The free time I had to travel, I would rather go somewhere else. At that time, I never thought that U Thong could be a tourist destination with beautiful pictures or interesting activities to do.

When I graduated from university, I had the opportunity to visit the U Thong Museum again. While the guide was explaining the artifacts, ancient beliefs, history, and culture, I exclaimed, "Wow, that pile of rocks is a pagoda built in the past?" Even though I don't know what it was used for, it wasn't a fortress for us to play tag anymore. The canal where I used to jump and play in the water turned out to be a city moat that people in the past used as a port to exchange goods with foreigners. Moreover, the ancient beads, Roman coins, Dharmachakra wheels, and other artifacts that were found showed that the civilization in U Thong was once prosperous in the past. My visit to the museum that time made me see the details of U Thong city more than before. Maybe it was because I was older or because the museum's presentation was more interesting, my perspective on U Thong broadened. There are still many things I don't know, the traditions of different ethnicities, the activities within each community that have been passed down from generation to generation. These things make me want to know my community more, to invite others to come and visit U Thong, so that they can know what U Thong has to offer.

DastaTravel #DastaTravel #UThong #AncientCityUThong



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