FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
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Southern Comforts

Southern Comforts

Once a thriving port, the small coastal town of Takua Pa now draws visitors for its architecture and history

Takua Pa, a coastal district of Phang Nga province, has more to share with visitors than the popular Khao Lak Beach, bars and boutique hotels. Long before the arrival of tourists, this small town was a destination in its own right and famous among traders. Today fully recovered from the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that decimated a large part of the area, the small town is drawing visitors with its charming Chinese quarter, heritage buildings and tin mining legacy. 
One morning we decide to jump into a pho thong – a very old-fashioned passenger truck. The local driver, who is very knowledgeable about the town, shows us around Takua Pa, taking us first from the old town and its Sino-Portuguese townhouses to Tao Ming Chinese Language School.
“Tao Ming School is probably older than anyone in Takua Pa,” says the 65-year-old driver, who is known among the locals as Ko Leng or “Iron Bread”. 
“My mother took her Chinese lesson at this school when she was a kid.”
Ko Leng’s mother is now 92 years old. 
The school, Ko Leng adds, was set up using the “illegal tax” money. Back in the old days when Takua Pa was a thriving trading town, the locals would collect “donations” from the traders to fund Chinese learning. Tao Ming School was built and the Chinese classes did well until World War II when they were banned because the Thai government became paranoid about “Ang Yi” or Chinese secret societies and communism. 
“Tao Ming never reopened,” Ko Leng laments, as he backs out of the courtyard. “The interest in learning Chinese faded once it was suggested that the learners might be interested in communism.”
Today, fears of communism put to rest, the school has been dolled up and boasts an attractive mustard-yellow hue.
Nestled on the Andaman coast, Takua Pa is a small town full of big stories. Formerly known as Takola, its port was an important trading post in the 1400s when Arab and Indian traders scoured the West coast of the Isthmus of Kra connecting continental Asia and the Malay Peninsula in search of eaglewood, ivory, sappanwood and tin. 
The Chinese, too, braved the South China Sea and crossed to the Peninsula to work in rubber plantations and the tin mines. Just as in other Chinese communities in Singapore, Penang and Phuket, the Chinese immigrants and their descendants in Takua Pa brought a strong sense of Peranakan to the area. 
Ko Leng drives us back to the old quarter on Si Takuapa Road where we can admire the picturesque architecture. The old houses were built in the Sino-Portuguese style common to the south and while some are run down, others have been restored and converted into charming restaurants and shophouses.
Hungry travellers should head to Muang Takua Pa Municipal Food Market on the corner of Klun Keow and Montri 2 roads. Nutty fish-egg pancakes, chewy balls of miang lao and sweet red bean crepes are among the local delicacies on offer. We check out Takua Pa’s breakfast culture at Jin Keng restaurant, a short walk from the food market. The restaurant is a kind of “kopi tiam”; a traditional coffee shop found in Chinese-speaking communities across Southeast Asia and offers a selection of warm breakfasts served in small bamboo baskets. You can choose between Chinese buns, shrimp dumplings (ha gau), rice noodle rolls with shrimps or spring rolls.
“Hokkien is the major dialect in this quarter of Takua Pa. Teochew and Hainanese are also spoken in the community,” says Ko Leng.
“What about Hakka?” I ask.
“I’m Hakka,” one woman shouts in excitement. “Are you Hakka, too?” she asks, adding that only a few Hakka people live in Takua Pa and that they are far outnumbered by the Hokkien.
“No, I’m not a Hakka but my girlfriend is,” I tell her. “I think many Hakka were here in Takua Pa, but left the town in the day Tao Ming School was closed down.”
The Hokkien and Teochew around us don’t get my joke but the Hakka girl laughs out loud. The Hakka love education. When the Hakka die, it’s said, they don’t want the Hell Money traditionally burnt at their funerals but books to keep them learning in the afterlife.
Our next stop is Khun Intra mansion. This heritage villa, the residence of Takua Pa’s district chief in the 1910s, is a stunning example of Sino-Portuguese architecture and just a short walk away from Wat Senanuch Rangsan, a temple built in 1847 during the reign of King Rama III of Siam. The huge white-washed chapel hall is inspired by the original hall of Wat Mahannaparam in Bangkok and home to a beautiful Rattanakosin-style Buddha image.
Takua Pa is an ideal destination for history buffs like myself and my next stop is the old official residence of Takua Pa’s chief where I attempt discover what lies beyond the walls.
The residence is completely gone but some of the walls still stand. Why, I wonder, did the chief need such massive walls? 
My question is answered on a nearby sign. “The reason for the building of the wall might be because of frequent disorders in the city arising from conflicts on mining among various groups of Chinese.
“The chief wanted to secure the tax money – safe and sound – beyond these walls.” 
  
IF YOU GO
< The small coastal town will celebrate the Takua Pa Festival from Friday to Sunday. It features plenty of cultural performances and fantastic local food. 
< Takua Pa is about a three-hour drive from Phuket International Airport.
 
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