Local kids check out the mineral springs in Wegali village. Pic: Minh Zaw

THANBYUZAYAT is perhaps best known as the site of the western terminus of the notorious Thai-Myanmar " death railway "but there is more to this bustling business town than just that dark aspect of local history.

Beaches, hot springs and, of course, pagodas are all waiting for visitors willing to brave the 12-hour journey from Yangon.

Thanbyuzayat lies on Yangon-Myeik route and can be reached by bus or train, with little time difference between the two, and for some the journey will be as appealing as the town itself.

The train departs Yangon daily at 2am, which might not be to everyone's taste but the surreal atmosphere of travelling in a carriage lit only by the candles of passengers is unforgettable.

Even better is making the journey around the time of the full moon to see the landscape illuminated by its silvery glow, as the train crawls from Yangon to Mawlamyine, the capital of Mon State.

Daylight arrives in time for passengers to admire the slow, 20-minute journey across the Thanlwin River at Mawlamyine. The 3.5-kilometre (11,575-foot) bridge that fords the river is the longest in Myanmar.

The more comfortable and more expensive buses (K6000 compared to K1400 for the train), which depart from Yangon's Aung Mingalar bus terminal between 6 and 7pm, take a more speedy five minutes to cross the river. However, bus passengers are subject to identification checks that can slow the crossing.
After the river crossing begins the final, 65-kilometre leg from Mawlamyine to Thanbyuzayat, which takes around 90 minutes. Massive rubber plantations engulf both road and rail from all directions, with travellers receiving the occasional waft of rubber.

The rubber industry has turned Thanbyuzayat into a prosperous town, with high house prices, many new dwellings and more under construction.

According to locals, prices start at about K50 million. Many of these are in the traditional Mon style, albeit with modern building materials, such as bricks and steel. The local Mon dialect is often heard around Thanbyuzayat, particularly in the markets.

Also testament to the wealth here is the sight of the city at night, brought to life by generator-powered lighting.

Naturally, most job opportunities are in the rubber industry and many locals rise early in the morning to earn their living harvesting latex from the rubber trees.

Visitors curious to know how the latex is extracted can visit the plantations early in the morning, from 3am. There, in the darkness, they will see lights moving among the rubber trees - each one a worker with a diesel lantern attached to their head.

The trees are cut, or "tapped", and the milky latex is collected by the worker, each tree giving up about 30 millilitres at a time. Over the course of a year, a rubber tree will yield about 1.8 kilograms of dry crude rubber.

Another sight for visitors is the war cemetery, constructed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to house the remains of the prisoners-of-war who died building the Thai-Myanmar railway in World War II during the Japanese occupation.

Thanbyuzayat was the railhead for the line on the Myanmar side of the border. Prisoners worked in appalling conditions under the Japanese, in both Myanmar and Thailand, to connect Thanbyuzayat with the railhead at Kanchanaburi, Thailand.

Setse Beach is another much-visited site and is the second most popular beach destination for Myanmar people, after Chaungtha in Ayeyarwady Division. However, don' t expect clear water — the beach's proximity to the mouth of the Thanlwin River ensures constant murkiness.

Some 24 kilometres (15 miles) from Thanbyuzayat is the beautiful Kyiakkame Pagoda, which, in Mon language, literally means “pagoda of the beach”.

There is potential for the further development of tourism in the region. An obvious idea would be more guesthouses; Thanbyuzayat has just one and most foreigners stay in Mawlamyine.

There are also extensive mineral springs in the area, particularly in Wegali village, which is 8 kilometres (5 miles) south of Thanbyuzayat. The water is supposed to be good for your health and particularly your skin, containing a mixture of sulphide, chloride, fluoride, silica, phosphorous, calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium.

But bathing in the hot spring is no easy task. The four baths constructed by the government are in disrepair – so unless you plan to bring your own tub, don’t expect to take a dip in the water that can reach a blistering 51.7 Celsius.

U Su, the owner of a house near the hot spring, says few visitors, local or foreign, come to the hot springs anymore. “They are good in winter though,” he insists.

Local resident Ma Moe Moe remembers the times when she and her friends used to come to the bubbling springs.

“We used to bring eggs and boil them in the water,” she says. “But eggs are more expensive now so the children don’t do it anymore.”