Payathonzu (; my, ဘုရားသုံးဆူမြို့ (Payathonzu Myo) is a town in the
Karen State
Kayin State ( my, ကရင်ပြည်နယ်, ; kjp, ဖၠုံခါန်ႋကၞင့်, italics=no; ksw, ကညီကီၢ်စဲၣ်, ), also known by the endonyms Kawthoolei and Karen State, is a state of Myanmar. The ca ...
of south
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
, close to the border with
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
. It is separated from the Thai border
township
A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries.
Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...
of
Nong Lu
Nong Lu ( th, หนองลู) is a sub-district (''tambon'') of Sangkhla Buri district of Kanchanaburi province, Thailand. The name is Karen and refers to the palm used for roofing. It is located near the border with Myanmar. Nong Lu covers t ...
by the
Three Pagodas Pass. It is also the administrative seat of
Hpayarthonezu Sub-township (fourth-level administrative division of Myanmar) in
Kyain Seikgyi Township
Kyainseikgyi Township (Eastern Pwo language, Phlone: ; my, ကြာအင်းဆိပ်ကြီးမြို့နယ်, ) is a Townships of Burma, township of Kawkareik District in the Kayin State of Myanmar. It is the fourth-biggest tow ...
,
Kawkareik District Kawkareik District ( Phlone ; ; also called Dooplaya in Karen language) is a district of the Karen State in Myanmar. It consists of 4 towns; Kawkareik, the capital, Kyainseikgyi, Kyondoe, Payathonzu and Kyaikdon; and 552 villages. The population ...
of
Kayin State
Kayin State ( my, ကရင်ပြည်နယ်, ; kjp, ဖၠုံခါန်ႋကၞင့်, italics=no; ksw, ကညီကီၢ်စဲၣ်, ), also known by the endonyms Kawthoolei and Karen State, is a state of Myanmar. The ca ...
in
Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
.
Overview
Payathonzu is home to
Karen
Karen may refer to:
* Karen (name), a given name and surname
* Karen (slang), a term and meme for a demanding woman displaying certain behaviors
People
* Karen people, an ethnic group in Myanmar and Thailand
** Karen languages or Karenic l ...
and
Mon people
The Mon ( mnw, ဂကူမည်; my, မွန်လူမျိုး, ; th, มอญ, ) are an ethnic group who inhabit Lower Myanmar's Mon State, Kayin State, Kayah State, Tanintharyi Region, Bago Region, the Irrawaddy Delta, and s ...
. Separatist armies have been active in the town. Since 1990, it is under control of the
Myanmar Army,
however there is still occasional fighting in the area.
The Tai Ta Ya monastery is located in the town, and features a long row of statues.
Payathonzu can be accessed from the Thai side via the Three Pagodas Pass. The border may not be open to foreign visitors.
Camp Paya Thanzu Taung
Camp Paya Thanzu Taung (also Kilo 108)
) was a
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
camp during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
on the
Burma Railway. It was located about 500 metres north of the border. The first prisoners arrived in March 1943, and were mainly Dutch.
Later, they were joined by British and Australian prisoners.
The conditions were really bad with barely any food resulting in many deaths. After September 1943, the camp was used for maintenance of the rail road.
The camp was abandoned in March 1944.
References
External links
*
*
{{Borders of Myanmar
Populated places in Kayin State
Burma Railway