Category: Kanchanaburi Province

Well, I’m back in Bangkok, having taken the Death Railway here bright and early this morning. Fortunately, there were no unforeseen circumstances. I’m not sure who coined the phrase “Death Railway”, but I figure Rupert Murdoch must have had a hand in it. It sounds like a headline from one of his tabloids.

Actually, the “Death Railway” runs over the “Bridge Over the River Kwai” and was built under the direction of the Japanese during their occupation of Thailand during WWII. It was meant to provide Japan with an alternative supply route, allowing it to expand into India and Iran. The sad thing is that over 100,000 people died building it.

Most of them were Indian, Chinese, and Malay labourers, but thousands were Allied POWs. Most of the POWs were from Australia, Britain, and Holland, so I’m not sure Americans know much about it. The bridge was obviously targeted by the Allies to disrupt the route. The alternative was for the Japanese to use the sea, but that route was too easily attacked.

Anyway, there are a number of really good museums on the whole thing. It’s a sobering thing to visit the area knowing about all the deaths, horrible conditions, and hardship that went into building it. Most of the railway was immediately dismantled after the end of WWII, but one leg of it remains back into Bangkok (which I rode this morning). There are big, well-manicured Allied cemeteries around the area. I was surprised to learn that those homemade radios hidden into broom handles on Hogan’s Heroes were actually based on fact! The museums had samples. Google “Death Railway”, “Hellfire Pass”, or “Bridge over the River Kwai” if you want to know more.

I have a couple of days here in old BKK before I hop on my flight back to Perth (Sunday). I’ve been hoping to do a bit of shopping before I return. Had ideas for cheap clothing, but I’ve noticed waist sizes only go up to “30” around here. I haven’t been THAT size since high school!

After an exciting week of ramming back and forth between eastern and western Thailand, I’ve decided to chill out in a sweet suite here in Kanchanaburi, just up the road from that famous “Bridge over the River Kwai”. It’s a lot touristier than Ubon, the place at the opposite end of the country where I just came from. I think I would have preferred something a bit in-between. At least there should be a lot to do here.

Although I managed to get the last sleeping berth on the train, it wasn’t quite as nice as the overnight train I took to Chiang Mai last year. I was stuck with an upper bunk, which has little headroom and little ventilation. I was sweating, lying in bed for hours before I could fall asleep. There was a vent up on my ceiling, but when I opened it up, a bunch of black, dusty crud fell down out of it and onto my nice, clean pillow. Yuck!

I did eventually get to sleep for about 4-5 hours, so it wasn’t so bad. Getting the bus out here to Kanchanaburi from Bangkok was a lot easier. I have to confess to being somewhat embarrassed when I arrived. After hopping off the bus, a man I thought was a taxi driver plugged his taxi service, even though there was no taxi in sight. I agreed to the price, and he escorted me to his bicycle rickshaw. I felt like such a colonialist in the back of that thing as he peddled a good mile or two out to my guesthouse. Poor guy. He was probably older than me. I made sure to give him a good tip.

This is a very popular weekend destination for Thais as well as Western backpackers. The weather is definitely more humid than in Ubon, but it isn’t nearly as hot as in Ayutthaya.