The Bridge Over the River Kwai

Kanchanaburi

Day One

We arrived fairly early in the day after our extremely inexpensive ride on Thailand's public bus system (did we mention that already?) Our first guesthouse of choice was Apple's Guesthouse, but unfortunately they were full. We made our way to Jollyfrogger's and they had lots of rooms. It isn't the nicest place that we've stayed but it was cheap so we decided to call it home for the next few days. Our first day was uneventful, just the way we like it. I got myself a new book, we walked around the town a bit and that's about it. It was nice to sit back and relax after almost two months of traveling. Our room has its own little patio area so we spent most of the day sitting and reading by the river Kwai - not bad.

Day Two

We decided to actually accomplish something on our second day in Kanchanaburi so we visited the Burma-Thailand museum and the cemetery that is right across the street from it. It is the final resting place to over 7000 POW's from the second world war who died building the railway that connected Thailand and Burma (it would eventually be named "The Death Railway") - in total approx. 20,000 POW's died and over 90,000 Asian workers. The museum was built in 2003 so the exhibits were in great condition and the information was plentiful. We spent over an hour wandering around the exhibits and learning about how the railway was constructed, how the workers were recruited/treated and of course the living conditions of the POW camps in the area. It was sad to see that so many people died for a railway that was only in operation for less then a year. But just like all the sad stories in the world, I think it was necessarily to learn about them. After leaving the museum we headed back to our guesthouse to sit by the river and read (again!!) We had one of the best meals we've ever had at Apple's Guesthouse that night. Our book recommended having the Massuman curry and oh my gosh was it amazing. We also ran into a Norwegian couple we had met over Christmas in Ayutthaya. We chatted for a bit and agreed to meet up for dinner the next night.

Day Three - Tour Day

We booked ourselves on a full day tour that would take us to Erawan waterfall, Hellfire Pass, a train ride on the death railway and to the river Kwai bridge. We were picked up at 8am and to our surprise the Norwegian couple (Maria and Nels) were on the mini-bus. Our first stop of the day was Hellfire Pass. This portion of the railway was dug out of solid rock over 10 meters deep. They made the POW's and Asian workers work right into the night. Light was provided by bamboo torches and the area was quickly nicknamed Hellfire pass by the workers because of the red flames and erie shadows of the workers' skeleton like bodies it cast on the rock wall - it looked just like hell. The only tools the workers had were hammers and picks. One man would hold the pick and the other would strike it with a hammer - once the hole was deep enough they would drop dynamite down the hole and blow it up. They would then have to move the pieces of rock and start all over again. The average work day was 18 hours not including the hike from the camp to the work area. Most of the workers died of malnutrition or disease (malaria or cholera), but many died while working (beaten by guards, falling debris etc.). The museum at Hellfire Pass was also very well done - it had tons of information and made use of videos to help elaborate on details.

After the sobering visit at Hellfire Pass we went to Erawan National Park, home to a beautiful 7-tier waterfall. The hike up to the top is about 2.2 km and takes over an hour. We didn't have enough time to hike to the top and swim so we opted with swimming. Once we reached the fourth tier we jumped in. The water was cold, but refreshing. It didn't take long to find out that the fish in the water were hungry and our toes made for a good buffet. Paul and I both slide down a rock that was just like a slide and got out of the fishes' home. We took lots of pictures of the first four tiers. We spent two hours at the park and we were off to our next destination.

After a 20 minute drive we ended up at a little train station 56 km outside of Kanchanaburi. This is where we boarded the train for our 30 minute trip along the death railway. We didn't take the train all the way to Kanchanaburi because it takes over 2 hours and after 30 minutes we were ready to get off. Our guide then drove us to the River Kwai Bridge so we could take our pictures and dropped us off at home.

We met up with Maria and Nels for dinner at Apple's Guesthouse (where we had the curry again - yummy). They were heading to Bangkok the next day so we said our goodbyes and headed to bed.

Day Four

We have decided to do nothing today - well except Internet. We both have new books and are itching for some sitting by the river time. The biggest decision I have to make today is to get a one hour massage or a two. Not bad eh? We will be staying in Kanchanaburi today and tomorrow and head back to Bangkok for the weekend. We hope to hit the famous weekend market to do the last of our shopping. On Monday we head for the beaches of Hua Hin. We already have a reservation at All Nations guesthouse, which happens to be owned by a Canadian couple. We have no plans for our time after that. I guess it depends on how much we are enjoying the beach. We will probably write again from Bangkok.

Until then....