Kanchanaburi - The Death Railway

Kanchanaburi

Bridge over River Kwai

The Van to Kanchanaburi from Ayutthaya was around 3 hours and costed 400 Baht (around Rs. 1000/-) We were a Mother-daughter couple from New Zealand and one more lady who joined us. I was staying at a hotel called Baan Suk Soi 5 which was away from the city and in the evening I went to the Skywalk at the river and then further into the river front area near the Bridge over River Kwai, where I hired a motorcycle form OK Bike rental. It was run by a pleasant Chinese lady and costed around 700 Baht for 2 days which is Rs. 850/- per day.  

River Kwai Bridge and War Cemetery 

War Cemetery

The River Kwai bridge was a little ahead and had lot of shops leading to it. I found out that there was a sound and light show which happens annually and I was there at the right time of the year! All preparations were on for the show which was to start the next day.  

Kanchanaburi is a pleasant town with a population of 25000 and gets many tourists due to its history. It was the location where the Death Railway connecting Thailand to Burma was built by the invading Japanese. This was commemorated by the famous book and movie which was made subsequently called Bridge over River Kwai.  Almost half of the prisoners working on the project died from disease, maltreatment or accidents. 

Th Kanchanaburi War Cemetery is the main prisoner of war (POW) cemetery for victims of Japanese imprisonment while building the Burma Railway. There are 6,858 POWs buried there, mostly British, Australian, and Dutch. This Cemetery is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Beside the Cemetery is The Thailand–Burma Railway Centre which is privately funded. It is housed in the former headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Army which was constructed by prisoners of war and Asian forced laborers.

Erewan Falls and Hellfire Pass

Konyu Cutting

The next day, I left early with the bike to visit the Erawan falls which is in the Erawan National Park and the  Hellfire Pass which is the actual Thai-Burma Death Railway and there is a museum and gallery there. Both of these are around 90 Kms from the city and takes around 1 Hour 20 Min. 

Hellfire Pass, known by the Japanese as Konyu Cutting is the name of a railway cutting on the former Burma Railway in Thailand, which was built with forced labor during World War II. More than 250,000 Southeast Asian civilians and 12,000 Allied soldiers built the railway line, including Hellfire Pass. Due to the harsh conditions, there was heavy loss of life during construction. It was called Hellfire Pass because the sight of emaciated prisoners laboring by burning torchlight resembled a scene from Hell. The Museum was built by the Office of Australian War Graves and as

Erewan Falls

part of the experience, one can walk through the cutting itself and along a section of the former railway track bed. It was a somber experience walking through the section.

The Erawan falls one of the most popular falls in the country and is pretty impressive. It has seven levels with emerald green ponds at each level. The views are picturesque and one can swim at various spots. It was the one of the prettiest waterfalls that I had ever seen and the site pretty well managed with good infrastructure and marked paths. The road to the National Park was also very beautiful and along the river with restaurants and resorts along the way where I stopped for lunch in one of the picturesque spots. The trick to visit these places is to start early before the crowds start coming in.  

Pyrotechnic show

Pyrotechnic Show

In the evening after I returned, went to the River Kwai bridge. Managed to get a seat to the show which was spectacular with pyrotechnics displays and enactment of the wartime bombing of the bridge. It was worth all the hype and preparations.

After spending a few days in Kanchanaburi, it was time to return back to Bangkok and catch the flight back to Bangalore.