Kanchanaburi

Ruth and I got back from hiking, quickly showered and ate and made our way to the bus stop. We had to take the bus from Chiang Rai back to Chiang Mai to catch an overnight bus down to Bangkok then catch a ferry and another train to reach our final destination of Kanchanaburi. It was a bit hectic and we almost didn't make it down. From the annoying 3 hour bus ride from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai that played a Thai game show at a volume level that I'm pretty sure even deaf people could hear to someone giving us incorrect information as to where to catch out bus, it wasn't mean to be. I hate buses. I don't mind short bus rides but given the choice of bus or train, I'm totally a train person. I really don't like overnight buses. I can never sleep on them. For some reason, I'm afraid the bus driver will fall asleep like his passengers and we'll all end up off the road.

When we arrived to our destination- it was only a short walk to find our guest house on the river. We had wanted a riverfront room, but of course they were sold out. We had to settle for a different room but we still had a nice porch overlooking the river - just with the part on the river blocking some of our view. No problem! Since we arrived really early, we had decided to check out a museum. The reason why we came to Kanchanaburi was to ride on the ever famous Death Railway. It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful and scenic railways in Thailand.

We went to the museum which was quite startling and a bit appalling regarding the history of the Death Railway. Prior to going to Thailand, I had done a bit of research on the death railway and learned that it received it's name because of the amount of people who died in order to make it. I was aware most of these people were POW's of Japan during WW2. What I didn't know and wasn't entirely prepared for was the way these POW's and other forced laborers from around Asia were treated. Japan was trying to strategically build a railway from Thailand into Burma during WW2 to assist in their war strategies to get supplies from one area of Asia to another. In the beginning, approximately 60,000 POW's of the Allies were shipped up from other parts of Southeast Asia to construct this railway. The work began in 1942 and was completed 1 year and 3 months later. It is estimated that 16,000 POW's and 100,000 Asian laborers died completing it in this time.

When looking at pictures of the laborers in the museum, the only thing you need to think of are pictures of Holocaust survivors. The ones where the human staring back at you only consists of skin, bones and nothing else. When you see those pictures, you think to yourself, how are they still alive? How is it possible? If someone were to give you a Holocaust survivor photo and a photo of a Death Railway worker, you could never tell the difference between the two. The men constructing this passageway were barely fed and not immunized for the diseases in the Southeast Asia area - such as malaria and cholera. Most died from these these inhumane situations. They were literally worked to death. 38 Allied POW's died for each kilometer of track laid on the railway.

To make it even more of a tragedy, it wasn't even in use for two full years. Once the Japanese surrendered in 1945, the British took over the railway and separated 4km of track to cut Burma and Thailand's easy passageway. It's stories like these that makes me wonder why in America we never learn of these tragedies of WW2. Certainly, we can all recall the events of the Holocaust in Europe, but why not these situations in Asia where the conditions were just as terrible if not worse?

We spent quite a few hours in there and then headed out for lunch. Our first day was just exploring what the town of Kanchanburi offered. It's famous for the war sights that are scattered about the long, narrow town. Pretty much the whole reason to go here is to see the war sights. In the middle of the town is the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. It is here that most of the men that died were buried. It's kept up beautifully. There are nearly 7,000 POW's that were laid to rest here. The majority of the men that died for this railway were under 25 years old. There is yet another cemetery for the remaining men in another area. If anyone has seen or heard of the movie, "Bridge on the River Kwai"- well, it's here, in this town - that the actual bridge of the actual river Kwai exists. The original bridge had been destroyed twice by Ally bombers in both 1944 and 1945. However, after the war, it was rebuilt and it's still in use today.

The next day, Ruth and I woke up reaaaaaaaallly early and caught the first train out to ride on the infamous Death Railway. In it's entirety - it's two hours one way from Kanchanaburi to the end of the line at Nam Tok. The railway was really beautiful - with certain spots of the river winding beautifully with the river, at other times, going through 30 meter deep solid rocking cuttings. Then there the sections with towering cliffs above you, - this part of the railway, everyone that worked on it, died from the impossible task of creating this part of the railway and surviving it. The landscaping was reminiscent of Japan for me. The rice paddies in your immediate view with mountains protecting them in the distance. Since we got the early train, we not only got to watch the sunrise but didn't have to deal with tons of people riding with us.

When we reached Nam Tok - the end of the line - we had quite a long layover until the next train would come. Nam Tok consists of pretty much nothing. There is this one waterfall called Sai Yok Noi that we spent way too much time at. It's pretty much the only thing to do in this area. We took a lot of photos and were asked to be the foreign celebrities in many others. Somewhere in Thailand, Ruth and I exist in someone's photo album as the foreigner they met that day. I never know to be flattered of creeped out at the thought of this fact.

We went to see where the end of the line actually is. There's an old train just sitting there as well. We climbed up a bunch of stairs to an overlook and walked about up there. There was a set of stairs that led us up to a cave that enshrined a few Buddha's.

After expiring all of our options we decided to try to find the River Kwai from where we were. We spent an hour to two walking around in the noon-sun finding nothing but stares from the locals. Finally, it was time for the train to come. But as it was Thailand, it arrived easily 45 minutes late. We rode the train back with herds of people all cramming on to see the sights. After riding on the train, we went to see the River Kwai bridge up close and not just by riding over it. We walked across the famous bridge and took a bunch of photos.

Our evening consisted of drinking beers and watching beautiful sunsets over the river on our front porch. It was technically our last night in Thailand - at least our last comfortable night with a bed. The next day we headed back into Bangkok and caught the bus to the airport where we spent the night. My flight left before Ruth's. Thus, we departed ways at about 5am and I made my way back to cold, dark Japan.

Thailand was great. Thanks Mom and Dad for a lovely Christmas present. :)

The Death Railway Photos

Kanchanaburi Photos