Bridge Over the river Kwai

Arrived in Kanchanaburi early enough to see the bridge over the river Kwai, which to be honest isn't very impressive. I mean the history of it and its story is really amazing and interesting, but in terms of sights it is just a typical railway bridge. Sorry to seem so pessimistic, but its true. Checked out the night market here, where as always i was captivated by the mass of different interesting types of food here (Sam check out the tempura omelette's!) and consequently ate 3 kilos of fruit myself. I did not feel too good. Returned to the guest house, tried to plan my following day (and not be sick), watched some of spider man three, then slept.

The bridge over the river kwai

     Kanchanaburi is one of the places that has instantly grown on me; i can't say what it is about it but i really like it here. The scenery is quite beautiful, more mountainous than the surrounding areas, it again reminded me a little of Guilin in China. I could happily spend a few days here if i had the time, checking out the bounty of caves, waterfalls and parks in the general vicinity. It would make a great place to bike around.

hellfire pass from above

       Next day i got on a bus to see the Hellfire pass museum, as i figured it wasn't worth motorbiking the 80km there and back myself. Hellfire pass is a section of the Death railway from Thailand to Burma that had to be carved out of the rock face by sheer brute force, due to the lack of sophisticated resources available to the slave laborers. It was (and still is ) considered on of the hardest sections of the railway to build, and 12,399 POW's and approximately 90,000 civilians or Romusha (the name given for the Asian civilian's who were forced to work on the project) died in the construction of this section alone. The solid stone rock had to be cut through using shovels, picks, hoes and by driving metal taps for explosives into the rock with their hands. Hellfire pass is approximately 500m long and 26m deep and was completed in a remarkably quick time, due to the extremely brutal treatment of the workers involved by their Japanese superiors (Who the guy on the official audio tape amusingly refers to as 'the nips', i was surprised that wasn't censored out). The men were starved, beaten and forced to live in dire conditions with terrible diets (soggy, maggot ridden rice if they got any food at all), consequently, many worked whilst harbouring terrible diseases, and many were literally worked to death. If anyone gets the chance to go here the museum itself is very well presented, the audio guide is very good and informative and the walk around the grounds with the guide (free by the way, obviously a hit with cheapskate Ben!) makes for a nice day trip.

lookout point from hellfire pass

      On the way back i stopped off at the tiger temple, so called because there are actual tigers there that you can 'pet' and have you photo taken with etc. I'm not sure how i really felt about this, as the tigers didn't seem particularly happy to be made as an attraction to tourists every day, and the people are profiting from the misery of the tigers (one could say). However, the official party line is that these tigers were taken to this temple (and left with the monk) after they were rescued from poachers and are now too tame to be released into the wild. They also claim they are trying to breed them to release the young into the wild, which is definately a good thing, and that the entrance fee ($10) is merely for upkeep, however from the atmosphere inside i find this rather hard to believe.

above the pass again

         Anyway, thats pretty much all i did in Kanchanaburi, other than (surprise surprise) buying more fruit at the market! Left for Ayutthaya the next day

tempura omelette!

now inside

sorry, another pic

le tigre

moi avec le tigre

i love this photo

not too happy

evidently not loving this

tuk tuk/foodstall

the bridge again, sorry