Thailand
Trip Start
Apr 16, 2007
1
56
88
Trip End
Jul 2008
Kanchanaburi,
Thailand
Friday, December 7, 2007
Khanchaniburi is a quiet but very interesting little place. We stayed at a great guesthouse right on the river yet far enough away that you weren't really bothered by the 'Floating Karaoke bars' pulled by barges...yes you read that right...people actually hire out the boats to go on cruises for several hours to sing out of tune with their friends...funny to see and even funnier to listen to! Well for a while anyway....
We did a trip to the fantastic Erewan Waterfalls - a 7 tier water fall, a superb spot for a swim.
We also visited the Death Railway War Memorial cemetery. It was very moving. We first went into the museum to read up about the whole historical account and then went straight across the road to the cemetary. There were hundreds of plaques from the British (approx 7,000), the Australians, Dutch and of course many more unidentified Malaysian's, Indian's and Burmese. Men were forced into constructing a railway in record time through very harsh terrain and usually mountainous terrain so that the Japanese had a supply line for their troops. Most of the men bulding the railway were in prisoner of war camps held by the Japanese and over 100,000 men died in the harsh conditions.
The railway is still used today but only on a very short section. Most of the line has now been submerged underwater with the building of damns up river.
