Bridge Over River Kwai

Trip Start Feb 07, 2005
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Trip End Aug 24, 2005


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Tuesday, April 5, 2005

The following day I was out of Cambodia after only 4 days and on my way to Bangkok once more. Again we met up, this time in Siam Square and yes, it lashed it down with rain again, this time it was torrential. We did very little here before Rob and the 2 Irish girls (Kat and Ash for namesake) went off to Ko Lanta whilst Dave, Mel and myself went in search of the Bridge over the River Kwai in Kanchanaburi.

This place was very picturesque, set on the river bank it didnt have a great deal going on other than its history regarding the Thailand-Burma railway, constructed during World War II under instruction of the Japanese using Allied Prisoners of War. Again, this was another place of mass death! Its almost as though we'd planned it this way!! The POWs were forced to work arduous hours with rationed food under extreme heat and exposure to disease. We visited Hell's Pass where so many POWs had died before taking the train along the route over the bridge and back to the town.

The nearby cemetry was testimony to the ill-fortuned soldiers and their mean feat and whilst not to the same extent as the cemetries in Normandy, they still gave another insight to the suffering of others giving more reason to reflect.
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