| KANCHANABURI & THE RIVER KWAI
By Andy Pitt.
When you are done with the night life, the beaches of Phuket and Pattaya and the stress of Bangkok city life a few days at the river the River Kwai and Kanchanaburi province is a great place to relax, reflex, and recharge.
The River Kwai and main provincial town of Kanchanaburi lies about a hundred and fifty kilometers north west of Bangkok. Access by train or road are easy and both enjoyable with reasonable interesting scenery. It’s a large clean sprawling town with a charming old part and the bustling new area both with a laid back relaxing atmosphere. The town boasts numerous hotels and resorts to suit any budget with some built on rafts floating on the river Kwai. The choice is wide, floating discos or quite romantic dinners by the river. A popular dining area is the Song Kwai road waterfront area and the riverside restaurants in the vicinity of the River Kwai Bridge.
The town and surrounding area is steeped in history the most notable being the River Kwai bridge and war cemetery. Further north, some eighty kilometers, is infamous Konyu Cutting or ‘The Hellfire Pass’ and on the way great scenery around the river and old railway lines. The JEATH Museum on the banks of the river Kwai at Kanchanaburi town has many artifacts and pictures from World War II laid out in a long bamboo hut. This is a full sized copy of the huts used to house the allied prisoners in 1942, very sparse with no furniture just a bamboo shelf, three feet above the ground running along one side about six feet deep.
The Thai - Burma Railway was built by 61,000 Allied prisoners of war and 200,000 Asian slaves in 1942 -1943 to supply the Japanese army in Burma. There were 30,000 British, 18,000 Dutch and 13,000 Australian and about 700 American POW's in camps all along the line which was not built from one end but in many sections at the same time. The railway passed through remote mountainous jungle north west of Bangkok along the river Kwai then over the mountains at the ‘Three Pagoda Pass’ and on to Thanbyuzayat in Burma. At that time there were no real roads in the area. With the high risk to Japanese ships passing through Singapore and the Malacca straights to Rangoon in Burma it was decided to build a railway link from Ban Pong in Thailand to Thanbyuzayat in Burma a total of 415 kilometers. Japanese engineers having surveyed it by air said it would take five years to build. At 415 kilometers long it was completed in sixteen months through some of the worst disease hidden tropical mountainous forests in the world. 13,000 POW's died on the railway along with 80,000 Asian slave workers. It’s been said it cost a life for every sleeper and at ‘Hellfire Pass' eighty kilometer north of Kanchanaburi, 700 POW's died in one three mile section alone. There are 8,881 marked graves in and around Kanchanaburi town with 6,982 in one cemetery alone.
The famous ‘bridge over the river Kwai’, known as the ‘Tamarkan Bridge’, is at Kanchanaburi town and was built in 1942-43 of black painted steel spans on concrete pillars. It was bombed and finally destroyed by the RAF on June 24th 1945 which effectively put the complete railway out of action. The 'temporary' wooden bridge, built across the river Kwai a hundred meters down stream from the main steel railway bridge, was severely damaged by the US Air force on April 2nd 1945. Rebuilt after the war the bridge is still operational from Ban Pong to Nam Tok and it’s possible to walk across the bridge along narrow planks between the rails.
Overwhelming as it is there is more to Kanchanaburi than just the bridge and war history. Driving north into the mountains the scenery is lush and spectacular. Maps and road signs are good and well marked. The railway is still in use and at Sai Yok the line runs along the mountain side thirty feet or more above the river on a construction of wooden trestle bridges strapped to the mountain side above. The line trails off to the South following the snaking river while clinging to the mountain side. The railway is no longer fully operational and only runs as far as Nam Tok seventy nine kilometers north of Kanchanaburi. It’s possible to take the train from Bangkok to Nam Tok and return the same day but with lots to see and do two or three days are better. From there, on through the mountains and along side the river Kwai, the lines have been removed and the jungle has taken hold again. This is real tropical rain forest where bamboo can grow a foot a day.
Continued………… Andy Pitt | 
