We arrived in Kanchanaburi, on the banks of the river Kwai and immediately began to whistle Colonel Bogeys march non stop, you just can't help yourself! After a long list of shabby hotels on our journey south we found ourselves a great little hotel on the banks of the river and on further exploration found that it had a swimming pool too- result! There are some advantages of travelling during the off season and cheaper accommodation is one of them.
Most of the places of interest here in Kanchanaburi are to do with the 'Death Railway', which was built by Allied prisoners of war during World War 2 under the brutal watch of the occupying Japanese Army.
Our first visit was to the Railway museum which gives an overview of how the railway was built, as well as the details of the horrendous conditions the prisoners were made to live in. The most touching exhibits for me were the letters and belongings of the prisoners which have been donated to the museum by the survivors or the relatives left behind. To complete our fun morning we then nipped across the road to the War cemetery where almost 7000 prisoners of war were buried, sobering stuff.
After learning all about the history and the suffering we thought we had better go and see the infamous 'Bridge over the River Kwai' which is immortalised in the film of the same name, but is actually only a tiny part of the 258 mile railway stretching into Burma. If you look hard enough you can still see some of the bomb damage on the stone supports of the bridge from when it was destroyed by Allied air raids.
We walked across the bridge dodging the train as it chugged back and forth loaded with incredibly lazy people who don't want to walk the 200 metres across; or maybe it is for people even more scaredy-cat than me who don't like the fact that you could plunge down between the railway sleepers with a slight trip or stumble and into the murky river waters.
We enjoyed our couple of days in the town and enjoyed the added bonus of being able to jump into the pool at the end of a hot and sweaty day. Time was plodding on though so it was soon time to head for Bangkok and beaches beyond.
Most of the places of interest here in Kanchanaburi are to do with the 'Death Railway', which was built by Allied prisoners of war during World War 2 under the brutal watch of the occupying Japanese Army.Our first visit was to the Railway museum which gives an overview of how the railway was built, as well as the details of the horrendous conditions the prisoners were made to live in. The most touching exhibits for me were the letters and belongings of the prisoners which have been donated to the museum by the survivors or the relatives left behind. To complete our fun morning we then nipped across the road to the War cemetery where almost 7000 prisoners of war were buried, sobering stuff.
After learning all about the history and the suffering we thought we had better go and see the infamous 'Bridge over the River Kwai' which is immortalised in the film of the same name, but is actually only a tiny part of the 258 mile railway stretching into Burma. If you look hard enough you can still see some of the bomb damage on the stone supports of the bridge from when it was destroyed by Allied air raids.
We walked across the bridge dodging the train as it chugged back and forth loaded with incredibly lazy people who don't want to walk the 200 metres across; or maybe it is for people even more scaredy-cat than me who don't like the fact that you could plunge down between the railway sleepers with a slight trip or stumble and into the murky river waters.
We enjoyed our couple of days in the town and enjoyed the added bonus of being able to jump into the pool at the end of a hot and sweaty day. Time was plodding on though so it was soon time to head for Bangkok and beaches beyond.
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