Bridge over the River Kwai

Continuing our quest to explore how bonkers, dangerous and cruel people can be, we caught the train from Bangkok to Kanchanaburi, the location of the bridge over the River Kwai.

Interestingly, the name of the river made famous by the eponymous book and film wasn’t the river Kwai. It was part of the Mae Klong. The name Kwai probably came from a misunderstanding of the word Khwae, meaning tributary. The Thai authorities, recognising the film’s popularity and the potential to turn it into a tourist attraction, made the smart move of renaming the section of the river Khwae Yai. It worked.

Stepping off the train at River Kwai Bridge, we walked the short distance to the River Kwai View Hotel, where I had booked a river view so that we could go full-send on the river theme. The hotel, the yellowish building in the photograph below, is probably the perfect spot to see the comings and goings of the trains and the tourists.

The railway line isn’t like Paddington Central. Very few trains run along the track, which gives plenty of opportunity to casually stroll across without the risk of being flattened by a hefty lump of rolling stock. Parts of the original bridge are incorporated into the new one. By new I mean 1958.

There’s plenty of opportunity to have a blast down the river in a long tail if you so choose. We chose not to.

On the opposite side of the bridge to our hotel is the Guan Im Sutham Temple. The most striking part of the temple is the 18-metre granite statue of the Goddess of Mercy, imported from China. Only knows what DHL charged for that.

Our hotel room had a small balcony, so we could enjoy sundowners while watching the sunset over the bridge. The occupants of the rooms to our left and right had the same idea, which proved to be a communal experience – there is no separation between the balconies. Sharing the view was good, but listening to the munching of crisps and alcohol fuelled banter wasn’t. So we bailed out in search of food.

Although this area is busy during the day, it falls asleep at night. Most tourists return to Kanchanaburi, the train stop before this one and the main town. The evening migration leaves the area around the bridge with few open restaurants. We managed to find just one.

Before the tourists flooded back in, we decided to take a look at the museum next door. The photos below show how far we got. I don’t know if this museum ever opens. I wouldn’t be surprised if the doors are slammed permanently shut. There’s a lot of competition from the one in Kanchanaburi.

Hellfire Pass

Leaving the bridge behind for a day, we headed up to the location of Hellfire Pass. Getting there was easy, just a Grab ride. Getting back was a complete shit-show because our Grab driver left us there. He was nowhere to be seen when we came out. And to make matters worse, before leaving the building, we had deposited a large donation in one of the collection boxes, leaving us light on local currency.

It is impossible to get a Grab or any other form of taxi from here. And now we didn’t have enough cash for the bus, so we asked someone if they’d change US dollars into Thai Baht. And to cut a long story short, they did. We then got the bus back to the train station at Nam Tok Sai Yok Noi. Grab = 0. Hellfire Pass Memorial Interpretive Centre = 10.

The Hellfire Pass Memorial Interpretive Centre, managed by the Australian Government, does a fantastic job in preserving the brutal history of this area. It tells the story sensitively and in balance, and I can’t do it justice by yacking about it here. Here’s a link to the Anzac portal if you want to learn more: https://anzacportal.dva.gov.au/wars-and-missions/ww2/pows/burma-thailand-railway

I know I said I wouldn’t bang on about it and leave it to the experts, but I think the above photo needs some context. The cage of rocks represents the work rate expected from each man each day. The bowl of rice represents the food ration.

Train back to Kanchanaburi

After getting off the bus and replenishing our cash reserves at the local ATM, we strolled through Nam Tok towards the railway station and came across this cheerful, curious and eccentric collection of ceramic creatures.

There’s an excellent coffee shop near the station – Drowsy – run by the person in the photo below. They don’t sell hot food here, so she had some delivered to us from a nearby place. And the coffee is really good too.

The railway journey from Nam Tok back to the River Kwai runs on the same line as the original Burma-Thailand railway. Taking this journey gives a sense of the scale of the project and the effort invested in it. The scenery here is oddly stunning,

Kanchanaburi

The primary significance of Kanchanaburi is not as a repository and feeding ground for hordes of overheated tourists. It is home to the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery and an excellent war museum – the Death Railway Museum and Research Centre.

We met someone travelling alone whose grandad worked on the Death Railway as a POW. On a whim, he decided to trace his grandfather’s journey. We spotted him a couple of times over the few days we were here, and then again after he had visited the museum. He told us that not only were the museum staff able to locate his grandfather’s records, they also traced his journey to get up here. He said they spent hours with him going through the records and answering his questions, and he was allowed to record it all to share it with his dad.

Death Railway Museum and Research Centre

It doesn’t look much from the outside (even though it is the old HQ of the Imperial Japanese Army), but it is an excellent museum. And clearly a brilliant research centre. Even more remarkably, it is privately funded and run by an Australian, Rod Beattie. I forgot to photograph the outside of the building, but I took plenty of photos of the inside:

There is a lot more to see inside than I have portrayed here. I cannot possibly do it justice.

And that is it for our historical tour of Cambodia and Thailand. It’s time to get the train to Bangkok, then to fly up to Chiang Mai, where we will be back to temples and into some relaxation.