Kanchanaburi, Thailand

We never even planned on going to Kanchana buri (Buri means city), but a friend in Fukushima who had been there last year said it was a must see in Thailand, especially if we had a few extra days around Bangkok. So I emailed my Thai contact and she arranged a trip up there. The trip was surprisingly cheap, about 500 baht (USD $12). That included transportation, lunch, a train ticket, and the entrance fees into several things. The transportation was an old mini-van driven by a local who makes the trip everyday, but it was more than adequate so no complaints. I didn't realize how much stuff was packed into this place, as you'll see.

The first place we went was the cemetery for all the POWs who died building the Bridge over the river Kwai as well as any other things the Japanese made them do. The Japanese were trying to take over all of SE Asia and they needed a train line between Siam (Thailand) and Burma (Myanmar).

There were hundreds, if not thousands, of graves in the cemetery. It listed their names, country, and rank as well as birth and death date. Some didn't have enough information so they at least got a stone with as much information as possible.

It was quite sad seeing many people aged 21-30. I'm 32 so I kept thinking I could have been one of them if I were born in a different time or place. Most were British, Australian, or Asian.

This plaque told the story of how they lived and died. Some people were there looking for their family members.

After the cemetery visit, we went off to the feature presentation. The famous Bridge over the river Kwai. It is actually the 3rd bridge. The first bridge, pictured two down was wooden and the big bad wolf blew it down pretty quick, leaving only the part near the shore. Then the second bridge was metal, shown below, but it was bombed and destroyed and rebuilt.

The newer rebuilt bridge.

The remaining 20 feet of the original wooden Bridge over the river Kwai.

Some dork on the old wooden bridge, overlooking the newer one.

The original train that rode on the bridge.

It was quite dangerous to walk across the bridge. Nothing was protecting us from falling.

There were all these odd statues of famous leaders and such.

Then we rode a train from Thakilen to Nam Tok. Nam means water
and Tok means fall, so Nam Tok is a waterfall. The train cost a total of
7 baht, that's about 18 cents in USD.

It was about what I expected. Old, but sturdy.

Later in the day we rode elephants, which was fun, but a little unnerving. We went up a steep hill
and then down a steeper hill. Plus we felt bad. But we bought it some bananas and tipped the driver guy.
He did this weird thing where he would walk up to the nose and the elephant would lift him up.

Our driver "Sou" and our elephant "Anpon". She recently won a fight where she ripped off the
tusk of another elephant. I think she was a mother of a smaller elephant there.

Part of the death railway.

In case you were curious.