If the guesthouse is a rockin'. . . you must be in Kanchanaburi!

One of the most charming things about Kanchanaburi, in my opinion, is that many of the budget guesthouses have rooms that are actually floating on tethered rafts on the river. Courtney and I headed to this pretty little town on the Kwai River, 2-3 hours (depending on the speed of your bus) west of Bangkok for the 3-day weekend.

We met up in Bangkok at the eastern bus station and then made our way across the river to the southern bus station in Thonburi. By the time we made it to K-buri, it was pretty late. We called around to the guesthouses in our books and were discouraged when about three of them were full, but we finally found one that had room for us. The first night we stayed at Nita Raft House, which was cheap and cute, but a ways away from 'backpacker row.' We had a tiny little room with a private bath and when we looked out the window next to Courtney’s bed (in the morning—it was impossible to see out at night), we realized that we literally were right on the river. I woke up in the morning to the curious sensation of rocking in my bed. It wasn’t just a little bit either. I heard the sounds of outboard motors passing by outside our window and then I would feel the swaying. I found it to be very soothing and peaceful (the rocking, not the sound of motors), but it would be awful for those with motion sickness!

As the guidebooks say, the main sights of Kanchaburi in terms of museums, etc. all have to do with the town's role in WWII. Beware-- mini history lesson to follow for those who are interested. Kanchanaburi is most famous for being home to the “Death Railway Bridge” (Bridge over the River Kwai). I knew that it had something to do with WWII, but before I read my guidebook more carefully, I assumed that the ‘death’ part of the railway was that it had to be cut through treacherous geography. Not the case, I soon learned.

The Thailand-Burma Railway was Japan’s 415-kilometer project to connect Singapore and Burma. Construction began in June 1942 and Kanchanaburi was one of the POW camps that supplied forced labor for the engineering feat. All together, about 60,000 POWs and 200,000 Asian laborers worked on the railway. Though engineers estimated that the section of the railway would take 5 years to complete, the prisoners and laborers were forced to work so quickly that they completed it in 15 months or so. An estimated 16,000 POWs and nearly 100,000 Asian laborers died during that time, from a combinatin of factors including insufficient and dirty rations, poor sanitation, and intense labor under difficult tropical conditions.

We set out first to learn more about this sad history at the JEATH War Museum, which is housed in a bamboo hut like the POWs would have lived in. JEATH is an acronym for the five countries that provided labor for the construction of the railway (though other Asian countries also provided conscripted labor)-- Japan, England, Australia/America, Thailand, Holland. The museum could use some better upkeep, but despite that, it manages to drive the point home that war is dehumanizing-- both for the victors and for the defeated. The museum had news articles, letters of reconciliation, artwork and other accounts from the POWs and their families. The prisoners were beaten and abused and were plagued by gangrene, dysentery, malaria, malnutrition diseases like beri-beri, and other tropical diseases. The museum really brought out the fact that the medical officers were real heroes and did what they could do to save as many of the soldiers, despite lack of proper facilities and instruments. It really made the suffering come to life. My words can't really express the feeling, so I will leave off trying.

After the JEATH museum, we went to the Thai-Burma Railway Museum, which is a glossy museum that provides even more information on the construction of the railway and the terrible conditions for the laborers. An interesting fact is that though the Japanese were brutal to the prisoners while they were alive, they would always provide money for ceremonies and proper burials once they were dead, and would often attend the ceremonies. I think that it had something to do with the superstition of unhpappy and restless spirits coming back to haunt them. I don't think that a proper burial would exactly assuage the angry spirits.

After the museums, we decided to walk to the famed 'Bridge Over the River Kwai' (there's a Hollywood movie by that name, apparently, though I haven't seen it). The bridge itself really isn't that spectacular and the original was actually bombed almost out of existence by the Allies, but we did happen to catch it at sunset which made it prettier. You can wander across the bridge at your leisure, though the train comes through with only a faint horn for notice. I thought I heard a sound and then some girl (no one official, mind you!) was frantically telling us to get off the tracks. It got the adrenaline going for a moment, but then we realized the that train was moving at a snail's pace. Not so scary after all!

The night life is K-buri is not very big, but we did manage to find a glass of free sangria in a bar where we played some games of Wii Tennis and Bowling (fun!), bumped into the chance to feed an ostrich (don't ask- I wouldn't know what to say- just that it was surreal), and ended up in front of a little 'campfire,' with beers, hookah, and guitar sing-a-long. Not too shabby.

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