Bridge on the River Kwai

---

Kanchanaburi

In the interest of saving time and still seeing as much as possible close to Bangkok, we signed up with a mini tour (8 people) to take us to Kanchanaburi, made famous by the 1957 movie, "Bridge on the River Kwai".

I was not prepared for the beautifully maintained cemetery grounds, or the poignant words inscribed on the headstones. There, in simple eloquence, parents, wives, siblings, children and other relatives spoke last sentences to soldiers who lost their lives in unspeakable conditions, as slave laborers on the Death Railway. The Thais have enormous respect and appreciation for these soldiers, and it's obvious by how well they maintain all the displays. There are books written on this subject, so I won't go into any detail, but it's very interesting and very emotional.

The river was much more beautiful than I ever imagined, with its quaint little houses built on rafts. We walked across the bridge and at the end, there was a little old man with a violin. When we told him we were American, he started playing the theme song from the movie, Bridge on the River Kwai. It brought tears to my eyes!

Kanchanaburi was

so charming, clean, and one of the nicest, friendliest towns we visited. And fun to say. You should try it: Kan chan a bur EE. We wished we had all day to spend there.

But the tour people had other plans for us. There was the mandatory elephant ride through the jungle (and photo for a price). Then came the floating down the River Kwai on a bamboo raft to a place where we had a nice Thai lunch. We stopped at a waterfall that had more people than water, but was still nice. And for the grand finale, the Tiger Temple, which is actually a huge nature preserve for all types of animals, from piglets to peacocks, horses, monkeys, goats and so on.

The next day, we took another mini van to Ratchaburi, where we went to see the oldest floating market, the Damnoen Saduak. It was still pretty touristy, but you could get a sense from the amazing array of fruits, vegetables and spices that it was not just for tourists like the markets immediately around Bangkok.

---

Photos

The Khwae Yai River
The legendary River Kwai, as we call it. You can see the new bridge in the background

The Infamous Burma-Siam Bridge
Part of the original wooden bridge.

Steel Bridge of the present
Rebuilt by the Japanese as part of the war reparations

A walk I'd only dreamed of
Very emotional, very beautiful, exceeded all my expectations

War Memorial
In memory of thousands who lost their lives building the railroad between 1942-43

Chong Kai Cemetery
A place of pilgrimage for WWII veterans worldwide. About 7000 Allied soldiers here.

Wat Chai Chumphon
The JEATH war memorial is housed here, depicting the life and death of 12,000 Allied POWs.

Train at the museum
One of the trains used during WWII

Adorable Thai boy
His mom was in charge of the elephant rides.

Surfin' the River Kwai
This part was NOT in my dream, but fun and relaxing, anyway

Out of my comfort zone
And I'm allergic to cats!

Dane the BRAVE
Yes, the big cat is chained, but he's still a tiger!

The Tiger Temple
Nirvana for Tigers, all the tourists they can eat.

The water buffalo are coming!
Too late, I realized I was standing between them and their evening meal.

Taking cover
I figured it might be a good idea to stand behind a tree as quickly as possible.

Flame Tree
These lovely trees just happened to be in bloom this time of year.

Coolie hat lady
Don't make eye contact...too late! Now must buy hat.

We needed the hat!
Now isn't that just so much better? And goes so well with the shirt from Kanchanaburi.

The Famous Old Floating Market
She is dishing up lunch for us as I take the photo.