Kanchanaburi

---

Hey all,

So as soon as I arrived from long flight into Bangkok I travelled to the Southern Bus Terminal to get a 3 hour bus to Kanchanaburi, a town on the West of Berlin which is famous for the Kwai bridge which was built as part of the Death Railway.

I stayed in Sugar Cane hostel- which is a lovely little hostel with rooms right on the edge of the river Kwai. The room I had was an ensuite room with a double bed which was 150Baht (under 5$)! So as soon as I arrived I found the War Cemetary and then did the walk up the Road to the bridge and read about some of its history, which was fascinating as I dont know much about that part of WW2, but basically the Japanese were forcing POWs from Australia, Netherlands, UK and America to dig through jungle and rock to build this Railway to supply them with Military goods and further supplies so that they didnt have to use boats.

Kwai bridge was a really nice area- buzzing but not too busy and it had restaurants along the river and typical Thai stuff- jewellery, lychees, mangosteen and those grills which they are cooking everything on!

The following day I got the public bus to Hellfire pass (which takes about 90mins)- and is where they have cleared part of the railway and put a memorial museum as a memory for all that died during the period. Again I read more about the history and was horrifed about their treatment during the war. I then took a walk along the pass (which does have incredible views) but was also freaky that this time 70 years ago men were slaving away to create this!

I then made it my mission to find a particular gravestone in the cemetary back in Kananchanaburi... which took me an hour but was worth it.

RE the evenings- I chilled out in a few bars along the main road- which was really nice.

Other things to do there include waterfalls and Tiger Temples, but by heading to the pass I really saw the landscape of Northern Thailand which was spectacular and SO green, with rolling hills and low clouds hanging over the top.

The following day I headed back to Bangkok to meet a few friends.. tbc

---

Comments

[Dad]

Kanchanburi
Sounds fascinating so far, glad to see you're getting a little bit below the surface and finding out some of the history. I also know that your effort to find and visit a particular grave, probably the first visit it's had for 70 years, will mean an awful lot to someone we know. Keep on posting xxx

[Mary]

Thanks so much Megs, I am with Mum now showing her your blog, she is very grateful to you for making a special journey to Perers grave. She would love to see you when you are next home to tell you more about that part of the war. Look forward to the photos. Take good care lots of love xx