Bridge over the river Kwai
# Da-da da da da dah dahhh...
So, after a few days cycling time for a break in Kanchanburi, a town in central Thaialnd made famous by the book Bridge Over the River Kwai which was then turned into a film. I hardly need remind you about this film, unless you're American in which case forget about it.
Kanchanburi is a nice place to spend a couple of days, got a little backpacker ghetto which means it's not difficult to find a cheap room (150 baht, about 3 pounds, with swimming pool) and plenty to see and do. The main attraction, as already mentioned is the bridge over the Kwai constructed by the Japanese in WWII using PoW and local labour. Also called the "death railway" as many of the workforce died during it's construction from a combination of malnutrition, over work, lack of medication and just plain brutality. There are some sobering museums here chronicling these events.
The bridge in Kanchanburi itself isn't that exciting, unless you suffer from vertigo, so I'd intended to bike it up to Hellfire Pass today to see the sections cut through jungle and mountains but in the end decided that 80 km there, a four hour walk then 80 km back was probably pushing it in 40c heat being twelve hours of physical effort. Now, think on this, I'm healthy, well fed and watered. People who were working up in Hellfire pass had been doing so on less than 1600 calories a day for weeks or months, working up to twenty hours a day during the "speedo" period.
Of the 60,000 PoWs who worked on the railway around 16,000 remain in a number of cemeteries in the area, just one of which is above. Of the 180,000 Asians who worked on it 90,000 died although they don't seem to warrant a cemetery.
So, after a few days cycling time for a break in Kanchanburi, a town in central Thaialnd made famous by the book Bridge Over the River Kwai which was then turned into a film. I hardly need remind you about this film, unless you're American in which case forget about it.
Kanchanburi is a nice place to spend a couple of days, got a little backpacker ghetto which means it's not difficult to find a cheap room (150 baht, about 3 pounds, with swimming pool) and plenty to see and do. The main attraction, as already mentioned is the bridge over the Kwai constructed by the Japanese in WWII using PoW and local labour. Also called the "death railway" as many of the workforce died during it's construction from a combination of malnutrition, over work, lack of medication and just plain brutality. There are some sobering museums here chronicling these events.
The bridge in Kanchanburi itself isn't that exciting, unless you suffer from vertigo, so I'd intended to bike it up to Hellfire Pass today to see the sections cut through jungle and mountains but in the end decided that 80 km there, a four hour walk then 80 km back was probably pushing it in 40c heat being twelve hours of physical effort. Now, think on this, I'm healthy, well fed and watered. People who were working up in Hellfire pass had been doing so on less than 1600 calories a day for weeks or months, working up to twenty hours a day during the "speedo" period.
Of the 60,000 PoWs who worked on the railway around 16,000 remain in a number of cemeteries in the area, just one of which is above. Of the 180,000 Asians who worked on it 90,000 died although they don't seem to warrant a cemetery.
posted by Bill at 7:30 am
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