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Famous Thai proverb say Have You Bought Souveniers For Your Loved Ones Yet
Ban Tukkata (1), Thailand
One of the places on the must see list for this trip, for me at least, has been the bridge over the the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi. We left Bangkok for a weekend here, it isn't far to the northwest of the city. The main problem is getting out of Bangkok, onto a motorway. The traffic congestion is terrible; one morning it took us 40 minutes to drive 700m. Anyway, partly because of Bangkok traffic and partly because Seamus the tomtom took us a bizarre back road route, we arrived on the Friday night in the dark.
Not having booked anywhere, we first used the tomtom option to find a hotel - fail. Then turned to the Lonely Planet. After our adventures in Central Asia with the Lonely Planet you may remember that we do not particularly trust this source of information. However, for Cambodia it was quite reliable... and it seems in Thailand its pretty good. It did have Apple's Retreat listed and on the map. We pulled up here and were lucky to get the last room. And it was perfect! Being on the other side of the river from the main strip, it was quiet. The rooms were big, clean and cool and the restaurant... the food was delicious! Apple also runs a cookery course, and I would've been tempted to do it, but first we really wanted to see the bridge and the musuems.
So first thing on Saturday we walked up the river to the bridge, which is still functioning on a small section and you can walk over it as well. Crossing over the bridge was like going into a different world. On the east side of the river were bus loads of tourists and all the hawkers and souvenier sellers that go along with that. We decided to continue walking down the east side to get to the museums. On the way down the road we passed a stool, or low table with a leopard chained up (and probably drugged up). It was real, I saw its ear twitch, and you couuld pay to have a photo with the animal. It was the saddest thing Fintan and I have seen in a while... really upsetting.
We stopped in at the first museum which was a local Thai run museum, with a train out the front. You could climb on the train, take photos for free, but then to get in the museum was a small charge. I cannot recommend doing this. At best the place is an interesting collection of things in no particular order and often mis-labelled, at worst it is pandering to Japanese tourists and quite frankly an insult to the thousands of men who died constructing the rail line. Against one wall they showed the leaders of the world during the second world war, and Einstein (who is credited with creating the atom bomb), but they are like the smurf version as they are all painted blue for some reason.
We continued down the road heading towards the war cemetery. It was quite a long way to walk in the sun, but we had our hats and stopped for cold drinks. The war cemetery was very tasteful and well-kept. It was very moving to see the ages of the majority of those who are buried here and messages from their families on the plaques. This was interrupted by a tour bus passing blaring out a Euro-dance version of The Cranberries 'Zombie', not the most appropriate song I think.
Across the road from the war cemetery is the Thai-Burma Railway Museum. This is really well done and impressive. There are some wonderful dioramas, photographs, and a short film as well as lots of information and even some personal artifacts donated by soldiers families. This one we would recommend. They offer a free tea or coffee... I don't recommend that!
Back at Apple's Retreat we had a delicious massaman curry and pomelo salad and watched the Karaoke boats going up and down the river. There seemed to be little point of these seeing as the boat that pulls the platform with the bar and the karaoke crowd on has such a big engine, you cannot hear any singing... maybe that is the point...
On Sunday we drove the 80km north northwest to the Hellfire Pass, as section of the railway that is a cutting into the rock and that was completed under time pressure. The POWs worked on this section all hours of the day with fire torches, and people thought this looked like Dante's Hell, hence the name.
Again this is an Australian funded museum and it is well worth a visit. The museum includes a wonderful audio tour including interviews with former POWs. Again it has a short video, lots of information and photos. After the museum you can walk a section of the railway that is not in use, but has been restored. When it was re-discovered in the 1980s this area was all overgrown, and in the cutting itself is a tree that has grown in the last 60 years (the photo with this blog). It is a really powerful experience, walking along this section of track with the description of the work and life from some of the former POWs. Very impressive and I think you all should visit this!
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