Thailand
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Our wake up call was at 5:45. We’ve become
regular late risers, so it’s hard for us to be on the go
early. There was time for a quick breakfast before our pick
up. We were the first ones in the van which gave us the best
seats. After making the rounds of 3 close by hotels, we got on
the road to Kanchanaburi in western Thailand. The road was a
divided highway as we rode out of Bangkok. There were palatial
new homes located in some places off the side of the road.
It’s possible to buy a new house for $20K in Thailand.
There was nothing of any interest to see on the trip to the
River Kwai. It took three hours. Our first stop was the
veterans cemetery in Kanchanaburi. It is takes up a large city
block and is meticulously maintained. Resting in the cemetery
are Commonwealth and Dutch soldiers. The Japanese moved
thousands of POWs to the area to build a rail link through the
mountains from Bangkok to Rangoon, Burma. They needed a way to
supply their troops safely since the water route around the
Malay peninsula was long and risky. Over 30,000 prisoners and
100,000 Asians died from disease and accidents building the
railroad.
Close to the cemetery is the War Museum and the famous Bridge
over the River Kwai. The museum is not very well maintained
but does offer good reading and photos. The original bridge
was bombed and damaged at the end of WWII. The Japanese were
so ruthless as to put POWs on the bridge to protect it during
bombing raids. We were allowed to walk out onto the bridge to
get a view from the water. The conditions that POW’s had to
endure is staggering. These men lived on rice and boiled
vegetables, working 12 hour days swinging a axe or sledge. The
suffering and ill treatment was unimaginable to us.
They loaded us into the van and drove us to a train station.
We boarded a passenger train with lots of tourists to ride
along some of the track that follows the river. It was an hour
excursion to the end of the track and is known as The Death
Railway. The rest of the route was abandoned and removed by
the British after the war. We were driven to a river side
barge to eat a lunch of cold rice and cooked vegetables. DW
nicknamed it the POW lunch. The derelict looking facilities
ended up also being where we would sleep. I was furious with
the agent in Bangkok who booked us in something like this.
After lunch, we were driven to the nearby Wang Badang national
park which contains a cave. We hiked up a bamboo forested
valley to the mouth of the cave. The climb into the cave was
down on a rickety set of bamboo steps. There was a small open
area that you nearly had to crawl through and then another
ladder to go further down. From that room, we climbed up over
rocks and boulders into a large room. It got hotter and hotter
as we descended in the cave. By the time we were in the large
room, we were drenched in sweat. DW & I decided to leave but
AD wanted to go on to other rooms, which were 7 in total. One
of the guides took 5 of us out. We waited 45 minutes at the
mouth for the others.
Dinner was waiting for us when we returned. It was an awful
cold fish dish served with more rice and cooked vegetables. At
least the level of flies sitting our plates had decreased
along with the sunlight. Fruit is dessert. I was disappointed
by the news that we were spending the night at this place
instead of one of the other floating barges up the river which
were lovely. Longboats took most of the people to the other
barges which we later found out were even worse that ours. We
had two other couples staying with us. Ann & Peter were from
northern England , Frans and Christine from SW England. We sat
and talked until 9 at one of the tables. Everyone brought out
what snacks were squirreled away in their bags. The beds
weren’t too bad but the roar of the generator outside hid the
soothing sound of the river beneath us.
The generator went off during the night
which was a nice relief to our sleep. We were surprised at how
good we slept and how nice the mattress was. Breakfast wasn’t
bad. AD was thrilled to not see rice served. We loaded in the
back of a truck and drove 45 minutes to Erawan National Park
where there are a series of waterfalls. It was a beautiful
park. We walked from the parking area up the mountainside by
falls #1 up to #7 at the top. It was a difficult climb. The
water at the top was crystal clear and blue. We swam for a
while and headed down slowly to falls #4 which was the biggest
pool.
The fish in the pool were quite aggressive and nibbled at our
legs. It was amazing how many fish there were in the pools. We
made it down and weren’t last which was a surprise.
They drove us back to the barge/restaurant to eat lunch which
AD refused to eat. After lunch we boarded the pickup again and
went to the Hellfire Pass Memorial Museum. The museum is
located above the site where the POWs had to quarry through a
rock outcropping with hand tools to build a section of the
railroad. There is a nice exhibit about the plight of the
POWs. After the museum, you can walk down to the Hellfire
pass. It’s amazing.
We stopped at Saiyok-Noi waterfall after the memorial. I
stripped to my underpants and went in the pool. It was worth
it to cool down again. No one had much of a sense of humor
left after the rides and hiking of the day. They took us back
to the barge and for dinner, you got it, rice and fish. Our
partners from last night were gone and we had a new group of
young Canadians to spend the evening with.
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AD Journal |
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