KANCHANABURI

  • Kanchanaburi province.

  • 108,000.

  • TAT, Saeng Chuto Rd, Kanchanaburi Tel: (0-3451-1200). 

  • daily.

  • Khwae River Bridge Week (Nov/Dec).

Though surrounded by beautiful limestone hills and vast expanses of sugar cane, Kanchanaburi is best known for its associations with the infamous Burma-Siam Railroad. Constructed in 1942–3 it crosses over the Khwae Yai River just to the north of Kanchanaburi town center. At the small station beside the bridge are a number of steam locomotives dating from the period. There is also a memorial to those who died during the war, which was erected by the Japanese administration in 1944. Today, 77 km (47 miles) of the railroad remain, and the trip along it from Kanchanaburi to Nam Tok is one of the most interesting in Thailand. The Thailand-Burma Railroad Center  is a small museum charting the history of this railroad. The building of the railroad cost the lives of more than 100,000 Asian laborers and 12,000 Allied prisoners of war. The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery , contains the graves of almost 7,000 mostly British and Australian prisoners and is one of two war cemeteries in the town. It is immaculately maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

The smaller of the two cemeteries, Chong Kai Cemetery , contains 1,740 graves and lies on the north bank of the Khwae Noi River, a short ferry ride from the center of town. Nearby is Wat Tham Khao Pun , overlooking the river and the Burma-Siam Railroad, which at this point heads south toward Ban Kao and Prasat Muang Sing. In the grounds of the wat  complex a network of narrow passages leads through a cave system filled with Buddha images.

In the JEATH War Museum , housed in Wat Chai Chumphon, visitors can see three replicas of the bamboo huts used to house prisoners of war in the camps that sprang up along the Burma-Siam Railroad during the war. The huts display paintings, sketches, and photographs of life in the camps and along the railroad line. JEATH is an acronym for Japan, England, Australia and America, Thailand, and Holland, some of the countries whose nationals worked on the railroad. Many survivors and victims’ relatives visit Kanchanaburi each year.

Accommodations here include riverside raft houses.



Farmers cultivating crops in the hills around Kanchanaburi


KANCHANABURI WAR CEMETERY

 



  • Saeng Chuto Rd.

  • daily.



CHONG KAI CEMETERY

 



  • Ban Kao Rd.

  • daily.



JEATH WAR MUSEUM

 



  • Wisuttharangsi Rd.

  • daily.



THAILAND-BURMA RAILROAD CENTER

 



  • 73 Jaokunneu Rd.

  • daily.


THE BRIDGE OVER THE KHWAE YAI RIVER AND THE BURMA-SIAM RAILROAD

The first railroad bridge over the Khwae Yai River, near Kanchanaburi, was built of wood, using Allied and Asian slave labor. In 1943 it was abandoned for an iron bridge, which was repeatedly bombed and damaged by the US Army Air Force from late 1944 on. In 1945, after only a short period in service, the bridge was put out of commission. After the war this infamous river crossing was immortalized in David Lean’s movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai  (1957). The bridge was part of an immense project, the 414-km (255-mile) Burma-Siam Railroad, conceived by the Japanese after the Allies blockaded sea routes in 1942. It ran from Nong Pladuk, 50 km (30 miles) southeast of Kanchanaburi, to Thanbyuzayat near the coast in Burma. Built under appalling conditions, it operated for only two years. Around 60,000 Allied prisoners of war and 300,000 Asian laborers were forced to work 18-hour shifts on its construction, with many losing their lives to cholera, malaria, malnutrition, and most tragically to maltreatment. It is said that one man died for each tie laid. One reason for the brutal regime was that the Japanese followed a samurai code. They despised the disgrace of surrender and treated the Allied prisoners of war as if they had forfeited all human rights. The present-day bridge at Kanchanaburi was rebuilt, as part of Japanese war reparations, with two girders from the Japan Bridge Company of Osaka. It has now become a place of pilgrimage for veterans. Kanchanaburi has two cemeteries and a museum, the latter, in particular, presenting a moving evocation of this harrowing episode of World War II history.



Steel bridge over the Khwae Yai River, Kanchanaburi

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