Bridge Over the River Kwai

I took an all day tour today to see a bit more of central Thailand and learn a history lesson. I remember watching the famous movie "The Bridge Over the River Kwai," but I couldn't remember all the details. So, I took a tour of the "Jeath War Museum" (the word Jeath replaces Death because it is too horrific and it stands for the people involved in building this railway and famous bridge (J-Japan, E-England, A-America and Australia, T-Thailand, H-Holland). The photos, diary accounts and publicity about the atrocities at the PoW and work camps were unbelievable. The original estimate for building the building of 415 kilometer Death Railway, including the famous bridge, between Thailand and Burma was 5 years. The Japanese soldiers impressed 200,000 laborers from India, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Burma and Thailand and used 30,000 PoW's to finish the railway in 16 months. When the railway was completed on Christmas Day in 1943, half of the impressed laborers and more than 16,000 PoW's had died in the process! The death railway was in use for 20 months before the Allied Forces bombed it in 1945.

From the somber Jeath Museum, I took a boat with Charlie, woman from England, and Jan, a guy from Norway, along the river to the famous bridge. Photos of our bridge walk are above.

After walking on the bridge we took a train ride on the railway, including the famous Hell-Fire Pass (photo above). Then, relaxed with lunch at beautiful waterfall in the area. It was a sad history lesson to learn, but a beautiful day trip in central Thailand.