Kanchaniburi, Thailand

Kanchaniburi is a small town about three hours west of Bangkok, situated on the banks of the Kwai River. It's claim to fame is the infamous Bridge Over the River Kwai, which was built by Allied prisoners of war during World War II. The extremely harsh conditions the prisoners endured are chronicled in the JEATH War Musuem. There are also two war cemeteries in the area.

Albert, Betsy, and Betsy's cousin Stephen Sipos took a day trip to Kanchaniburi from Bangkok. We took the train there, which was quite an uncomfortable experience. The seats were wooden, the was no air-conditioning, and even the fan by our seats was broken! Kanchaniburi, with the Kwai River running through it, is quite beautiful. Whereas the area around Bangkok is flat, there are limestone hills near Kanchaniburi. The residents build raft houses that are moored close to the bank and accessed by short gangplanks. We ate lunch at a restaurant on one of these raft houses - it was pleasant to sit out on the river.

The famous bridge is nothing spectacular to look at, and no, it wasn't actually blown up during WWII, as it is in the movie. The train crosses the bridge several times a day, but other than that it is open to pedestrians. In fact, we were on the bridge when this train appeared in the distance, but we had plenty of time to walk to the end and find a good place to take a picture. It was quite hot while we were there, and the calm water of the river looked quite inviting. Below, Stephen contemplates jumping in.

Although we enjoyed seeing the town and the bridge, the really poignant part of the experience was the visit to the War Museum. The museum is a collection of pictures, articles, and letters that depict the experience of the POW's. The long list of atrocities they suffered was very moving.

From the bridge, we needed to get back into the central part of town to catch a bus back to Bangkok. Since there didn't seem to be any standard taxis around, we hired three motorbike taxis. This involved riding pillion with a stranger on a very small bike - it was quite uncomfortable. The fare for the two and a half hour bus ride back to Bangkok was 68 baht. Betsy was shocked at this outrageous price, until she realized that is a little over US$1.50!

Home ~ Travel ~ Bangkok ~ Phuket ~ Ayuthaya