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During WWII the Japanese wanted to establish a supply route to Myanmar and India. Using prisoners of war and Asian laborers the ‘death railway’ was built under extreme conditions and many people died, around 100,000 Asian laborers and 16,000 POWs. We visited Hell Fire Pass, a difficult railway cutting through rock where many died.

A view of part of the cut taken from above.

A view along the track area to give a sense of scale.

We visited the museum at the site and I was moved of course. Many veterans and their families have returned to the site. Here is a ceramic ‘Peace Vessel’ made by a former Australian POW installed at the museum. May we all be at peace. May all wounds be healed.

Beautiful Penelope, my roommate.

After the visit to Hell Fire Pass we took the train on the railway built by the POWs to Kanchanaburi where it crosses over the Kwai river, the site of the famous bridge over the River Kwai that was bombed during the war.

On the train overlooking the River Kwai.

The inside of the train.

A huge Kwan Yin statue overlooks the Kwai River Bridge. This is the only female statue that I have seen in Thailand.

At the Kanchanaburi train station we were picked up by rickshaw drivers, a disappearing workforce in Thailand. The drivers were mostly in their 70s! Here is a photo of a family on a motorbike that I took while I was seated in a rickshaw.

Penelope in her rickshaw being walked up the rise of a bridge.

The ‘new’ concrete bridge over the River Kwai.

We stayed at Apple’s Questhouse in Kanchanaburi. We relaxed a bit, had massages and took another rickshaw ride to a small market where I bought two sarongs.

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