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Kanchanaburi outside the Town Hall is a bustling area. The river bank
functions like the town's main street, with busy ferry landings,
floating restaurants serving succulent freshwater fish and as the
launching pier for Kanchanaburi's notorious disco rafting parties.
The river at this point broadens up to a width of almost a kilometer. It
is here that the floating disco party special, a popular local outing,
originated. The party venue is on a pair of big two storey rafthouses
floating in tandem, one serving as restaurant and the other a disco
floor with powerful disco noise boxes. A tugboat tows out the floating
partyhouse pier down or up river to make merry out in the open waterway.
While in the city, dining or lunching on the floating restaurants lining
the riverbank is an unforgettable experience for the succulent
freshwater fish and the local scene. Ferries laden with farmers, their
bikes and pickups ply the crossing every few minutes. An enlivening
spectacle for diners is the departure of the disco party rafts, floating
their merry ways down river until disappearing around the bend with
their noisy music still reverberating over the water.
Kanchanaburi borders with Myanmar (Burma). A rugged mountain range, the
Tennasarim, and almost impregnable jungle separate the two countries.
British engineers surveyed the indomitable terrain’s in 1905 for a
projected rail route and forthwith declared impossible to build. The
Japanese army did it in 17 months in war-time conditions. A grim toll of
over 100,000 lives was sacrificed to the harsh conditions, mostly
sickness, through malnutrition, lack of medicine and medical care,
resulting in epidemics which wiped out campfulls of POW's and laborers
by the thousands.
Every year, on April 25, friends and relatives of the Allied POW's come
to visit their graves. The main cemetery is opposite Kanchanaburi train
station with 6,982 copper-plaque tombstones. An other is at Chungai
district across the River Kwai with 1,750 headstones. The cemeteries are
immaculately tended all year round.
[ The
Bridge Over the River Kwai
]
The bridge was constructed with dismantled steel spans brought
over from Java. Two of the original spans, with round shape, were
knocked down by Allied bombings to disrupt the death railway operation.
The fallen round spans were then replaced with angular spans as appear
at present.
A unique war-train museum stands at the
foot of the bridge. The significant exhibit is a rail convoy truck fixed
with railway wheels, which bespeaks of the ingenuity of the engineers of
the Japanese Imperial Army.
Annual Light and Sound Festival is held
in the first week of December at the bridge site, re-enacting the
bombing of the bridge for local and foreign tourists.
[
War Museum ]
The museum, located near the River Kwai Bridge, displays the
collection of weapons, tools and utensils of the Allied prisoners of war
and Japanese soldiers during the Second World War.
[
Jeath Museum ]
The museum was built by a monk of Wat Chai
Chumpol in the form of a replica of Allied POW's quarters in a Death
Railway detention camp - a long bamboo hut with earthen floor, like a
henhouse. Raised narrow bamboo bunks lining the two walls, serving as
the living space.
JEATH is the acronym of the nations involved in the Death Railway
construction, namely :
Japan, England, America, Australia, Thailand and Holland.
On the walls are enlarged reproductions
of photos taken during the railway construction and also paintings of
the atrocities inflicted on the POW's. There are also collections of
World war II Artifacts found in the area, including the blown-out shell
of the bomb that was supposed to have downed the Bridge Over the River
Kwai.
[ The
Death Railway ]
The Death Railway line is still in operation. The rail line
snakes through scenic and thrilling natural terrain. The whole train,
hugging the mountainside at a dizzy height over raging river far below,
creeps over the World War II rail line laid on creaking wood-trestles.
The Death Railway train ride runs on a regular schedule. The train
leaves Kanchanaburi Station at 10.31 am., chugs over the Bridge on the
River Kwai at 10.35am., or thereabout, en route Namtok Station at
12.30pm There is a combination tour to the renowned Saiyoke Waterfall.
Picnic on the train is not frowned upon.
[ Kanchanburi
Town Gate ]
This is the remain of Kanchanaburi town built in 1833 during the reign
of King Rama III. It is located on Lak Muang Road near the meeting point
of the Kwai Yai and Kwai Noi Rivers.
[ The
Death Railway ]
On Saeng Chuto Road, opposite the railway station, it contains
the remains of 6,982 prisoners of war who perished during the
construction of the "Death Railway".
[ The
Chong Kai War Cemetery ]
2 kilometers south of town, on the bank of the Kwai Noi River, this
occupies the former site of the Chong Kai Prisoner of War Camp. This
second cemetery is more peaceful, attractively landscaped, and contains
some 1,750 remains.
[
Wat Tham Mankhon Thong ]
Situated 4 kilometers from town on the bank of the Kwai Noi River. It is
well known for the incredible performance of the nun floating in a deep
pool. There is a small museum where a variety of ancient objects found
in the area are on display.
[
Wat Tham Phu Wa ]
The monastery in natural surroundings, famous for meditation, is 15
kilometers away from the provincial capital. There is a beautiful cave
with plenty of stalactites.
[
Somdet Phra Sri Nakarin Park ]
Situated in Kanchanaburi’s Agricultural College at Tambon Nong Ya,
9 kilometers from town, it is also known as "the Stone Garden" which
abounds with stones of different sizes and shapes in its large area.
[
Wat Tham Sua and
Wat Tham Khao Noi ]
Located at Tambon Muang Chum, 4 kilometers
beyond Wachiralongkorn
Dam, these two adjacent temples house very beautiful Thai and Chinese
style buildings and huge Buddha images situated on the mount.
[
Ban Kao National Museum ]
The museum, some 35 kilometers from town, was constructed beside
a Neolithic burial site discovered by Dutch prisoners of war during the
construction of the "Death Railway". Specimens of Neolithic remains are
on display. It is open from 9.00 a.m. – 4.30 p.m. on Wednesday to Sunday
and closed on Monday and Tuesday.
[ Kanchanaburi
Cultural Centre ]
The collection center of human life styles from the past till the
present is displayed at the Rajpatara Institute of Kanchanaburi, 14
kilometers out of town on the route to Sai Yok.
[
Wat Pa Lelaib ]
This monastery is 18 kilometers away from the provincial capital.
It is located at Tambon Lat Ya which once was an ancient border town
involved in battles between the Thai and the Burmese during the
Ayutthaya period to the early Bangkok period. Another nearby temple
called Wat Khun Phaen houses a ruined pagoda dating back to the early
Ayutthaya period. |