River Kwai

Father's Day is a very important holiday in Thailand, on account of it being the birthday of His Majesty The King. To celebrate, employees get a long weekend off from school. This year, I decided to revisit one of my very favorite Thai provinces, Kanchanaburi to see the annual River Kwai Festival which takes place on the first week of December every year.

I hadn't been back to Kanchanaburi in two years. I would have liked to visit Erawan National Park again, but I didn't quite have the time. I definitely enjoyed the town though, and I have never once been disappointed by the sunsets over the River Kwai.





The River Kwai, of course, is the site of a very important episode from the Second World War, and the subject of both a book and the well-known film starring Sir Alec Guinness (none other than Mr. Ben Kenobi himself). The film tells the true story of the British and Australian POWs who were forced by their Japanese captors to build the "Burmese Death Railway" linking their occupied territories in Southeast Asia. The railway cuts through the mountains at "Hellfire Pass," and finally crosses the river at the infamous bridge. Hundreds of POWs died building the railway.

In remembrance of this history, Kanchanaburi puts on a sound and light show every December at the bridge, telling the story of the bridge's construction with narrative, acting, and fireworks simulating bombs and cannon fire. A Japanese patrol boat cruises back and forth beneath the bridge as an ancient steam locomotive roars across the bridge behind a procession of Allied flags. I got tickets to watch the show from the roof of the War Museum.

The bridge lit up at night during the show (kind of hard to see)

The next morning I walked to the town's main square to go to the Death Railway Museum. The museum is very good and very well-maintained, and holds numerous artifacts donated by the families of former POWs including uniforms, medals, journals, and letters. On the second floor of the museum there is a small café with a huge window that looks out over the POW cemetery with a new large stained-glass window depicting part of the building of the bridge.

stained-glass window

I also spent some time walking around the cemetery. There were a few other foreigners there as well. Some had placed flowers at a few of the tombstones, and one or two had left small Australian flags as well.

Allied War Cemetery

One thing that I really like about Kanchanaburi is how quiet it is- it's possible to walk anywhere you want to go, and there is very little traffic. I have been in Bangkok since October, and I very much needed to get out and have some fresh air and quiet away from all the big city chaos.

Quiet afternoon in Kanchanaburi

The last thing I did during my short trip was visit a large Chinese temple overlooking the river. The temple is very well-designed, and is very different from most temples in Thailand. A huge statue of Guanyin, the Chinese goddess of mercy, look over the bridge.



A Chinese temple on the river

I love the month of December in Thailand, because we get a lot of long weekends! I had Monday off when I went to Kanchanaburi. The next week, I had to work on Tuesday and Wednesday, but then Thursday and Friday was another holiday! I went to Mae Sot again, for the first time this school year. It was remarkably cold at times up in the mountains, and I loved it! I'll write about that soon.

Looking over the river