Today we drive to Kanchanaburi, the site of the ‘Bridge over River Kwai’, otherwise known as the ‘Death Bridge’. I visit the Death Bridge War Museum next to the Allied forces cemetery, where many of the victims of the bridge project lie. Confusingly there is also a ‘Jeath War Museum’ near the bridge, which I had initially assumed was a mis-spelt translation.
The Death Bridge museum tells the story of the war time construction of the bridge, the Japanese using POWs as slave labour. The most affected were the British troops, with almost seven thousand of the thirty thousand British prisoners dying as a result of over work, beatings, malnutrition and unhygienic conditions. However, of the Burmese people who worked on the bridge, half of them lost their lives.
In the evening, I spend the evening relaxing at the hotel, joining a few others in the lounge area drinking beer. The rooms we have here are rustic bamboo huts that are elevated over the side of the river and marshes.
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