Gone There, Seen That: Kanchanaburi

Kancha...

Kanchanaburi

Say it again, please?

Kan-chan-a-bur-i

Okay. I'll let you say it. My bear brain doesn't say it right.

Well, Captain, if you remember, we visited Kanchanaburi in the middle of the rainy season. Glad we remembered the umbrella!

The day started out really nice, too. Then, as soon as we finished at the Death Railway? It was like being in a hurricane, without the bad winds!

I would say you were exaggerating, Captain, but, you're not. I've never seen it rain that much and for that long before! It rained for hours!

But let's start by showing the Death Railway. It's not spooky or anything, it was the railway built during World War II by the Japanese.

Well, the Japanese didn't actually build it. They forced British, Australian, American, and other Allied prisioners of war to build it. They completed all 414 kilometers in 16 months!

That was a lot of hard work!

Unfortunately, it was nicknamed the Death Railway because over 100,000 people died building it.

We did not ride the railway, which you can do through Hellfire Pass, because of the rainy forecast. We did visit the Bridge over the River Kwai.

Which is not pronounced "Kw-ii" with a long I sound. That means water buffalo. Instead, it's pronounced Kw-aa, with a long A sound.

That's not how they say it in the movie.

And it won't be the last time Hollywood gets something wrong.

True!

So here are pictures of the bridge and a cemetery commemorating the POWs who died building it.

There are several museums in the area. We went to the World War II and JEATH War Museum (Japan, East Asia, Thailand).

Another popular museum is near the cemetery.

The War Cemetery has people from many different Allied countries there.

And then this is when the rains began! We drove to Wat Ban Tham temple, but were unable to go up the steep steps in the heavy rain.

We would have been washed away, Spike! The water was coming down the steps like a waterfall! We plan to return and walk through the dragon during the dry season.

We did, however, get to Wat Tham Sua.

We chose not to walk up the stairs since it was still raining.

Instead, we took the little cable car up.

Once in the temple, the rain lightened up some and we were able to look around. The giant Buddha was quite impressive in size, and the views of the rice paddies were amazing!