Why did we choose to take a short trip to Kanchanaburi while we were staying in Bangkok? We had gotten a little tired of the smog and noise of the city after spending 5 days there so we decided to go get some fresh air! Kanchanaburi is a quick 2 hour minibus ride away from Bangkok so a two day, one night trip was in the cards.

Day 1 – The Death Railway

We didn’t know much about Kanchanaburi before deciding to take the trip, so we did a little reading and decided our plans on the ride there. The province and city of Kanchanaburi are located in a strategic location in Thailand as it is where the “Three Pagodas Pass” lies. This pass marks the “easiest” route through the mountains to neighboring Burma. The Japanese used this route to construct the infamous Thailand-Burma railway during WWII. This railroad included the famous Bridge over the River Kwai which lies right outside of town.

Referred to as the “Death Railway” because of the 12,000 Allied POWs and 90,000 Asian laborors who perished building it, the railway was intended to be an overland route to Burma which would allow the Japanese to avoid the straights of Malacca, where they were losing ships to Allied naval attack. However, the Japanese were only able to use the railway for about one year due to strategic Allied bombing that rendered the railway useless in 1944.

We learned about this railway during our visit to the Thailand-Burma Railway Center located in central Kanchanaburi town. It is an excellent museum that describes the living conditions of those building the railway and the type of work they were forced to do under their Japanese and Korean supervisors.

Right next to the museum lies the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, the final resting place for 7,000 of the Allied POW’s who died building the railway. The vast majority of the Allied POWs who perished were British and Dutch (only about 100 americans) so the cemetery is run by the Commonwealth Graves Service of Britain and serves as a peaceful resting place for those buried there.

One very unfortunate fact that we learned while at the museum and cemetery is that there is not a single grave or memorial for any of the 90,000 Asian laborers who died constructing the railway. Not a single one. It is absolutely astonishing that so many men can go completely unaccounted for after death, as if their lives meant nothing. It is an unfortunate example of how non-westerners have been treated very differently than westerners throughout history.

Day 2 – Erawan National Park

Our second day was starkly different than the first. The first day was a somber lesson about the darker side of humanity, whereas the second day in Kanchanaburi was a wonderful day exploring the natural beauty of Erawan National Park. The park protects a large area of natural Jungle in the western portion of Thailand and is home to the Erawan Falls, a seven tiered waterfall with many little swimming holes.

Reaching all of the waterfalls required an hour or two of hiking, but it was well worth the hike all the way to the top. Most of the falls have little swimming holes where you can take a quick dip, and some even had some natural rock waterslides.

The water is full of minerals which gives it a smokey bluish color and causes the rocks to become a tannish color over time. The swimming holes are also full of fish that like to nibble on your toes when your aren’t moving. Very ticklish!

Overall the trip was very informative as well as relaxing. It was a welcome break from the hectic big city of Bangkok.