Bangkok: March 2006

Our cutural correspondent, Po Scard, presents a special supplement to our feature on Ray and Nikki's visit to Bangkok and gives us a more detailed insight into the story behind the Bridge on the River Kwai.

Although it is listed as a Bangkok attraction, the Bridge on the River Kwai is actually located in Kanchanaburi Province, about 130 kilometres west of Bangkok. Ray took one day to make a special trip to see both the bridge, and the cemetery that is dedicated to the lives of soldiers who died during it's construction.

"I had wanted to visit this place ever since I was a kid" Ray told me. "My uncle had been a big fan of the movie that made the bridge famous and I remember seeing it many years ago" he added.

An image of a poster promoting the movie that made the bridge famous, with Sir Alec Guinness (right) who starred in the film. The bridge is famous today because of the 1957 movie, although most of the film was shot in Sri Lanka.

When Ray arrived at the site, he was first of all shown the Kanchanaburi cemetery.

The entrance to the war cemetery at Kanchanaburi

"I learned on arrival about the history behind the construction of the bridge, which was both fascinating and horrifying at the same time" said Ray.

After entering the second world war at the end of 1941, Japanese forces quickly overran most of South East Asia. In 1942, they decided to use prisoners of war and civilian labour to build a secure railway line that would shorten the supply line between Burma (now Myanmar) and Siam (now Thailand). The project cost the lives of approximately 15,000 prisoners of war and 100,000 civilians, mainly from sickness malnutrition, exhaustion and mistreatment. Over 5,000 Commonwealth and 1,800 Dutch are commemorated in the cemetery located near the site of the Kanchanaburi P.O.W base camp, through which all prisoners passed on arrival.

Above and below: "It is hard to take it in that many of the people who gave their lives (above) are laid to rest in the cemetery (below)" said Ray

Every single person has something written on their headstone. "Although I knew none of these people personally, I was very moved by reading the headstones of each person honoured (below) and it made me think about how precious our lives are" said Ray

The entrance to the cemetery bears this tribute to the men who died (below)

The "Death Railway" was 415 kilometres long (about 303 kilometres in Thailand and about 112 kilometres in Burma) and passed through the Three Pagoda Pass in Sangkhlaburi District, the most northern part of Kanchanaburi province. Construction was begun on September 16, 1942 at Nong Pladuk, Thailand. It is said that the first survey by the Japanese engineers predicted that it would take at least five years to finish this railway line, but the Japanese army forced the prisoners to complete it in only sixteen months. Thus it was completed on 25 December 1943.

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The railway line was hewn from the solid rock cliff-sides. Workers would lower themselves from the top of the cliff, bore a hole and plant a charge of dynamite in the hole, light the fuse and scurry up the rope. If they didn't get far enough away they didn't stand a Chinaman's chance. At the time of the construction the whole region was jungle and the railway opened the land for cultivation and made transport of produce possible.

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A section of the "Death Railway" as it looked in 1943 (above) and how it look's today (below)

Ray told me that most people do not know there was a small technical problem with the Bridge over the River Kwai at the time the movie was made; it doesn't actually cross the River Kwai! 

"Pierre Boulle, who wrote the original book, had never been there" said Ray.  He knew that the "Death Railway" ran parallel to the River Kwai for many miles, and assumed that it was the Kwai which it crossed just North of Kanchanaburi" he added.

"He was wrong - it actually crosses the Mae Khlung.  When David Lean's blockbuster came out, the Thais faced something of a problem.  Thousands of tourists came flocking to see the bridge over the River Kwai, and they hadn't actually got one! All they had was a bridge over the Mae Khlung.  So, with admirable lateral thinking, they renamed the river.  The Mae Khlung is now the Kwai Yai ('Big Kwai') for several miles north of the confluence with the Kwai Noi ('Little Kwai'), including the bit under the bridge" he told me.

There were actually two bridges, both built by prisoners of war - a wooden bridge was completed in February 1943, superseded a few months later by the steel bridge which you see today.  The steel bridge spans were brought from Java by the Japanese, and are all original apart from the two straight-sided spans which were installed after the war to replace spans destroyed by allied bombing in 1945.

The River Kwai Bridge as it is today - Ray's favourite Bangkok attraction!

The bridge is about 5 kilometres from the centre of Kanchanaburi and it is now surrounded on the Kanchanburi side by a museum, cafes, shops and a couple of steam locomotives on static display.  You can walk across the bridge on the wooden planks, but you are warned to make way for the passenger trains when one comes along (if this sounds foolhardy, remember that there is a 10 km/h speed restriction for trains across the bridge, and they all hoot like mad..!). "I am really glad I have been to see this historic sight and include it as a 'must see' for anyone who visitsBangkok"saidRay.

"Walking across the Bridge really takes you back in time and is an eery experience" said Ray

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Above and below: It is possible to take a train ride across the bridge and for several miles along the original railway line (above), although some of the original sections have had to be strengthened (below)

If you want to know more about the Bridge and it's history, there are many web sites. Try this one (Bridge on the River Kwai) or use one of the search engines to build a list of other sites.

PO SCARD; March 2006

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