Bangkok (Lonely Planet) - Andrew Burke [194]
The simple JEATH War Museum (Th Pak Phraek; admission 30B; 8.30am-6pm) operates in the grounds of a local temple and has reconstructions of the long bamboo huts used by the POWs as shelter. Inside are various photographs, drawings, maps, weapons, paintings by POWs and other war memorabilia. The acronym JEATH represents the ill-fated meeting of Japan, England, Australia/America, Thailand and Holland at Kanchanaburi during WWII. The war museum is at the end of Th Wisuttharangsi (Visutrangsi). The common Thai name for this museum is pí·pí·tá·pan sǒng·krahm wát đâi (Wat Tai War Museum).
The pick of the museums is the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre ( 0 3451 2721; www.tbrconline.com; 73 Th Jaokannun; child/adult 50/100B; 9am-5pm), where interactive exhibits, short films and clear descriptions provide the context of the Japanese aggression in Southeast Asia, detail their plans for the railway and describe the horrors faced by those prisoners who worked and died constructing it. Give yourself a full hour to read through the museum, and stop for a coffee upstairs for sweeping views across the cemetery. Ex-POWs and their families get special treatment.
The Kanchanaburi Allied War Cemetery (Th Saengchuto; admission free; 7am-6pm) is the final resting place of about 7000 prisoners who died while working on the railway. The cemetery is meticulously maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (www.cwgc.org), and the rows of headstones are identical except for the names and the short, moving epitaphs. It’s just around the corner from the riverside guesthouses.
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THE RIVER WHAT?
Try as you might, you will find few Thais who have ever heard of the River Kwai. The river over which the Death Railway trundled is pronounced much like ‘quack’ without the ‘-ck’. If spelled phonetically, ‘Kwai’ should be ‘Khwae’. In the mispronounced river live Ъlah yêe·sòk, the most common edible fish in this area and the model for the city’s fish-shaped street signs.
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Less visited is the Chung Kai Allied War Cemetery (admission free; 7am-6pm), where about 1700 graves are kept a short and scenic bike ride from central Kanchanaburi. Take the bridge across the river through picturesque corn and sugarcane fields until you reach the cemetery on your left.
Around Kanchanaburi
Viewing the bridge and war museums doesn’t quite communicate the immense task of bending the landscape with human muscle that was involved in building the Death Railway. A better understanding comes from a visit to the excellent Hellfire Pass Memorial (Rte 323; 9am-4pm), an Australian–Thai Chamber of Commerce memorial and museum dedicated to the POW labourers, 75km north of Kanchanaburi. A crew of 1000 prisoners worked for 12 weeks to cut a pass through the mountainous area dubbed Hellfire Pass. Nearly 70% of them died in the process. An interactive museum is enhanced by several short films. Below the museum is a walking trail along the track itself and through Hellfire Pass.
Hellfire Pass and the Tiger Temple (below) are accessed via the road running west from Kanchanaburi to Sangkhlaburi and the Myanmar border. It’s easy to arrange tours from Kanchanaburi, or take a bus toward Sangkhlaburi (6am, 8.40am, 10.20am and noon) and ask the driver to drop you near your destination. The last return bus leaves Sangkhlaburi at 1.15pm and takes five hours to reach Kanchanaburi. Alternatively, rent a motorbike (per day 150B) or taxi (return to Hellfire Pass, about 1300B; to the Tiger Temple, 600B).
One of Kanchanaburi’s more bizarre tourist destinations is Wat Pa Luangta Bua Yannasampanno (www.tigertemple.org; admission 500B; 8.30am-noon & 1.30-5pm), known colloquially as the Tiger Temple. After gaining a reputation as a refuge for wounded animals, the temple received its first tiger cub in 1999 and has accumulated dozens more since. During visiting hours, the cats are led around a quarry and, for a hefty fee, will pose for photos