Bangkok (Lonely Planet) - Andrew Burke [195]
Northwest of Kanchanaburi town is the area’s natural playground. Erawan National Park ( 0 3457 4222; admission 200B; 8am-4pm) sports a watery mane of waterfalls visited by locals and tourists out for a day trip of photographs, picnics and swimming. Sai Yok National Park (admission 200B) has more variety: waterfalls, limestone caves, hot springs and accommodation. Tour organisers in Kanchanaburi can arrange day outings to these parks on various expeditions: river kayaking, elephant trekking, waterfall spotting and bamboo rafting.
The limestone hills surrounding Kanchanaburi are famous for their temple caves, an underground communion of animistic spirit worship and traditional Buddhism. Winding arteries burrow into the guts of the caves past bulbous calcium deposits and altars for reclining or meditating Buddhas, surrounded by offerings from pilgrims. Wat Tham Khao Pun (admission by donation; 7am-4pm) is one of the closest cave temples, and is best reached by bicycle. The temple is about 4km from the TAT office and 1km southwest of the Chung Kai cemetery across the railroad tracks and midway up the hill.
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THE DEATH RAILWAY
Kanchanaburi’s history includes a brutal cameo (later promoted to starring) role in WWII. The town was home to a Japanese-run prisoner of war camp, from which Allied soldiers and many others were used to build the notorious Death Railway, linking Bangkok with Burma (now Myanmar). Carving a rail bed out of the 415km stretch of rugged terrain was a brutally ambitious plan by the Japanese, intended to meet an equally remarkable goal of providing an alternative supply route for the Japanese conquest of Burma and other countries to the west. Japanese engineers estimated that the task would take five years to complete. But the railway was completed in a mere 14 months, entirely by forced labour that had little access to either machines or nutrition. A Japanese brothel train inaugurated the line.
Close to 100,000 labourers died as a result of the hard labour, torture or starvation; 13,000 of them were POWs, mainly from Britain, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand and America, while the rest were Asians recruited largely from Burma, Thailand and Malaysia. The POWs’ story was chronicled in Pierre Boulle’s novel The Bridge on the River Kwai and later popularised by the movie of the same name. Many visitors come here specifically to pay their respects to the fallen POWs at the Allied cemeteries.
The original bridge was used by the Japanese for 20 months before it was bombed by Allied planes in 1945. As for the railway itself, only the 130km stretch from Bangkok to Nam Tok remains. The rest was either carted off by Karen and Mon tribespeople for use in the construction of local buildings and bridges, recycled by Thai Railways or reclaimed by the jungle.
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TRANSPORT: KANCHANABURI
Distance from Bangkok 130km
Direction West
Travel Time Two to three hours
Bus Regular buses leave from the Southern Bus Terminal (Map) in Thonburi (2nd/1st class 80/99B; about two hours; every 30 minutes from 4am until 9pm) to Kanchanaburi’s bus station off Th Saengchuto (remember the Kanchanaburi Tourist Information office is right near the bus station). Minibuses do the same trip in as little as 80 minutes for 110B, but your chances of being in a high-speed crash are significantly greater.
Train Kanchanaburi is a stop on the scenic but slow Bangkok Noi–Nam Tok line. Trains leave Bangkok Noi station (Map) in Thonburi at 7.45am and 1.55pm (100B), stopping