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Kanchan, 2,655 kms, touring the war memorials

Got on the bikes this morning for a bit of site-seeing and I was thinking "well, it is almost nice today". But, after a bit of time in the sun my thinking changed to "its still bloody hot today". Too hot to cycle.

I noted that Kanchanaburi is the centre of the district and the jumping off point for a lot of the history relating to the building of the Burma-Siam railway during WW II. We had decided to spend another day here and with the time thought to visit some of the sites in the area.

Started off with heading over to the train station to get some info on catching the train back to Bangkok tomorrow. Gotta love bureaucracy. We rode the train from Bangkok through Kanchanaburi to Nam Toc and the cost to transport the bikes was 70 baht. We cycle part of the way back to Bangkok along the railway routing and, from Kanchanaburi, it is going to cost us 80 baht to carry the bikes back to Bangkok. At this point we don't even both to ask why.

Went over to one of the war cemeteries (there are three or four in the area) and spent a bit of time looking at the site. There are a lot of plaques talking about the human toll regarding the building of the railway but the numbers are all over the place. We've seen total numbers of 200,000 people involved with nearly 100,000 dead to as low as 80,000 involved with an indeterminant number of dead. What is a bit unsettling is that the allied POW's the figures are between 15 and 18 thousand dead. Of the local conscripts, the Thais, Burmese, Vietnamese and so on, the numbers of dead are reported as being as high as 80,000 but these people are almost talked about as an after thought. I suppose that part of the problem is that the graves that are here are of soldiers from countries where there is money (Australia, England, Holland) to commemorate them where as for the conscripts there is not the money nor the will to remember them.

Interestingly, there were about 700 Americans of which half died but all of their bodies were repatriated to the States. So, there is only a small note regarding the US involvement.

From there we crossed the Kwae River and did a bit of a back roads tour. Passed another of the cemetaries and stopped there for a few minutes of reflection. This road took us through a bit of an area that was a transition between the country and the city. Kanchanaburi is a very spread out city and takes a while to cover. So, we were able to cruise along the back roads looking the ever present wats, a bit of agriculture and a lot of just plain quiet road.

Followed the river back to the main highway then back into town stopping at THE BRIDGE. Quite the change, I was here in 1972 and it is quite different now. Most of the cemetaries and other commemorative works (museums etc) were done in the 1990's so what is there now is not what was there when I was here. You see how things have changed when you look at all the tourist oriented stalls and shops that are here. Makes sense when you see the number of people that come to see this part of the country and why.

Cycled from here towards one of the museums, known as the JEATH museum (for Japanese, English, American, Thai and Holland). It is set in a mock up of one of the bamboo huts the prisoners slept in and contained paintings, photos and artifacts of the building of the railway. Many of the paintings were depictions of the tortures the prisoners had inflicted up on them, not for the faint of heart, for sure. A very sobering reminder of inhumane treatment. Between the horrors of the S 21 in Cambodia, the government war museums in Saigon and a few of the other sites along the way, we've seen enough brutality depiction to last a life time. But, it is a part of the history of this area.

By this time the heat was building up and I was really starting to flag. Still not feeling 100% (a long ways from it, actually) so after a very light bite to eat, I headed back to the hotel to crash for the better part of the afternoon. Wendy did a bit of shopping and e-mail work.

Late in the afternoon we went out for a bite to eat and actually had a not too bad meal. A lot of Thai food is HOT(spicey hot, that is) and asking for it with very little spice doesn't seem to make much difference. We went for a dinner last night and in response to the question, "how much spice?", I said "as little as possible". What came was at about the very limit that I could eat in terms of spiceyness. When you finish a meal and your lips are on fire and you can't taste at all what you are eating, I consider that too hot for me. I prefer to taste what I am eating.

Anyway, we both ordered dishes that didn't seem to have any spices (of the fiery kind) and both enjoyed our respective meals. Much nicer this way! With the heat (outside in the air, this time) and the way I am feeling, we are eating a lot less these last couple of days. Wendy tends to eat a small amount in any event so with me not eating much she just scales back a bit as well.

So, tomorrow morning we are catching the train back to Bangkok and that will about wind up this part of the adventure. Wendy has her second dental appointment the day after then we will do a little shopping, pack up the bikes and get ready for the flight on Saturday to Kuala Lumpur and then on to Istanbul the following day. Won't be much for exciting entries for a few days (at least I hope not, don't think we need much for excitement at this time! Mind you, that is pre-supposing that any of the entries to date are exciting.......

PS..... I've been able to add pictures to this entry and the previous one. If the writing doesn't inspire you, hopefully the pictures will at least keep your attention for a few moments.

Cheers!

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