Thailand:: Kanchanaburi: War Cemetery
Due to time constraint, I will write my day trip in several posts. I'm going to share my Kanchanaburi travelogue first although I went there on the second last day of my trip. The only reason is I enjoyed this trip the most. Being a city folk, it's a total different experience when I was thoroughly immersed in green and beauty of the Mother Nature.I booked my tour at THB 1200 and the travel agent picked me up early in the morning. All the tour members were then transferred to a coach and continued the journey to Kanchanaburi province on a 3-hour ride from Bangkok.
The first stop was Death Railway Museum. This museum mainly showcase the history of building the Death Railway. During World War II, the Japanese army transferred the Prisoners of War (POW) from Indonesia and Singapore to Thailand to construct the Death Railway. The railway was built from 2 starting points at Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand and the ending points were then connected upon completion. Due to terrific working condition, scarcity of food and medication as well as torture from the brutal Japanese army, many POWs suffered and lost their lives. Live for nothing or die for the Death Railway. (you know what I'm talking about if you watch Rambo IV :P)
After spending some time touring the museum to have a grasp on the history and background, it's time to visit the War Cemetery. The location was so near to the museum that the tourists could see it while sipping the complementary tea from the museum cafe. This cemetery house the gravestones of the POWs, mainly British, Australians and Dutch. There were stupendous POWs from the Malaya also died while building the Death Railway. Blood had shed but too bad the cemetery was nowhere to be seen.
It's drizzling all day so we were not allowed to walk on the grass and have a closer look at the headstone. The cemetery was well maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The gardeners were still working in spite of the rainy day.
One of the headstones. RIP.
Overlooking all these headstones did make me feel like I was in the ending scene of Saving Private Ryan. Sad and meanwhile I feel grateful that there's no war in my homeland.
Lastly, a short video of the war cemetery.
The first stop was Death Railway Museum. This museum mainly showcase the history of building the Death Railway. During World War II, the Japanese army transferred the Prisoners of War (POW) from Indonesia and Singapore to Thailand to construct the Death Railway. The railway was built from 2 starting points at Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand and the ending points were then connected upon completion. Due to terrific working condition, scarcity of food and medication as well as torture from the brutal Japanese army, many POWs suffered and lost their lives. Live for nothing or die for the Death Railway. (you know what I'm talking about if you watch Rambo IV :P)
After spending some time touring the museum to have a grasp on the history and background, it's time to visit the War Cemetery. The location was so near to the museum that the tourists could see it while sipping the complementary tea from the museum cafe. This cemetery house the gravestones of the POWs, mainly British, Australians and Dutch. There were stupendous POWs from the Malaya also died while building the Death Railway. Blood had shed but too bad the cemetery was nowhere to be seen.
It's drizzling all day so we were not allowed to walk on the grass and have a closer look at the headstone. The cemetery was well maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The gardeners were still working in spite of the rainy day.
One of the headstones. RIP.
Overlooking all these headstones did make me feel like I was in the ending scene of Saving Private Ryan. Sad and meanwhile I feel grateful that there's no war in my homeland.
Lastly, a short video of the war cemetery.
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posted by YeeJen at 12:41:00 AM
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