For the last couple of years our landlord, Lung Seri, has been talking about taking our family to Kanchanaburi, a province about 120 kilometers west of Bangkok that is famous for its natural beauty and World War II historical sites. During the war, Japan invaded Thailand without a fight (the Thai government decided it would be better to officially ally with them rather than face certain destruction in a war) and the Japanese then set about building a railroad linking Thailand and Burma. This became the infamous "death railway" and includes the well-known "Bridge over the River Kwai." Over 100,000 people died building the railroad. Something like 16,000 of them were prisoners-of-war (mostly British, Australian, and Dutch). The rest were civilians who had been conscripted to help - some from Thailand and many from other Asian countries.
So, this past Sunday we set out with Ulai, Seri, and their son in a rented van to visit Kanchanaburi for the first time. Our teammate, Colleen, also went with us. They put a lot of thought into this trip and were very generous hosts. They had carefully planned out every stop - even our mid-morning coffee break! It was a long, hot day, but we had a very good time. It was fun to spend time with them and it was also very interesting to see some of these historical sites.
We visited the Allied cemetery with its thousands of graves. It's a beautifully-maintained memorial ground. Most of the markers have names and ages (it was sobering to note that almost all of the soldiers who died were younger than I am) but there is also a whole section where the stones just read "Known to God."
For our second stop we jumped ahead to the Vietnam War era. Lung Seri spent several years fighting in Vietnam alongside the American troops. Here he is at the memorial for Thai soldiers who were killed in Vietnam, showing us the list of soldiers who were from his company.
A helicopter like the one Seri frequently flew in during the war.
The famous Bridge Over the River Kwai. It's really not that much to look at. We walked across it -an exciting experience with children since there's just a narrow place to walk and no guard rails! We also had to dodge the little train that pulls tourists across.
Lunch on a floating restuarant beside the bridge.
A WWII-era locomotive in the museum.
And this, apparently, is a WWII-era CD player. The museum was unlike anything I've ever seen. It had the strangest assortment of stuff - skeletons, Miss Thailand gowns, old clocks, and hundreds of pictures and drawings. Most of these depicted World War II scenes, but there was also one of Napoleon and one of Martin Luther who "set up a new Sect called the Protestant, did not respect the Pope in Rome."
This iguana outside the museum was one of the highlights of the day for the kids. Here Silas is explaining to the other boys that it is a "lizard!"
On our way back to Bangkok we stopped at the country palace of King Rama VI (early 20th c). The buildings were already closed for the day but the grounds were peaceful and beautiful and Silas was delighted by the many free-ranging chickens.
Before going home they took us out to eat another big seafood meal at one of our favorite local restaurants.
It's very typical of our Thai friends to talk about taking us to different parts of Thailand, and most of the time, it's just good intentions that don't turn into reality. In this case, it was really fun to actually go on a day trip and enjoy the hospitality of our friends while discovering another aspect of Thailand's history.
