I was thinking about going here, but it was the flight back to Bangkok that made the decision for me. On the New York to Seoul leg my seat had one of those personal entertainment systems. One of the movie choices was, well, see the title of this post: the David Lean classic starring Alec Guinness and William Holden. I took it as a sign from Above that if a movie from 1957 shows up on the screen on the back of the seat in front of me then I should probably go. I'm thankful for the divine encouragement.
This of course isn't the bridge, since Alec Guinness blew it up at the end of the movie. Actually, that's not what really happened. Brace yourselves for this revelation: The Hollywood movie isn't historically accurate. And today the transliteration of the river's name is Kwae, not Kwai.
The bridge was part of the "Death Railway," which the Japanese built to connect Thailand to Burma. An estimated 15,000 POWs and 100,000 civilians died building the railway. Remains of 7,000 Allied prisoners are buried in the exquisitely landscaped Kanchanaburi War Cemetery.
The graves are all identical. I was strangely moved by the stark contrast between the sentiment of the epitaphs and the uniform plainness of the headstones.
And I'm not ashamed to admit I got a little choked up when I saw this, which someone had placed on a large cross in the center of the cemetery. The year of his birth isn't visible, but the note says Sgt Albert Slaughter was "The last of his platoon" before he passed away in October. Why would anyone who helped build the Death Railway return? To run in the River Kwai Half Marathon in 1987!
There's a museum by the bridge. Some of the exhibits are morbid, even given the subject matter. This shows the destruction of the bridge.
But while the floor is festooned with scantily clad statues in various states of dismemberment the ceiling is covered with whimsical and colorful paintings of Thai proverbs. This one says "Feeds the elephant and eats its stool" followed by its meaning: "Using one's own authority in career to misappropriate somebody else's fund."
Thus, a painting of a man eating elephant poop.
Since I'm a film nerd I thought this excursion would get filed in the "Thing that may interest only me" category but I was surprised at how popular the bridge is as a tourist attraction. The anti-government protest that shut down the airport last year was expected to hurt tourism here, but my hostel is full and this was the crowd on the bridge.
Here is the obligatory self-portrait during a relative lull in traffic.
It's been noted that all my pictures of me look alike, with scenery in the background and me in the front right corner. That's because I take the pix myself. There's only so much posing you can do while taking a photo of yourself by holding the camera at arm's length. When people see me doing it they inevitably ask if I would like them to take a photo of me. It would be impolite to refuse, so I let them, but mine are usually better!
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