Triip to Thailand, Laos & Vietnam: Kanchanaburi, River Kwai

The following day was devoted to sightseeing and the River Kwai Festival. My first stop was the JEATH Museum at the lower edge of town. JEATH is an acronym for the primary nations which participated in local action. These nations are: Japan, England, Australia, Thailand and Holland. The museum inside Wat Chai Chumphon has been constructed largely in the form of an Allied Prisoner of War camp which is managed by a Thai monk. The thatched detention hut with cramped, elevated bamboo bunks contains photographic, pictorial and physical memorabilia dating from the Second World War . Some of them are becoming quite faded and hard to read but the place is very moving nonetheless.

A reconstructed guard tower outside one of the huts.

My next stop was the Railroad Museum near one of the cemetaries. Since I had taken many photos of the cemetaries on my last to trips I didn't take any this time. The Railroad Museum is a beautifully organized place focusing more on the mechanics of the railroad. The Japanese had special trucks which could travel on land or on railroad rails.

The town version of a tuk tuk. Some of them had covers.

My hotel street. Deserted in the daytime.

That evening I had an almost front row seat to the River Kwai Festival. Its held every year during the last week of November and the first week of December. Here the announcers begin the program in Thai and English. There was a huge orchestra to the right of them.

The program was in three parts: Before the War, The War and The War is Over. Here monks give blessings to villagers before the war.

Fireworks going off around a statue across the River.Moving stories of three families affected by the war, Japanese, British and Thai. In the section The War is Over there was a huge display of fireworks which were right over my head which was a wonderful experience.

If you are interested, the whole program is on YouTube in four sections.

Before the War:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmmAHJP1k_Q&feature=related

The War:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unSJnIOIUfI&feature=related

The War is Over (Fireworks)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmVXpX3W804&feature=related

The Finale (Music by the Orchestra)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuSTIZ5ycN8&feature=related