Last weekend, the entire group went with Father Kelly to Kanchanaburi. Kanchanaburi is a province in Thailand about 3 hours west of Bangkok. Kanchanaburi is home to the "Death Railway", "Hellfire Pass", and the River Kwai. All three of these are intricate parts of Thailands history in World War II.
We all woke up early on Friday and took a bus to the "Death Railway". We boarded the train and took it for about an hour and a half to Kanchanburi. The train rides over the bridge that is the bridge of "The Bridge Over River Kwai". Once we got off, we had lunch and took our bus to our hotel. What we thought was our hotel when we pulled in by bus turned out to be the dock where we jumped on a boat that took us along the River Kwai to our floating hotel. The small bungalows where we stayed had no electricity, and we ate dinner on a dock that would rock when a boat passed in the water.
All of us enjoyed the afternoon and went floating down the river. It was like our own amusement park. We all walked to the last bungalow, held hands, and jumped into the river to then let the current take us to a dock farther down. We probably rode the river 10 times. Father Kelly even joined in on some of the fun by floating down the river and drinking a beer with all of us. We did a little exploring of the village where we were staying, but in general had a relaxing afternoon sitting on our dock and swinging in our hammocks.
That night we had dinner and relaxed by the lanterns that were our only source of light. I slept under a mosquito net for the first time in my life which was kinda fun. The next day we all woke up and went to see Hellfire Pass. Hellfire Pass is the site where the Japanese built a railroad to help them in combat during World War II. In order to build the railroad that became known as Hellfire Pass, the Japanese took thousands of Australians, British, and Dutch soldiers as POWs to built the railroad. The entire railroad was built using a method called "Hammer and Tap". These POWs hammered away at the rock by hand to carve a railroad into the side of this mountain. The work was grueling and the conditions were atrocious. The railway that you can walk along is lined with memorials for soldiers and Austrailian flags in remembrance of the soldiers who died building the railroad.
We all hiked the 4KM along Hellfire Pass. It was gorgeous and we were had a listening guide that told us stories about the soldiers and their experiences during the war. At one of the stops we were able to look into the distance and see the mountains of Myanmar, then known as Burma. The trail is both a place of gorgeous, lush, green scenery and a place where there was once great cruelty, mistreatment of humans, and lives lost.
We then went to the Kanchanaburi War Cemetary. The cemetery is filled with Australians, British, and Dutch soldiers who died building the railway during WWII for the Japanese. The most heartbreaking part of the cemetery are the messages that are placed on the gravestones for the soldiers from their mothers, fathers, siblings, wives, and children. The cemetery is gorgeous, and makes you think about these families that come to Thailand to the site where not only their family members are buried, but died. These soldiers weren't shipped home to be buried like the American soldiers.
Going to Kanchanaburi was an awesome experience. Not only was it beautiul, but it opened my eyes to WWII history and Thailand history that I didnt know about. The history in Asia is so different then the history of Europe, and getting to experiene the history of war in the Pacific was really interesting.
We all got back on the bus and drove back to Bangkok on Saturday night. We all decided to go to Khao San Road for a night out. Khao San is the Bourbon Street of Bangkok. It is filled with backpackers from all over. The street is filled with stalls trying to sell you cheap clothing and food. All along the street are bars and clubs that sell drinks that you can walk down the street with. It is an experience that everyone who comes to Bangkok should have. Khao San is known to be wild and it was, though I didn't eat a scorpion.
On Sunday, I got Mexican food that made my heart melt and my tummy happy!!!
