Thailand's Central Thailand
Kanchanaburi
One of Thailand’s most picturesque mountain regions, Kanchanaburi’s startling beauty is often overshadowed by its dark wartime legacy. However, with its inspiring scenery and intriguing history, Kanchanaburi is an eclectic destination to appease a myriad of curious souls.
Immortalized by the film The Bridge Over the River Kwai, this disturbing landmark represents the death of 12,000 Allied prisoners of war as the Japanese pushed for the completion of the “death railway” from 1943 to 1945, a structure they ascertained would bring a Japanese victory during the war in Southeast Asia. Today, the standing landmark is a second construction, erected to carry trains across the original route.
Walk 275m track from one side of the River Kwai to the other, or ride the line through the virgin jungle and along the edge of a gaping river gorge. A beautifully maintained war cemetery located less than a mile away, houses nearly 7,000 of the soldiers who died during the bridge’s construction and offers a touching reminder of this legendary atrocity.
