Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Kanchanaburi, Thailand (Former PoW campsite)

Got up extra early to catch a mini bus to a city called, Kanchanaburi about 2 hours west of Bangkok. I met up with a friend I met at a cafe where a bunch of other couch surfers tend to hang out. Her name is Yu. She's from China. She speaks English really well and is familiar with our western culture. We made several stops on the way so it took us nearly three hours when we were initially planning two at most, so we definitely had to change our plans once we arrived. We grabbed some street food and walked around the death museum they have. This is where a large PoW camp was stationed during WWII. Mainly British soldiers were imprisoned here. They were ordered to build a bridge and railway that extended from Thailand to Myanmar (formerly known as Burmese). Thousands died during this process and since then there have been gravesites dedicated to those individuals. We had the opportunity exploring this region. We rented a motor bike to see the different sites, but decided to go off the beaten path for a bit. We followed a dirt road towards a mountain range while farmers tended to their crops on either side of us. Eventually we came to a dead end but there were Thai style houses in the hills and a large temple a top the tallest peak. Dogs started barking as we approached this hill we wanted to climb and a monk came out and using gestures told us to leave. On our way back we hit a dirt hole in the road and we immediately were airborne flying over the handlebars landing on the rocky dirt road. Luckily for me I had my backpack strapped to my chest so Yu could more comfortably sit on the bike. This broke most of the fall. Yu landed right on top of me without a scratch. I on the other hand took a good beating with some nice cuts but nothing too serious. As for the bike.. it was beat. We then returned the bike and caught a bus back to Bangkok.

Floating village
The bridge the prisoners were forced to build

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