World war ii
Thailand-Burma Railway Centre
Generally considered to be the best source of information regarding World War II in Thailand, railway construction and route, and the conditions endured by POWs and Asian labourers. Very moving exhibits, including video and interactive displays. A visit takes at least one hour, and probably longer if you want to read everything.Fee includes a free coffee or tea at upstairs cafe, where you can sit at the window bench overlooking the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. It is a good place to sit and reflect after your tour of the centre.
Kanchanaburi War Cemetery
This is the final resting place of almost 7,000 POWs who gave their life for the construction of the Death Railway to Burma. All POWs at this site are from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Australia. After World War II, the Allies decided to move all the buried POWs along the railway line to two war cemeteries in Kanchanaburi as they would be easier to maintain in a good condition. It is a sombre, yet very peaceful reminder of what went on here. The graves are set up in straight lines with neatly kept lawns. Some of the graves have a moving personal inscription. However, note that during the rainy seasons access to graves themselves may be closed to prevent damage to the grounds. If you have relatives buried there permission can be sought to enter the cemetery. An alternative is the Chong Kai cemetery which is always open. Both grounds are immaculately maintained.
Pretty much all the sights in Kanchanaburi itself are directly related to World War II. The museums are dusty and generally not worth it, except for the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre, which gives a good introduction of the Death Railway and its history. There are also two war cemeteries, the most moving of which is the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery.
World War II Museum and Art Gallery
This well-signposted complex houses a bizarre collection of museums and exhibits, most of which are poorly maintained and labeled. To your left as you enter is the "War Museum", a 4 story building encrusted with statues, which starts off with a little Burmese shrine but is mostly devoted to pre-WW2 Thai history through the ages and is filled with wall paintings of Kings and racks of rusty pistols. There are good views of the bridge from the roof of the riverside building. Above the WW2 museum is the most bizarre section, housing among other things dusty stamp collections and a gallery with wall paintings of all Miss Thailand winners. The World War II and old JEATH Museum is lurking in the basement.
Chongkai War Cemetery
A neatly maintained smaller cemetery 2 km out of town along the road that leads to Wat Thaopoom. This is the final resting place of Dutch and British forces.
around kanchanaburi
The area northwest of Kanchanaburi is dominated by the beautiful River Kwai Valleys. It is an area of great natural beauty, with a dazzling amount of waterfalls, caves, lakes and mountainous scenery. Most attractions can be visited as a day-trip from Kanchanaburi. Independent travel is possible for most attractions, but can be a hassle as local trains and buses are slow and inflexible. If you want to do Hellfire Pass and the Erawan Falls in one day, it's almost compulsory to take one of the guided tours as there is no public bus connection between them.
bridge over the river kwai
Located some 3 km north of Kanchanaburi down New Zealand Road, off Saeng Chuto Road, this iron bridge Saphan Mae Nam Kwae across the Kwai Yai River is the main attraction for many visitors. Immortalized in the famous movie and novel, it was a part of the infamous Death Railway to Burma, constructed by POWs working for the Japanese in hellish conditions during World War II. Some 16,000 POWs and 90,000 Asian workers most of them enslaved died during the railway construction. The present iron bridge is the second wartime incarnation a part of the original can be found in the War Museum, but two central 'boxy' spans were rebuilt after the war to replace three sections destroyed by Allied bombing.
You can cross the bridge on foot. While the center of the track has been thoughtfully turned into a steel-plated walkway and there are little side platforms between the spans for sightseeing and avoiding trains. There are guardrails, but some areas of the bridge lack them, so be careful of small children! Off the end of the bridge, you can feed or ride an elephant bare-back at negotiated price of 600 baht per ride. At May 2010, the elephant was kept on a short chain, and had to stand in its own waste products.
As the bridge is still used locally, it is possible to take one of the trains that cross the bridge every day. The ride from Nam Tok the train line's terminus to River Kwai Bridge station takes a bit longer than 2 hours.