From Bangkok we made the 2-hour bus journey west to Kanchanaburi, home of the Thailand-Myanmar "Death Railway". We decided to walk to our accommodation (and regretted it, again) which was in the north of the city close to the river. Although there was the option to stay in floating bungalows on the river itself we opted for one closer to the street...a wise decision when we saw the mosquitos at dusk! That night we went to a small restaurant called Fine and had the best meal in Thailand yet. The dishes were classic and simple, but so delicious. Even the green curry had an unusual mint flavour to it which worked very well.

In the morning we visited the Railway museum and brushed up on our history on the Death Railway. The 415 km railway line was constructed by prisoners of war during the second world war under the command of the Japanese military. Working and living conditions were terrible, resulting in about 160,000 deaths which included many British soldiers. It is said that one person died for every rung of the railway that was constructed. The museum was very informative with good displays, but at times it did feel as though we were reading someones entire dissertation! We then visited the Prisoner of War cemetery where nearly 7,000 men are buried, from British, Dutch and Australian troops. It was very sad reading the messages engraved on the headstones from relatives.

After a break from the sun, we headed out to the Bridge over the River Kwai, a section of the railway made famous by the film. When we got there it was very busy with tour groups on the bridge itself, which detracted from the atmosphere quite a lot. So we sat in a floating restaurant which was set back a little and looked at the bridge from there. It was bombed and reconstructed twice during the war, and some of the repaired blasts could still be seen on the pillars.

In the evening we unwound from our day by having another curry in Fine... cant beat it! Except ofcourse our Thai cooking to come, it will be the best :p

- S