While this entry in not strictly from China I have left it in my China travel blog as it was a mere blink of an eye that I was out of the country!! The May Day holdiays and my teaching schedule worked out rather well and gave me a 6 day holiiday. With my sister visiting Bangkok from Australia what a perfect opportunity to drop over and spend some "girlie" time catching up with her.

And didn't we have a ball....... Massages - tick, manicures - tick, pedicure - tick, shopping - tick, tick, tick. Yes the retail therapy dominated our every waking hour....... despite the heat we bravely soldiered on......with the promise of a nice cold beer at the end of each day!! Yes, even Di managed to develop a taste for Asian beer!!! I kept assuring her it was the ONLY thing that would quench our thirst and finally I had her convinced to the point that she was actually suggesting it might be time to start for the night.

Now anyone who knows my sister would know that she is not really an "Asia" type of person so Bangkok really was an assualt on her senses!!! We would be walking along the street with me blindly not seeing the rubbish or smelling the often undesirable smells.....I've kind of got used to it......but poor Di had a few stomach heaving moments!!

Food wise we found this little Chinese (!!!) restaurant where we could order food directly to our liking. They were quite amused that I could read some of the menu and speak to them in some broken Chinese!! Never thought I'd be putting my Chinese to use in Thailand.

An early start on the Monday morning - 0645 – saw us jam packed into a mini van heading out of Bangkok for our one and only sightseeing tour of the trip………….a 3 hour drive to Kanchanaburi for what we thought was a visit to the Bridge over the River Kwai and the Death Railway. Unbeknown to us at the commencement of our journey the other tourists in our van were also visiting the elephant park and the tiger temple which meant several hours waiting for them in 40+ degree heat…….2 not very happy ladies let me assure you!!

The main tourist attraction in Kanchanaburi is the Bridge on the River Kwai made famous by the multi-Oscar-winning film of the same name from 1957. Tourists from all over the world come here to photograph the bridge and walk across it. The curved steel bridge spans that can be seen today are the original spans that the Japanese transported from Java. The other spans with straight-lines were installed after the war to replace those that had been damaged by Allied bombing.

If you have time and you appreciate history, I recommend taking a journey across the bridge by the ricketty train to the end of the line at Nam Tok. As well as crossing the famous Bridge on the River Kwai, the train runs along the beautifully scenic River Kwai, passing at slow speed over the impressive Wampo Viaduct (sometimes written Wang Po), also built by prisoners of war. The viaduct consists of wooden trestles alongside the river, nestling against the cliff side. Quite impressive!!

A little bit of history………..In 1943 thousands of Allied Prisoners of War (PoW) and Asian labourers worked on the Death Railway under the imperial Japanese army in order to construct part of the 415 km long Burma-Thailand railway. Most of these men were Australians, Dutch and British and they had been working steadily southwards from Thanbyuzayat (Burma) to link with other PoW on the Thai side of the railway. This railway was intended to move men and supplies to the Burmese front where the Japanese were fighting the British. Japanese army engineers selected the route which traversed deep valleys and hills. All the heavy work was done manually either by hand or by elephant as earth moving equipment was not available. The railway line originally ran within 50 metres of the Three Pagodas Pass which marks nowadays the border to Burma. However after the war the entire railway was removed and sold as it was deemed unsafe and politically undesirable. The prisoners lived in squalor with a near starvation diet. They were subjected to much brutality and thus thousands perished. The men worked from dawn until after dark and often had to trudge many kilometres through the jungle to return to base camp where Allied doctors tended the injured and diseased by many died. Interestingly the site of the POW camp is now a tourist resort - needless to say it would be unrecognisable to those who were interned there!! After the war the dead were collectively reburied in the War Cemeteries and will remain forever witness to a brutal and tragic ordeal.

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery contains the remains of 6,982 Australian, Dutch and British war prisoners who lost their lives during the construction of the Death Railway. The cemetery is carefully preserved and maintained and provides a sense of peace as one walks through and reads the names of the many soldiers who lost their lives here.

War Museum - JEATH is an acronym for the primary nations which participated in local action (not a mis-spelling of death!!). These nations are: Japan, England, Australia, Thailand and Holland. The museum inside Wat Chai Chumphon has been constructed largely in the form of an Allied Prisoner of War camp which is managed by a Thai monk. The thatched detention hut with cramped, elevated bamboo bunks contains photographic, pictorial and physical memorabilia dating from the Second World War. It is very small and can easily be seen in about 30 minutes. Given the atrocities associated with this piece of history I was a little disappointed in the museum; however I have since been told there are other museums that show more…..pity our tour company didn't include that.

Our van was so full that I ended up having to sit on what was essentially the arm rest between the driver and front passengers seat. Very hard, very uncomfortable and with no seat belt or head rest downright dangerous with the sudden stops our driver made. Complaints landed on deaf ears but my back was killing me by the time we were returned to our hotel at about 1900. But please do not be totally deterred……For anyone interested in 20th century history, a visit to Kanchanaburi and the infamous Death Railway is a must – just choose your tour company carefully!!

All too quickly our 6 days came to an end and it was time to head home - Di to Australia and me to China. Headed out to the airport together with Di leaving first.....kind of forgot how much I hate airports and had several hours to kill before I could even check in for my flight. Bonus was that for some unknown reason I was upgraded to Business Class for my overnight trip to Beijing......thanks Air China!!! Had a quick turnaround in Beijing before I was on the flight back to Nanjing and the reality thud....back to work!! As the saying goes...all good things must come to an end.

Bye for now. xxx