Veteran's Day In Thailand (#7 in series)

The Bridge on the River Kwai.

This past 11th of November, Veteran's Day, found me in the town of Kanchanaburi in western Thailand.  It's the site of one of the most famous railway crossings in the world -- the Bridge on the River Kwai, of historic and cinematic renown.  (The movie of the same name won a slew of Oscars in 1957.)

I was in the rest-up-before-I-go-back-home stage of the trip.  After banging through Lao, Cambodia and a good part of Thailand for six weeks, I was pretty well burned-out.  Thus my sojourn there for a week, in one of the most tranquil and restful spots I've ever been.

And economical...unbelievably so by U.S. standards.  I was paying 70 Baht or $2.25 U.S. for a room (of so-so quality, I admit) at the Jolly Frog Guesthouse along the river...

Your correspondent...giving the seal of approval.

My digs...Note the all important fan at left.

A great cast of characters was staying there as well.  Most of them taking a break from traveling like I was.  Camaraderie and good spirit prevailed.  When such people get talking, from all over the world. there's nothing quite like it.

And the eats weren't bad either.  A typical noodle soup or pork rice dish cost 30 Baht (95 cents U.S.).  Cashew chicken or mango with sticky rice go for a little more, but so worth it.  Massages are $5 or $6 U.S. and last for an hour-plus, and so on.

It gets hot at mid-day and the mosquitoes will eat you alive at dusk, but in general it's a great place to lay over.

The mango lady.

Her specialty -- mango with sticky rice (in warm coconut milk).

Regarding Veteran's Day, I happened upon a ceremony in the war cemetery here, containing the remains of about 7,500 veterans of World War II.  Three such cemeteries are scattered about the area -- British, Australian, and Dutch graves mainly, with a few hundred Americans thrown in.

It was all very stiff-upper-lip:  The Union Jack and other banners were unfurled and paraded about; white tropical uniforms sporting rows of medals; a bugler playing taps so hauntingly that it made my eyes water.

Veteran's Day in Thailand...it caught me unawares as I thought that it was only observed in the United States.  But here it's marked by the various nations that fought the Japanese in S.E. Asia -- The Allies, they called them.

A Thai teacher explaining how all these men died.

A veteran pays his respects.

Much moved, afterward I plucked up a flower and proceeded over to the famous bridge itself.

Used as slave laborers by the Japanese in WW II, about 16,000 Allied POWs perished making the Thai-Burma Railway, the "Death Railway" as it was called, of which this span was a part.  An estimated 80,000 Asian laborers died on the same project.  The cruelty and suffering were unbelievable, not to mention the cost in human life. 

On behalf of them and those honored dead everywhere, I loosed the flower down from the railing and paused in remembrance.  Whether back in the U.S.A. or here in S.E. Asia, may we never forget.

Sunset on the Kwai.

It was my second visit to this area.  (My first was five years ago.)   I've come to enjoy staying along the river -- so still and placid that it seems like a lake, but in reality is slowly moving.  After a while my mind almost comes to mirror it.  Soon enough, however, it was time to move on. 

I had about five days left and decided to head to Bangkok -- a big bustling city, dirty and tinged with decadence, but interesting in its own way.  In honor of the POWs who built the rail line, still in use today, this time I would go by train.

All things considered, it just seemed fitting.

[PART EIGHT TO FOLLOW NEXT WEEKEND]