The Death Railway

"The Bridge Over River Mae Klong" doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?

After leaving the Thai-Burma jungle, we headed back toward central Thailand - along the infamous "Death Railway."

During World War II, the Japanese used slave labor - mostly prisoners of war - to construct a rail line to support the large Japanese Army in Burma. During its construction, about 13,000 prisoners-of-war died, mainly of sickness, malnutrition and exhaustion.

One prisoner died for every 100 feet of track constructed - and they were simply buried along the railway.

Today, we re-traced their steps, and visited the memorials that commemorate their suffering - including the famous "Bridge Over The River Kwai."

NOTE: When the bridge was built, the river was not called "Kwai" at all - it was called "Mae Klong." The famous movie came out in 1957, and referred to it as "The River Kwai." The movie was so popular, that the river was RE-NAMED in 1960!!!

NOTE 2: The "River Kwai" is actually pronounced "River Kwae" (the "a" sounds like "mad" or "bad." If you say "Kwai" (like "why") then Thai's will laugh - since that means "River Buffalo!"

Mano has gone back to San Francisco - and I started missing him the minute he got in the taxi! So I am traveling alone again, and headed to a new country.