Kanchanaburi

After the wonderful news from the last blog, it is difficult to do a 'normal' blog again! But we'll try!!
Besides, Mrs Sandersfield will be needing to win a few more 'cup of tea' questions so she can sit back and relax when we return in June! So, onto this blog - I think you'll like it!. Take a look at the first picture, are you thinking 'That daft bugger has gone train mad again'? Well, you'd be wrong this time, because the star of this picture is NOT the train, it is in fact the bridge the train is on! Are you intrigued? Do I have your attention?

Does Kanchanaburi in Thailand mean anything to anyone? If I said to look at the second picture and look down the track, you're looking towards a country called Myanmar, would that ring any bells? Probably not, unless you knew that in 1945 Myanmar was named Burma and Thailand was named Siam, you might be able to figure it out. What about if I told you the bridge was a significant piece in the story of world war two and has even had a blockbuster film made about it! If you knew the name of the river was the river Kwai and the film is 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' then the penny should have dropped. Yes, you're looking at the bridge on the river Kwai and the precise point of the bridge where the locomotive is positioned is the span that was completely destroyed by the American bombers (previous attempts at bombing the bridge, as shown in the film, didn't actually do enough damage. The Americans used a prototype 'guided' bomb to do the business - they then went on to bomb the entire world - oops, only kidding).




We split up for a couple of hours and while I went around the museum and cemeteries, Elvis was left the less interesting task of sorting out bus timetables and train times! In the museum there was a little story from each country of the world where soldiers had died building the 'death railway' as it was known. I was astonished when I read the England story to find that they focused on a soldier that was born in Sunderland (see the small part of the info board in the picture). If you can't read it his name was Derek Waud - I'm sure if you want to read more you could Google it. However, the worst was the Dutch exhibit, where they showed actual letters from a very young Dutch girl writing to her Daddy. It was truly heart breaking as her father was already dead but the Japanese never let anyone know who was alive and who had died. I'm not ashamed to say for the first time in as long as I can remember I had real tears rolling down my cheeks. I went to the canteen to have a cup of coffee and the lady said. 'You haven't been reading the letter from the little Dutch girl have you'? I would have answered but I couldn't speak!.








Thailand it says in the museum 'reluctantly declared war on Britain and America', which I hadn't realised but I', sure it was more to try and save themselves from the advancing Japanese. After the war Thailand built this cemetery for the soldiers who died building the railway. It's looked after by the Thai's and it's immaculate! This is a slightly unfair 'cup of tea' question, but to make it fair, anyone from my family (Keith) is not allowed to answer this question. So - none Hodgies, can you guess what the relevance to us Hodgies is the name on the gravestone?










This is a picture of a fully qualified train driver standing at the plate of a Japanese locomotive.


This is our accommodation which was right on the river Kwai - it looks fantastic, but the noise from the tourist boats on a morning sounded like the bombers where on their way back.



The final picture has to be the bridge. There's a plaque next to the bridge as a memorial and it has the words 'at the setting of the sun we shall never forget' written on it. Here's the bridge with the sun setting behind it.








Two cup of tea questions to get Kim 'Ginny's researcher' and the 'Googlers' going.

1.The actual steel spans of the bridge were NOT built by the prisoners. They were part of an existing bridge which was dismantled and brought by boat to the river. Cup of tea if you can tell me where the bridge was brought from?

2. There's a specific reason why the entire rail route is known as 'Death Railway'. Why?

Well done Jenny Wrenny Schmenny (closely followed by Didge) for correctly getting the old name of Thailand - Siam.

Kim (Ginny's researcher) could have had a cup of tea, but forgot to put her name on the blog comment, which opens up a new question - is my Sister paying you for all your research work? It looks like Mrs Sandersfield is claiming your tea Kim (see comment from Shirley). However, if I meet you in the USA sometime, I'll be happy to make you a cup of British tea for just putting up with my sister.

Much to our delight we hired a motorbike for this adventure and also some other adventures over the next few days - surely the subject of another blog!