Located near the city of Kanchanaburi in Western Thailand, The Bridge over River Kwai is our featured travel photo of the week. The Japanese occupied Thailand and Burma during WW2 - the famous bridge was built by Allied Prisoners of War under the supervision of their Japanese captors. The plan was to build a railway line that would connect Rangoon, Burma with Bangkok, Thailand in order to facilitate the movement of Japanese troops between the two occupied countries. By car, Bangkok is a mere 2 ½ hours by car from Kanchanaburi.

The Bridge was bombed repeatedly by Allied Forces to thwart the Japanese war effort and eventually was destroyed before the end of World War 2. Because so many prisoners of war as well as Asian Laborers died during the construction of this railway, it was renamed the Death Railway by the Allied Forces. After the war, the dead were reburied in specially created War cemeteries located in Kanchanaburi town.

After the Thai Government rebuilt the bridge sometime after the war, Kanchanaburi has become quite a popular tourist town primarily because it’s historical significance in World War 2. In addition to the Bridge and the Death Railway, other historical attractions are the WW2 museum and the War cemeteries. However It was the famous award-winning movie of 1957, Bridge over the River Kwai starring William Holden and Alec Guinness, that really put this particular bridge and Kanchanaburi on the map.

While walking across the famous bridge, I couldn’t help but start humming Colonel Bogey, the theme song of Bridge over River Kwai. A most memorable moment!

Trivia – The movie, Bridge Over the River Kwai was filmed entirely in Ceylon

Tags: Bridge over River Kwai, Thailand, Thailand World War 2, Travel photography

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 17th, 2009 at 6:14 am and is filed under Travel Photo of the Week, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.