Kanchanaburi

After Auytthaya we wanted to see what other history Thailand had for us to discover so we went to Kanchanaburi. About three hours from Bangkok, the main tourist attraction here is the "Death Bridge" built by the prisioners of war during World War 2. Thousands of prisioners; Dutch, British, Austrailian, Americans and even some Asians were forced to build a bridge that connected Thailand to Burma under the Japanese command. Due to the inhumane conditions under which these prisioners had to work; from sunrise to sunset, malnourished, wounded and deathly ill thousands died while building this bridge through the jungle and mountains. This took just over a year to build when in reality it should have taken several years. The reason for the Japanese to have the bridge built was so that they could have a way into Burma in hopes of overtaking their country so they had no mercy on the prisioners and used whatever means necessary to get the job done, they stopped at nothing. This bridge is in use today.

We also went to visit the cemetary where those who died are buried. Although the American soldiers that died were sent back to their own country as their final resting place, all the other soldiers lye in peace here in Kanchanaburi. Rows upon rows of tomb stones list those who died so that others could live and many only in their twenties. It's too bad that so many lives are taken because of greed and hate and the cycle still continues today.