Katchanaburi - The Bridge on the River Kwai

This is the draw which brings people to Katchanaburi,

 the bridge immortalised by Pierre Brouelle's novel and David Lean's film. In actuality, the real bridge was destroyed at the end of World War II and this is a black steel girdered replacement - but it still has presence. Constructed by POW labour during WWII when 60,000 men toiled to build it in horrendous conditions . The railway was to provide easy access for Japanese troops to reach Burma and it is estimated that one man died for each girder of track.

Katchanaburi is a modest town spread over the banks of the Thai river Kwai. Today it is still covered in jungles and even today there are still covered in shore covered in floating bamboo rafthouses.It is quite a walk from the centre of Katachanburi, so taking a tuk-tuk or hiring a bicycle as we did is a good option. It is west of town along the Manaem Kwai road and it is a long walk in the humidity. We used bicycles to get to the Bridge. It was quite entertaining being overtaken by traffic on the road

On the far bank is jungle and on the east bank is a terraced plaza crowded with trinket sellars and restaurants and the War Museum. Spanning the Kwai is the famous 'bridge on the river Kwai'. Seven concrete girders span the river hold up a black metal bridge. On the far bank is jungle, and on the near bank restaurants float in the river and green mountains can be seen in the distance.

Many people are disappointed at seeing the bridge for the first time and this isn't the original which was bombed in the war but the second version. The yellow sandy banks on which the POW's toiled are still here and trains still puff their way across. You can walk across the black girders to an even better vantage point. The moving River Kwai 50ft below us could be seen in these slats and I tried not to think about a train coming across while we were crossing it.

On the other side you could photo it from another angle. As we watched a small rumble and we realised a train was coming across the bridge. It was a magnificent sight as it moved on to the bridge and stayed there mid-span and prevented us from going across the bridge. As it approached our position we could see the lavish interior of the Pullman cars

The brass sign said 'Singapore - Kuala Lumpur - Butterworth - Bangkok

 'The famous Orient Express crossed the bridge trapping us on the other side!. But observing the activity on the bridge while sipping an ice-cold coke from a restaurant is one of the pleasures of South-East Asia.