"The Death Railway" as it is called was a 415km railway between Bangkok and Rangoon. The most famous portion of the railway is bridge 277. The bridge ove the Kwae Yai River near the village of Kanchanaburi. Famous for the movie "Bridge on the River Kwai" and for Pierre Boulle's novel on which the movie is based.Walking around the place, reviewing the scaled models of the railway, and actually taking the train to Kanchanburi from Bangkok, you get a good feeling of what a sheer lunacy it was to build a railway here in the first place. The idea for a raildway connecting the two cities was first floated by the British long before the war, but quickly rejected as a result of the terrain. It was considered to be too difficult, too costly.
Japan in the 2nd world war had different worries on their mind though. Having conquered Singapore and being in control of most of South-East Asia, they focussed their efforts on British India. The sea lanes were too dangerous and a land route seemed to be the only option. In the end about 60,000 POWs and 200,000 forced asean labourers worked on the railway, 116,000 of them didn't make it.
The bridge itself is a bit of an anti-climax, it's just a bridge - nothing there that shows its tragic history. You can walk across it, but that's about it. The war museum in the place close to the bridge does a good job of telling the story though. The little city near the bridge is just great. You can stay in floating guesthouses, the atmosphere is very laid-back and still rather international. I've discovered that I quite like these small cities that have a bit of cultural significance, attract people from around the world but still have this small village feel to them...
