October 2005: The Death Railway, Thailand

There are Disneylands and then there are the Death Railways, tourist spots where you go to for their history of death, war and killings.

In Cambodia, it is the Killing Field; in Vietnam, the War Museum (probably at least one in every major cities/towns). In Thailand, one famous railway.

As a Singaporean, my earliest memory of the Death Railway was a scene from Singapore-produced TV serial from the '80s. Then, one of the male lead was sent from Singapore to the construction of the railway. His wife would travel all the way from Singapore to Thailand (a audious journey, no Air Asia yet, remember...) and met him in the jungle. The scene that burnt into my youthful mind then was the two crawling towards each other, across a ground littered with sick and dead bodies. That's really DRAMA, man.


The trip to the Death Valley starts with a booking with one of the many travel agents in Bangkok, a transfer from the hotel on a minivan, and then on the road from Bangkok on a big tour bus. On the road to the Death Railway, the tour guide warn ofthe danger of travelling on the normal cabin: it is possible that the cabin will be full, and we would not get to get a proper window seat and the view that come with it. "It will cost a bit more, but isn't the view what you are here for? Let me know in the next few minutes, I would need to call ahead and ensure we get the seats." says the guide. And so, the busload of farangs took 10minutes and started forking out that "a bit more". Well, except for the white woman behind me, looking like one of the Kao San Rd crowd, who resisted. Once we were up on the "special tourist" cabin and checked the ticket fare at the Death Railway station, we realize the Kao San Rd farang lady is probably the only sane one amongst us. There was nothing much special obout the cabin, and the train isn't that crowded. The only "extra" was probably the hand towel and cup of drinking water given out by the train service guys. The guys were grinning at us as they were giving out the extras. I could imagine why.....

The tour of the Death Railway started with a visit to the museum, more properly called the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre. I don't have any pix of the inside of the museum....I could only reason that there must be a sign that pictures are not allowed or that there is a fee to take pictures within (the latter being the more likely case, given the cheap guy I am.)

What left the most impression about the museum wasn't the displays-proper within, but the flags, badges and plagues of military units whose veterans were forced into hard labor on the railway. Many were placed by the veterans who later visited the railway.








It was a bright sunny day, and the local boys were out with their fishing rods on the section of the railway that runs across the River Kwai. All together now.....pi-pi, pi-pi-pi pi pi pi, pi-pi, pi-pi-pi pi pi pi.....






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On the trip back, the bus busted a tire and was stranged on the usual Bangkok traffic jam. The tour agent arranged for taxis for all back to their hotels, footing the bill. And so it was, away from the Death Railway, back to the hassle and bussle of peacetime Thailand, and Bangkok's Micky D's.