Kanchanaburi & the Death Railway

Kanchanaburi is home to the Bridge over the River Kwai which was the basis for the film of the same name. The bridge was part of the 'Death Railway', a railway constructed by the Japanese during world war II hoping to access Burma across the mainland to transport weapons and personel as the allies had control of the seas. They used British prisoners of war along with others and Malay and Burmese workers, brutally put to work to construct the line through the mouintains dangerous terain and harsh conditions. Thousands perished during the construction of the railway and Kanchanaburi has a number of war cemetries honoring some of the dead.
The top pic is of the Death Railway Museum, the second is the War Cemetry near by. There are a couple of pics of the new steel bridge standing on the original piers, some of which show scars from the bombing campaigns to destroy it during the war. The last picture is the hostel I stayed in, basically a number of tree houses built over the marshy edges of the river accessed by wooden walkways.