Bridge on the River Kwai...and another look at Bangkok

When I was just out of high school a movie was released that over time became a classic...it was the Bridge on the River Kwai....Alec Guinness won an Academy Award for his work and it was best picture for that year.  It was based on a true story of a Japanese POW camp constructed to build a railway bridge across the Kwai River to facilitate the World War II effort for Japan and move troops and supplies across the river from Burma to Thailand.  However the POWs were unaware that the allies were planning on destroying that same bridge once it was built.

One can only imagine the work....in jungle conditions and with temperatures probably in the 100s every day.  The bridge was 415 KM mostly in Thailand but 25% was in Burma.  The work began in September of 1942 using 30,000 POWs from United States, England, Australia, Thailand and Holland.  There were 200,000 labourers from India, China and other Asian Countries.  Of all these men...16,000 POW and 100,000 impressed labourers died as the result of disease, starvation and lack of medical supply.  

The Japanese estimated it would take 5 years to complete....but the Japanese Army forced prisoners to complete it in only 16 months.....here is what the bridge looked like....

A war museum with a reconstruction of the type of huts used by the POWs and many artifacts from the camp is also at the location...however no photography was allowed inside the museum.

The cemetery where many of the POWs were buried was open to the public and is quite beautiful and very well kept.  The graves are clearly marked as shown below in the photo of a POW who died on my birthday in 1943...

Here are a couple shots from the cemetery....

and a final look at the bridge....if you have not seen the movie I encourage you to check out the epic...you will be amazed.  One of the great lines in the movie is by the Japanese commander of the camp who tells the POWs ...."In the words of the Imperial Emperor Horatio....be happy in your work"!!!

And then the road beyond the bridge....Burma....and beyond.....

On my return to Bangkok tonight I could not resist one more trip out to the street in search of dinner?....Well here is what I found...basics...duck...chicken....pork

maybe something a little different....

For the life of me....I do not know...and could not find out what this was....I can say it looked like oatmeal....was very very hot and it was all over the place when being scooped from pan to plate....the other thing that impressed me was the beautiful girl cooking this....you can judge for yourself...

Well...even the outside seating was taken so I guess I will travel back to the hotel for dinner....darn!!!

I do have one more photo today...these are the roses in the hotel....white roses which are a favorite of my friend 'Snowflake'....so here is my toast from Bangkok...