The Bridge On The River Kwai

Bridge On The River Kwai-Thailand

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The Movie made in 1957 by the British is a World WarII movie which won 7 Oscars in 1958 plus 3 more from BAFTA plus another 3 more from Golden Globe and last but not least Grammy's Award for Best Sound Track Album.In addition the film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. The movie is based on the building of a bridge in Thailand over  the River Kwai(actually spelt and called Khwae-Yai) by the Japanese using captured British and American Prisoners of War.The Movie was the biggest revenue earner in 1958 grossing US$18  million whereas the number 2 grossed only US$12 Million.The movie was based on a fictional story and the film was shot in Ceylon, now called Si Lanka.With lead role being played by William Holden The Bridge On The River Kwai has immortalised the  place ,making it a top destination among places to travel in Thailand along with other surrounding tourist places.

The Bridge on The River Kwai.

The Japanese had a large army in Burma and to support it with better communications and logistics The  Burma Thailand Railway was conceived and construction started in 1943 using POWs captured during the fall of Singapore. It was one of the most extraordinary engineering achievements of World War II.With unbelievably primitive tools for such a project and a total disregard for human life and suffering, the Japanese built a railway 415 km long through one of most rugged and pestilence-ridden areas of the world in the incredibly short span of 12 months. The cost was a life for every sleeper laid over its most difficult sections. Dead were 13,000 British, Australian, American and Dutch prisoners of war and an estimated 70,000 Asian civilian laborers.While the Japanese were pushing hard and aggressively for faster completion of the bridge the Allied Air Force was equally determined to damage the railway and destroy the bridge.

Unexploded Bomb from the Unending Air Raids.

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2 Bridges were built one wooden and the other steel. Both were bombed by the USAF and the RAF, damaged and again repaired. The bridge was known as Bridge 277 and being a vital link was subjected to maximum bombing. On 28th November 1944 the Japanese were aware of the impending raid because of the earlier observation of Allied spotter planes, and forced all the POW's in the bridge camp to stand on the bridge and wave at the Allied planes in an attempt to prevent a bombing raid. Two of the curved sections of the bridge in the middle of the river were totally destroyed in the raid and later replaced with squared metal sections. Many POW's lost their lives in the raid casualties of the failed Japanese human shield tactic

The 10,000 lbs Bombs -Unexploded Remains of the Air Attack

The two bridges were successfully bombed on 13 February 1945 by the Royal Air Force. Repairs were carried out by POW labour and by April the wooden bridge on the River Kwai  was back in operation. On 3 April a second raid by Liberator bombers of the U.S. Army Air Forces damaged the wooden bridge once again. Repair work continued and both bridges were operational again by the end of May. A second raid by the R.A.F. on 24 June put the railway out of commission for the rest of the war.In any case Hiroshima was hit by the Little Boy Atom Bomb on 6th August and the steam went out of the Japanese war machinery.After the Japanese surrender, the British Army removed 3.9 kilometers of track on the Thai-Burma border. A survey of the track had shown that its poor construction would not support commercial traffic. The track was sold to Thai Railways and the 130 km Ban Pong–Namtok section relaid and is in use today. A ride can be enjoyed on the train which passes over the Bridge on the River Kwai.

Original Japanese Track Inspection Trolley at the Bridge

Several museums are dedicated to those who perished building the railway.Approximately 13000 Allied POWs dies during the construction of the railway and there are 3 main cemeteries where the remains were collected and buried.

Statues of the Axis Leaders of WWII .

Trains  To Transport Ammunition by The Japs to Burma

World War II Trains in the Museum at The Bridge



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Koh Samui

Beach of Koh Samui

The second largest island of the Kingdom of Thailand,Koh Samui, still has the air of an isolated, carefree, self sufficient , exotic holiday destination and is dotted with swaying palm trees and surrounded by clean white sandy beaches. Till 1989 the only way to get to Koh Samui was by boat and only the most fearless tourists ventured there. With the airport came western tourists, hotels, resorts, roads, malls and showrooms of all possible international brands.Even the fishermen now  use green lights at night to attract the fish. Thailand is among the top destinations among places to travel and Koh Samui is the most popular tourist place. 

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Koh Samui Airport

Samui Airport ,owned by Bangkok Airways opened to commercial flights in 1989. Bangkok Airways is a boutique airline operating out of Thailand . Samui Airport has a quaint ,homely ,small town air about it with multicolored flower beds aesthetically positioned both inside and outside the Airport. There is no air conditioning at the airport and the tourists start enjoying the tropical Koh Samui  weather at the airport itself. At 9Deg N the weather is more equatorial than tropical.The 560 KM Bangkok Airways flight from Bangkok to Koh Samui takes about an hour.

Moonrise at Koh Samui

The 21KM by 25Km island has a shoreline fringed with palm and fruit  trees and in the center is a rain forest covered hill. Moon rise at Koh Samui is magnificent. It appears big almost like  the setting sun, but which is actually rising into the sky. Then we realise that it the rising moon and not the setting sun.This is the result of the most investigated Moon Illusion because of which the moon appears much bigger at the Equatorial Horizon than at its zenith. Scientists say it is psychological, but it is definitely a combination of some optical/retinal effects. 

Resort at Koh Samui

We stayed at an excellent resort on the beach complete with swimming pools, modern luxury  villas with all possible amenities, a restaurant serving the best of Thai and Indian cuisine. The South Thai cuisine is a mixture of Malay and  Indonesian and is known for its excessive spiciness. An island will also always have excellent sea food also. Thai massage is very popular all over the world for its therapeutic benefits and involves stretching and deep massage. The resort also provided the Thai Massage facility. 

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Yacht Ride at Koh Samui

The Resort is  owned and run by Oceans Elite  who also provide Luxury Yacht Charters.Koh Samui is surrounded by more than 60 islands known as the Samui Archipelago which provides and excellent cruising ground. The service on the Ocean Elite Yacht was truly first class and the crew was confident and experienced.Near one of the islands the Yacht was stopped and the more enthusiastic members got a chance to jump into the ocean and try out their snorkeling and diving skills. Used to swimming pools with continous filtered water their enthusiasm did not last long.

Library Bar at Koh Samui

Koh Samui has a large number of pubs,cafes, restaurants,night clubs,discos,bars  along the beach serving up all kinds of entertainment,drinks and night clubs which are all popular in any tourist place.This is picture of the Library Bar Cafe on the beach of Koh Samui. It had many swimming pools with yellow lights. There was also a library with many books,making me wonder,who would read a book when you have Kindles,I Pads and several kinds of Tabs. 

Snorkelling at Koh Samui

Crew

The expert crew of the Ocean Elite Yacht.

The Phosphorescent wake of the Yacht .

Chinese Lantern

At night we released Chinese Lanterns on the beach.The luck of a person ,releasing the lantern,is supposedly proportional to the height attained by the lantern. The trick is to hold the lantern after lighting the wax, and then release  it when it starts pulling up hard .It will go up fast and , maybe,very high.

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Tiger Temple

Tiger Walk at The Tiger Temple, Thailand
There is I think just one place in the world where you can take a Tiger for a walk instead of the other way round. It is the Tiger Temple located 2.5 hours away,North  from Bangkok in the forests near the Myanmar border. Thailand is a top destination  for travellers and The Tiger Temple is one of the most popular tourist place in thailand.Just outside there is a shop which sells T shirts and  trousers. Visitors to the temple are forbidden to wear red colored clothes and also clothes which show a lot of skin. probably the tigers are attracted to both. So we had purchased black T shirts from there before we were allowed to enter. The entry fees is about 600 Baht but you have to sign a form in which you fill your details and also sign it after reading something like  "I am entering an area which has dangerous wild animals and I am fully responsible for any untoward or unfortunate incident which might take place". I think anybody who reads that has second thoughts about going in ,at least for a second or two.

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Once inside after a short walk we came to a quarry kind of place where there were about 8 tigers lolling around as if they were enjoying the afternoon siesta. One of the tigers appeared to be less dangerous because visitors were getting photographed with Tiger's head in their lap.In one case the tiger started showing more interest in the person who was getting photographed after which the Head in the Lap photographs were suspended for the day.                                                             

Tiger Enjoying Siesta,Tiger Temple, Thailand

After this we took our turns getting photographed with the tigers of our choice.

It was getting cooler and also the siesta time was getting over and one of the tigers suddenly sat up and let out a growl. We had been warned not to make any sudden move if the tiger reacted to the touch.

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The tigers were peacefully posing for the photographs along with the visitors who were not really aware of what all a tiger can really be up to. Please see the most viewed video on You tube just to have an idea what turn events could take. It is called Tiger attack video and is set in Kaziranga, East India.

The Tiger Temple was initially a Buddhist  Monastery and the tigers were the surviving cubs of tigresses who had been poached.The poachers reportedly used to stab the cubs and take away the dead parents for whatever. The Monks used to nurse the cubs and wanted to release them in the wild but that never happens.In fact it cannot.                                                 

This is an excellent photograph posted on facebook by Rajeev Tyagi who was studying in college with me and is currently a Conservator of Forests in Rajasthan. This is a tiger from Ranthanbore.

Tiger Cubs At Tiger Temple,Thailand

The tigers in Tiger Temple are breeding also and there were a couple of cubs who were quite playful and were climbing all over the Monk who was handling them. A tiger cub can easily jump 20 feet and they were jumping on the visitors also occasionally much to the amusement of the onlookers.                                                                                             

As the evening progressed the tigers started getting up and were soon led away to their cages. It was at this time visitors took turns to hold the leash of the tigers. As soon as the tigers were secured in their cages a tractor trolley went around the whole area throwing various kinds of vegetables like turnips,cabbage,cauliflower along its path at the same time emitting a loud whistling sound. A real stampede occurred and hundreds of pigs, deer, horses came running to eat up the vegetables. The onlookers scampered out of the way and total confusion reigned for half and hour.

Our visit to Tiger Temple came to an end and here is another photograph posted on FB by Mr Rajeev Tyagi of the Indian Forest Service.

If you get a chance do watch the movie Two Brothers .Somehow I feel it is set in the same area and has a similar feel about it as Tiger Temple.

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