Content #088

Kanchanaburi, Thailand 2010
‘Kanchanaburi (Thai: กาญจนบุรี, pronounced [kāːn.t͡ɕā.ná(ʔ).bū.rīː]) is a town municipality (thesaban mueang) in the west of Thailand and part of Kanchanaburi Province. In 2006 it had a population of 31,327. That number was reduced to 25,651 in 2017. The town covers tambons Ban Nuea and Ban Tai and parts of Pak Phraek and Tha Makham, all of Mueang Kanchanaburi District, and parts of tambon Tha Lo of Tha Muang District. Kanchanaburi lies 123 km west of Bangkok. In 1942 Kanchanaburi was under Japanese control. It was here that Asian forced labourers and Allied POWs, building the infamous Burma Railway, constructed a bridge, an event fictionalised in the films The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), Return from the River Kwai (1989) and The Railway Man (2013). Almost half of the prisoners working on the project died from disease, maltreatment or accidents. There were four POW camps in or near the city, including Tamarkan which was used as a work camp to construct the bridge. After the completion of the railway line, most prisoners were concentrated in the Kanchanaburi area, and often sent on to Japan or French Indo-China. At Kanchanaburi, there is a memorial and two museums to commemorate the dead. In March 2003, the Thailand–Burma Railway Centre opened and the JEATH (Japanese-English-American-Australian-Thai-Holland) War Museum dedicated to the bridge and the Death Railway. The city is also home to the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. The Chungkai War Cemetery is located about 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Kanchanaburi.’ Bron: Wikipedia.