Second World War Museums and Cemeteries in Kanchanaburi, Thailand

One of the most popular places to visit in Thailand is the Bridge over the River Kwai. Located in Kanchanaburi, about an hour north of Bangkok, the Bridge over the River Kwai was made famous by the war movie of the same name. If you visit Kanchanaburi to see the bridge though, make sure you visit all the other Second World War related places, as it's not just the bridge that is worth seeing.

The Kanchanaburi Death Railway - now known as the Death Railway, this is the railway that is blamed for the deaths of over 100,000 people during the Second World War. Allied soldiers (Dutch, Australian and British) as well as Burmese, Malaysians, Thai and Cambodians worked building this railway for the Japanese. The railway was intended to stretch from Thailand to Burma, and was supposed to be used to carry supplies for the Japanese war effort. After the war, the railway lines were taken up and the railway dismantled as the Thais felt it was not a positive thing for their country.

Today, you can actually take the Death Railway into Kanchanaburi. The trip takes about 20 minutes and runs along part of the route of the old railway and here you can see rice fields, jungle and other beautiful scenery around Kanchanaburi. The train is an old renovated train still with the wooden bench seats and open windows (no air conditioning). It's an interesting train to take and you'll even get chance to buy souvenirs of Kanchanaburi and the Bridge over the River Kwai, as Thai vendors will jump on the train and ride it to its destination.

The JEATH War Museum is a fascinating place to visit. It's an old museum on the grounds of a temple, Wat Chaichumpol, in Kanchanaburi and is built in the style of the bamboo huts the prisoners of war who built the railway would have lived in. JEATH stands for Japanese, English, Australian, Thai and Dutch (Holland) as these were the five main nationalities who built the Death Railway. The JEATH museum is small and only takes a few minutes to go around but because of its quirky, old-fashioned feel and simplicity it's a must-see.