Kanchanaburi – the town

20 May 2010

The capital of the province is located where the Khwae Yai and Khwae Noi rivers converge into the Mae Klong river. This is also where still stands the famous Bridge on the River Kwai, known from the black pages of recent history and popular culture

Thailand | Bridge on the River Kwai(by elisfanclub )

The Bridge on the River Kwai

The town of Kanchaburi has a population of around 54 000. It was founded by King Rama I as the main line of defence against Burmese attacks. Kanchaburi is the capital of the province of the same name and is located in its southern region

Economically, the town is very well developed in comparison with the rest of the country. The main sources of income for the local inhabitants are the sugar industry, the cultivation of crops and the production of jewellery. In addition, tourism is quite valuable, as, among the western Thai provinces, Kanchaburi is the most often visited and considered to be the most beautiful

The majority of the local Kanchanaburi population lead a typically rural lifestyle, closely connected with agriculture. A significant proportion of the inhabitants are of ethnic minorities, such as the Mon and the Karen. The local rural communities enjoy a simple, peaceful, life in harmony with nature, respecting its laws. They have rich folk traditions going back more than 500 years, reflected in particular in their characteristic music and dance.

Thailand | Many Kanchanaburi inhabitants make their living thanks to tourism (by yeowatzup )

History

Particularly significant for the history of Kanchanaburi are certain tragic events during World War II. Between 1943 and 1945, over 60 000 Allied POWs and about 250 000 inhabitants of Thailand, Burma, Cambodia and Indonesia were forced to into slave labour by the occupying Japanese military when building a monumental railway to connect Bangkok with the capital of Burma. The construction work, lasting for over a year, led to the deaths of about 12 000 POWs, mostly from Britain, Australia and the USA, and also over 100 000 local inhabitants.

The story of this tragic construction was described by French writer Pierre Boulle, and in the 1950s the film The Bridge on the River Kwai was made, based on his book. Both the novel and the multi-Oscar-winning film by David Lean contributed to maintaining in living memory the tragic history of the River Kwai. The ruins of the wooden bridge and its 1943 successor, as well as the war cemetery of Allied soldiers, attract thousands of tourists to Kanchanaburi every year. Both near the railway station and the war cemetery there are museums illustrating their history.

Thailand | the railway station in Kanchanaburi (by yeowatzup )

Old Town of Kanchanaburi

According to historians, the original town of Kanchanaburi cannot be identified as the present-day town with the same name. It was located near the same village called Ban Lat Ya, lying 16 km north of the present-day Kanchanaburi.

The old town is located precisely between the 2nd and the 3rd kilometre of Highway 3199. This place used to be a military facility whose role was to ward off Burmese troops in the Rattanakosin period (1548-1784). Today you can see the remnants of the defence wall, or rather trenches on a rectangular plan with a fortress in every corner. In the vicinity there are a number of temples and other fine buildings.