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Amazing Packages
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"
Death Railway "
 Kanchanaburi
It was constructed in 1942, when the Japanese army
decided to build a 415 km (260 mile) long railway
line linking Burma and Thailand, thereby guaranteeing
an unbroken link between the Japanese base in Singapore
and the Indian front. Several hundreds of thousands
of coolies from the region and some 60,000 allied
prisoners of war were forced to work under inhuman
condition in order to complete the Kanchanaburi section
through mountainous jungle territory, including the
construction of the bridge over the River Kwai. No
fewer than 90,000 coolies and 16,000 prisoners of
war died during construction, thus giving rise to
the tragic name of "Death Railway" When
in October 1943 the first trains rattled over the
bridge, the Japanese had already virtually lost the
war in Southeast Asia. In 1944, the bridge was bombed.
At the end of the war most of the railway line war
dismantled by the Thais and today the passengers in
the trains which still run across the bridge are mainly
tourists.
To one side the remains of the temporary wooden bridge
erected during construction and almost completely
destroyed in an allied bomb attack still stand. Nearby
lies the modest but crucial Japanese monument, framed
by four cornerstones with inscriptions. At the end
of November/beginning of December each year, the first
bombing of the bridge is commemorated in an elaborate
sound and light spectacle.
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Getaway Packages
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