If you have heard of the Bridge on the River Kwai chances are, if you are of a certain age, you probably first learned about it from watching a British movie called “Bridge on the River Kwai.” The film documents the activities of a group of prisoners of war during WWII who were tasked with building a bridge over a river in Thailand for the Japanese occupiers. In reality the fictional bridge in the film formed part of the infamous Thai-Burma railway(Death Railway) project that the Japanese had instigated when they “invaded” Thailand in 1941.

Of course if you have been in Thailand in November/December you may know about the bridge because of the festival, River Kwai Bridge Week, that is held near Kanchanaburi each year.

Personally I heard about the bridge on the River Kwai because I watched the film as a boy in the UK. It had a lasting impact on me and my interest in WWII history so when I first visited Thailand I thought I would check out the area where the bridge is supposed to be located. To achieve my aims I first visited Kanchanaburi, which is located north and west of Bangkok near the Thai Myanmar border. The reason I went there is that both locally and internationally it is advertised as being the home of the Bridge on the River Kwai.

The Bridge on the River Kwai Fact or Fiction?

Once in the area my first port of call turned out to be a place called Thamakham which is just to the North of Kanchanaburi and the site of a steel and concrete bridge over a river. This is the bridge that everyone refers to as the Bridge on the River Kwai. Indeed if you look on a modern map of the area there are two rivers shown, the Kwai Noi and the Kwai Yai which merge together at Kanchanaburi to form the Mae Klong River that flows South to enter the Gulf of Thailand at Samut Songkhram. The bridge at Thamakham spans the River Kwai Yai.

So could it be the bridge that inspired the film?

Sorry to disappoint you but no its not for a couple of reasons. Firstly it couldn’t be since when it was built and when the film was made, the River Kwai Yai wasn’t known by that name. You see the river that flows under the bridge is actually the upper reaches of the Mae Klong River and was renamed Kwai Yai in the 1960’s by the Thai government after the film was made famous.

Basically the government were responding to demand and seizing on a toursit opportunity because many people wanted to look for “the Bridge on the River Kwai,” either because they had seen the film or perhaps wanted to see where their loved ones had died in WWII.

So having a bridge over the Mae Klong was not good for the tourist business!

The second reason the bridge doesn’t fit the bill is because it is made from concrete and steel and not wood. There were only about six bridges of similar construction on the death railway, while the remainder (200+) were made of wood.

So is the bridge at Thamakham a fake?

No its not in the sense that it was indeed originally built by Allied POW’s as part of the Thai/Burma railway, many of whom died and are buried nearby in the War Cemeteries around the area.

Is it the famous fictional “Bridge on the River Kwai,” no its not, if such a bridge ever existed, it would no doubt have been wooden and probably located further north perhaps in modern day Myanmar where the river is narrower. Nowadays one can walk across the bridge or ride on the train (3 times a day), walking over the river is not for the faint hearted as there is no guard rail and there are gaps in the deck cladding.

Incidentally the movie Bridge on the River Kwai was actually filmed in Sri Lanka!

River Kwai Bridge Week.

Each year in Thailand there is a festival called River Kwai Bridge Week held at Thamakham adjacent to the steel and concrete bridge described above.

The festival includes displays of historic exhibits from WWII, a carnival parade with floral floats, a peace pageant, rides on steam hauled wartime trains and a spectacular sound and lights show that depicts life and conditions on the Death Railway. The show is translated into English, Japanese, Chinese and German via headphones.

Away from the bridge there is also a service of remembrance at Don Rak war cemetery in Kanchanaburi which is the home for the remains of several hundred Allied POW’s who died building the Death Railway in the area.

The dates for the 2014 River Kwai Bridge Week festival are Friday 28th November until Sunday 7th December and ticketing information can be found by following this link. A good time to visit and also check out the real history behind the Bridge on the River Kwai.

http://www.thaila...idge-week/