February 15th – Day 9 – Chumphon to Bangkok via the Bridge over the River Kwai

Today was the longest drive of the tour so far, over 650kms. There were several optional routes we could take, but with such a long way to go, we decided to take the fast expressway route to Kanchanabrui, the town close to the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai. We wanted to have as long as possible to see the bridge as well as the Commonwealth Cemetery, where over 1,400 British and Commonwealth soldiers are buried. Our route was also determined by our desire to arrive in Bangkok before dark. We have had bad experiences of arriving in strange cites in the dark, and Bangkok’s notorious traffic was not something we wished to experience after the sun went down.

We left the hotel at 6.50am and headed north on Highway 4, the expressway to Bangkok. We continue to pass under these wonderfully coloured arches as you enter towns. Many have pictures of the King and Queen on them.


After about 300kms we turned off Highway 4 towards the Bridge. Another 200kms and we arrived at 12.15pm. The Bridge has become a major tourist attraction. We were led to believe it is very tacky, but were pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get away from the vendors trying to sell you books and postcards about the bridge’s history. The bridge is not in fact the original one the Japanese built using forced labour, that was blown up by allied bombing.

It is still very emotive to see the place where so many died in such terrible conditions. We were surprised that you can walk over the bridge. Every few minutes a small engine pulls a few carriages, filled with tourists, back and forth across the bridge. We walked onto the bridge and took lots of photos.

We then met Jim and Helen and Jeremy and Felicity and decided to have quick lunch on one of the floating restaurants near to the bridge. I wanted to take a boat up the river to see the Commonwealth Cemetery, so we hired a small boat to take all six of us the mile or so up the river to the cemetery. War cemeteries are always very sad places, but as the cemetery is looked after by the War Graves Commission it is beautifully kept and ensures the sacrifice these men made is never forgotten.


Row upon row of simple headstones, with the names of young British soldiers is a very sobering sight. I kept thinking how terrible it was that these men had died so far from home.



It reminded me of the graves at Rorke’s Drift and Spion Kop in South Africa that we visited nearly for years ago, where so many British soldiers are laid to rest.
We took the boat back to the Bridge and took some more photos and video. It was then back to the car for the 150kms drive into Bangkok.

On the way we stopped at one of the many shops selling Spirit House. These tiny houses are put outside a house during its construction. The aim is for the guardian spirits to inhabit the Spirit House and to protect the home. They are very colourful and we wanted to see if we could buy one to bring bit back to the UK. It turned out these were made from concrete and were just too heavy for us to carry.

As it turned out the drive was not too bad and we arrived at the hotel in just over two hours and well before sunset. As we parked in the hotel entrance who should come up to us, but Ahmad! He,his son Darvish and his brother Raza have spent the past few days waiting for us to meet up with them again. On Tuesday Raza will travel as our passenger, with Ahmad and Darvish travelling with two other cars.

Our hotel looks out over the city with the main river below our window.I was told the name, but don’t have it to hand at the time of writing this post.

A meal is laid on for us in the hotel this evening and then tomorrow we are going on a city tour, leaving at the ridiculously early time of 7am. Tomorrow was meant to be a rest day!