Hell Fire Pass and the Bridge Over the River Quai

During my parents and I's tour of Kenchanaburi we went to see Hell Fire Pass and the Bridge Over the River Quai. During WW2 the Japanese took over parts of Thailand and captured thousands of prisoners of war from Thailand, America, Australia, England, and sevearl other countries. They forced them to build a railroad over an ubelievable stretch of land in the hot, mosquito infested jungles of Thailand to ship cargo to other Japanese forces in remote areas. During this time thousands upon thousands of POW died from exastion and disease as the prisoners were only fed two small meals of rice and vegetables a day. It took over 20 months to build this railroad and it was used only for 17 months because it was bombed. In my pictures you can see actual railroad tracks built and the hardest part to build known as Hell Fire Pass. This is the ravine of rocks you see above that was pretty much chipped away by hand. You can also see the famous bridge of the river Quai. This was also built by the POW. Although, I dont know why people really flock to see this bridge because in all, its just a bridge. I really enjoyed this experience because its a part of history that we as Americans dont really learn about in our school history classes.