Hellfire Pass (Death Railways), Thailand

After exploring Bridge across river Kwai, we headed to Hellfire pass. This place is further ahead on the Kwai river and is known for the complexities of its construction and casualties during the same.

Due to tough terrain, building a railway line here was a challenging task. Several prisoners of war and other forced labours were employed by Japanese troupes to construct the railway track here. The track would connect Thailand and Burma, enabling Japanese invasion into east asian countries. Many of them died during landslides, starvation, diseases and other calamities. Its also known as Death Railways.

As we got out of the van and headed towards the track, this image greeted us- we were told that a bomb exploded in this very place during world war 2. Many of us have seen bombs only in television and have no idea how it feels to live in the threat of war.

 There's a cave and a Buddha temple at the beginning of Hellfire pass. We were told not to go into the cave beyond Buddha statue. Not sure what lies beyond it.

 Here're some upclose pics of railway track at hellfire pass. Notice the wooden support to the bridges

Being rainy season, River Kwai was at reasonable fury.

Cottages are available on the other side if you wish to stay here. A toy train operates on this track currently, ferrying mostly tourists.

Our next destination was the famous Tiger Temple.