January 16, Friday – Discover Hellfire Pass – Boat ride on the River Kwai – Visit a Latex farmer

Destination: Kanchanaburi – Accommodations: Hin Tok River Camp

We had a good night’s sleep inside our tent – the air conditioning making it quite comfortable. Breakfast was tasty and afterwards, we started our day.

We set out to visit Hellfire Pass. Hellfire Pass is the name of the area where prisoners were forced to cut through the mountain to build the Burma Railway during WW II. During the construction of the Burma Railway, it is estimated that over 100,000 people died due to starvation, disease, exhaustion, and brutal treatment.

The total death toll is generally broken down into two main groups: Asian forced laborers: well over 100,000, Allied Prisoners of War (POWs): Approximately 16,000, Japanese Casualties: Around 1,000 Japanese soldiers and engineers also died during construction. The majority of deaths occurred among civilian laborers, whom the Japanese enticed to come to help build the line with false promises of good jobs.

The conditions were especially harsh during the cutting of Hellfire Pass and the workers suffered from heat, dehydration, sickness, and beatings. The pass got its name because the sight of the emaciated prisoners resembled a scene from hell. About 700 allied POW’s died and 69 were beaten to death by guards.

The Hellfire Pass section of the railway was particularly difficult to cut because of its remoteness and lack of proper tools. The prisoners of war were required by the Japanese to work 18 hours a day or longer to complete the cutting, taking about 6 weeks to finish the pass.

We walked through the museum which told of the hardship the prisoners suffered and then we walked through the pass and could see the thickness and height of the rock the men had to chisel through. It was unbelievable that these men could do this work in such deplorable conditions.

After walking through the pass we climbed back up to the ground level…165 steps! Oof!

From there we took a boat ride on the river Kwai Noi to our luncheon restaurant. It was a very peaceful ride and a time to meditate and appreciate the stillness of the river, after seeing such horrors at Hellfire Pass.

Lunch was excellent and then on the way back to camp, we stopped to talk with a man who makes latex from rubber trees. He and his wife have 2000 trees and during the week, they wake up early and score the bark on maybe 200 trees and hang a cup to catch the sap. The tree produces much more sap in the cool of the morning rather than in the afternoon and that’s why they get to work so early.

After collecting the sap from each tree, they put it all in a large basin and mix it with water and formic acid. Then it goes through a pressing and stretching process to get the water out. Afterwards, the latex is dried on racks and then stored in a silo.

The man sells the latex, but he doesn’t make the money he deserves considering the hard work he and his wife do. They actually can only work three days at a time and then they take the fourth day off to rest.

They collect the sap 6 months out of the year, because once the rainy season comes, the sap would be too wet from the rain to collect. The other six months, the man does construction work to make ends meet.

The industry supports millions of households with latex extraction and processing, though small farmers like the man we visited today face challenges from fluctuating prices.

We met everyone on the veranda for a drink and then it was off for dinner. They had new dinner selections, but also had the favorites: pad Thai and skewered BBQ chicken and pork. So delicious.

And for dessert I tried mung bean soup with coconut milk. OMG! What a treat. It is sweet and salty with just the right amount of creaminess. Apparently, it is a nutritious dessert – packed with plenty of protein and really tasty.

Tomorrow we get to sleep in and then we drive back to Bangkok.

The above pictures are at our camp. Nice to watch the sunset and drink some wine on the veranda. .

Walking through Hellfire Pass

The men chiseled through the rock with tools, some of which were broken and barely useable.

The U S Memorial

On the long boat going down the river. The boat was in a scene in a James Bond movie.

Lunch. The green vegetable dish is called Morning Glory. It is similar to spinach, but with hollow stems among the leafy part. This is not the same as the ornamental flowering plant by the same name, which is actually toxic.