We woke up at 7 and after a quick (cold water) shower we packed our bags and had toast with jam for breakfast. We took the mini-van to a small market where we had a look around. All those smells, amazing! If this would be Holland the health and safety board would forbid it, but here everything goes. From there the tour took us to the hot springs, where we could soak in hot water. It was discovered by chance by Japanese engineers during WWII who where planning the railway. Next was Hell Fire Pass Museum. This is a gorge through the mountain, made by mostly Australian POWs during WWII. Because of the speed work went on 24 hrs a day, many perished there. The glow of the lanterns at night gave it the name: Hell Fire Pass. For more info on the Bridge and the Hell Fire Pass Museum: have a look at their website. There was a small museum where the work and living conditions were explained, very impressive. Walking there you get a sense of how they had to shift all the rock and earth with inadequate equipment. Since it was only single track the rail itself was taken away after WWII and used in different parts of Thailand.

After lunch (you guessed it: fried rice) we took the train for a 3 hour ride over some of the same type of bridges constructed during WWII. Almost every 15 minutes there was a woman selling cold beers, good catering in the warm weather. The last half hour we got close to Kanchanaburi and many more tourists boarded the train. It was fun to see how many of them try to film everything in 5 minutes. How can you get an impression in such a short time? Crossing the bridge in Kanchanaburi was fun. It is also used as a pedestrian bridge so there are small plateaus on the side of the bridge where the people can get into safety when the train crosses the bridge. When we got back to the Apple guest house we checked in for another night and had a great dinner with Karen and Marisa. I had bought a nice bottle of Whiskey that day, which we had as an aperitif and after dinner.