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Sep 08th
     
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Kanchanaburi museum

Ban Kao National Museum

Ban Kao National MuseumAddress: 164 Moo3 Tambon Ban Kao, Muang District, Kanchanaburi Province 71000

Directions: The museum is located on the bank of the Kwai Noi River approximately 35 kilometers from the city.

Opening Hours: Wednesday - Friday from 9.00 am - 4.30 pm

Admission Fee: 30 Thb.

Phone: +66 3465 4058

Information:

A small Tambon (sub-district) located on the bank of the Kwai Noi River approximately 35 kilometers from the city is a site where some ancient Stone Age tools were found. In addition, a Neolithic burial site was discovered by the Dutch Allied POW, Dr. Van Hickderen who was forced to build the Death Railway. The consequences of findings revealed that tambon Ban Kao was once a dwelling of prehistoric men. Some critical discoveries included skeletons of prehistoric men, tools made from gravel stone and axes. The Ban Kao Museum houses skeletal remains, pots, axe heads, jewelry made from animal bones, and other artifacts dating from that period.


Hellfire Pass Museum

Hellfire Pass Museum

Address: Highway 323, Kanchanaburi Providence

Directions: There are of course a number of orgainsed tours to the memorial and museum available from Kanchanaburi. For those who want to get there independently, the museum is located on land owned by the Royal Thai Army. To get there a bus going from Kanchanaburi to Thong Pha Phum will pass the site.

Opening Hours: Daily

Admission Fee: Free

Phone: unknown

Information:

Hellfire Pass is a 500 metres long and 26 metres deep section of rock that was dug out by Prisoners of War intended to allow the ‘Death Railway’ to continue its route from Bangkok to Rangoon. Soldiers were forced to remove the rock using no more than picks, hammers and their bare hands. Of the 1,000 Australian and British soldiers who took 12 weeks to clear the stretch of mountain, 700 died. The Hellfire Pass Memorial and Memorial Museum were set up to commemorate these fallen. The memorial comprises a trail where visitors follow the old railway track into the jungle and a museum. The museum contains pictures and tools alongside video exhibitions and showing of documentaries about the events. Like elsewhere on this trail, the memorial and museum are extremely moving places. If you are connected to the events through relations who were imprisoned here, or any other fashion, the experience can be quite wrenching.

The Thailand-Burma Railway Centre

The Thailand-Burma Railway CentreAddress: 73 Jaokannun Road,BanNua, Amphoe Muang, Kanchanaburi 71000

Directions: The museum is located next to the Don-Rak War Cemetery

Opening Hours: Daily from 9.00 am - 5.00 pm

Admission Fee: Adult: 100 Thb.; Child 50 Thb.

Phone: +66 34 512721

Website: TBRC Online

Information:

The Thailand-Burma Railway Centre is an interactive museum, information and research facility dedicated to presenting the history of the Thailand-Burma Railway. This ran 415 km from Ban Pong in Thailand to Thanbuyuzayat in Burma, and was built by the Imperial Japanese Army during the second World War using Allied prisoners of war and impressed Asian labourers. The Centre is fully air-conditioned and offers the visitor an educational and moving experience.

War Museum or JEATH

War Museum or JEATH

Address: next to Wat Chaichumphon, Kanchanaburi 

Directions: This museum, located near the River Kwai Bridge.

Opening Hours: Daily from 8.30 am - 6.00 pm

Admission Fee: 30 Thb. 

Phone:  +66 34 515 203

Information:

JEATH stands for Japan, England, America, Australia, Thailand and Holland, representing the nationalities of the prisoners of war (POW's) who were forced to work on the construction of the famous "Bridge On The River Kwai

The museum is on the bank of the River, inside Wat Chai Chumphon temple. The present Chief Abbot, the Venerable Phra Theppanyasuthee, takes responsibility for the upkeep of the museum.

This tribute was established to show actual items that were connected with the construction of the by POW's between 1942-1943.

The first thing that strikes you when you visit the museum is the bamboo hut with a collection of photographs displayed. The hut is a replica of the conditions the POW's were forced to live in.

The museum displays graphic images of the terrible conditions inflicted on the many young men that died and the many that survived to tell the story.

To bring these atrocities to the public domain, the museum exhibits many photographs taken of real situations either by Thai's or POW's.

There are also many real accounts written by former POW's, their relatives, friends and authors that interviewed the many prisoners that suffered at the hands of the Imperial Japanese Army.