Beautiful Sunday and Sublime Sunday - The Death Railway !!

There are times when you just need to escape the hustle and bustle of the big city and it was exactly how i felt this weekend needed to escape the big smoke so we got together with some friends and decided to do just that.

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We had decided to head south of Bangkok about a 3 hour drive to visit the Bridge on the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi, Thailand. We left Bangkok city just after mid-day in a friends Mini Van as there was six of us going.

After about a hour or so of driving we all felt a bit hungry so we decided to stop at this seafood restaurants by the side of the highway for some fresh BBQ seafood.

Look at the mouth and eyes of this prawn he knew he was going to be BBQ.

A bit of fooling around while the prawns were been BBQ.

So after a nice feast of BBQ prawns and some other dishes we ordered we were all content and ready to move on i do think we over ordered on the prawns so we had some to take away with us.

After leaving the restaurant we were back on the road had been driving for almost a hour when disaster broke out the Mini Van dropped to the ground doing about 80km per/hour at the time the left front tire had blown out.

I am so glad the driver held the Mini Van in control it could of been very well a lot more serious the Van could of flipped or anything.

Within in minutes after my friend had pulled the Van to safety there were good samaritans all around us all willing to give us a lending hand.

The Rim and the Tire were history.

The spare wheel was to big to fit under the guard so we had to hunt down a new tire and rim. So while we were waiting we tired to keep the atmosphere alive and happy that we were all safe so it was time for a bit more fooling around.

Within a hour we had a new tire and rim delivered and fitted for us now that's what i call excellent service.

We had decided then it was to late to carry on to where we were suppose to be it was now nearly 6pm so we headed further down the highway and pulled into a resort/hotel to relax and eat a few more prawns with some cold beers.

The interior inside the Mini Van like a night club...lol :)

The hotel was a great choice we settled in had a great night eating , drinking and chatting away the next morning we were up reasonably early to head to the Bridge on the River Kwai, Kanchanaburi.

The next morning left overs out front of our rooms luckily the local cat turned up to help us clean up the mess by eating the left over prawns and chicken meat balls.

The cats or dogs always seem to know i have food for them...lol :)

On the road again and heading to our destination after getting of the highway we had to make our way down this winding road around the mountains to get to the River Kwai.

A nice breakfast and coffee at this cafe before we ventured off to see the Bridge and River Kwai.

A great coffee and breakfast had and now walking towards the bridge there is a number of shops selling clothing , souvenirs and more food and drinks.

As you just come out of the road with all the shops just a little way up the railway line there is a Shrine in this mountain cave if you wish to pray for the spirits around the River Kwai who died here in World War II.

After visiting the Shrine and giving our blessing we moved on along the railway bridge on the river kwai.

Kanchanaburi is on the Myanmar border is where this famous Bridge was built on the River Kwai during WW II, Japan was the country that constructed this meter gauge railway line from Ban Pong, Thailand to Thanbyuzayat, Burma.

This railway line passes through the scenic Three Pagodas Pass runs for 250 miles and is known as the Death Railway.

The railway line was built along the river kwai in order to transport military equipment to plan a attack on India.The construction was done using POWs and Asian slave laborers in unfavorable conditions.

The building of this railway line and bridge started in 1942 and was completed within a year but because of the difficult terrain they say many thousands lost there lives it was like one death to each sleeper laid in the track really horrifying.

At the nearby Kanchanaburi War Cemetery, around 7,000 POWs, who sacrificed their lives in the railway construction, are buried. Another 2,000 are laid to rest at the Chungkai Cemetery.

In 1944 during WW II three sections of the Bridge River Kwai were bombed and destroyed by Allied Forces the present bridge has two of it's central spans rebuilt and the original parts are now kept at a War Museum.

After World War II, the damaged bridge was renovated by the Thai government in 1946.

The Bridge River Kwai became famous all over the world because of it's history and the natural beauty of the cliff hugging tracks with it's surrounding mountains and valleys.

Today the Bridge River Kwai is a tourist destination many people will flock there to start at resorts that are built along the river to give you that full view of the railway line and bridges. You can walk along the tracks as it has walkway platforms which are great for viewpoints and avoiding trains.

They have a tourist train that will take you along this railway line at a slow speed so you can enjoy the views and do as much landscape photography as you wish.

This restaurant and resort was just in the perfect spot for it's views.

A great piece of world history seen and very beautiful landscape surrounding i must say was very enjoyable to see. On our way back home we stopped at the huge statue of a mother tiger and her baby.

I don't know the purpose of this huge statue way it was built in the middle of no where but it was certainly amazingly huge so one said there use to be a tiger farm attraction before it makes sense.

Another attraction is all the Monkeys you see along the mountain roads who like to come out of the forest hopping to get feed by passing by people who may decided to pull up and throw them some food and take a few photos like we did another amazing exprience only in Thailand.

I hope you all had a great Sunday like me thank you @ace108 for hosting #beautifulsunday and thank you @c0ff33a for hosting #SublimeSunday.