Hellfire Pass. January 2, 2014.

My little travel clock said 6:14am and I was wide awake. Being only about a 10 minute walk from The Bridge over the River Khwae, I leapt out of bed, got dressed, grabbed my camera and walked out to see The Bridge at sunrise. The street was quiet, the shops and tourist stalls not yet open. And I (almost) had The Bridge to myself. Naturally there are always a few even earlier risers at sites like this. Still, it was rather nice to have some relative peace there.

Sunrise at The Bridge.

Back at our hotel we enjoyed breakfast before driving to Hellfire Pass.

Hellfire Pass is a section of the 'Death Railway' that was particularly difficult to build. The Memorial Museum is dedicated to the Allied Prisoners of War and Asian Laborers who were forced to build the Burma-Thailand Railway by the Japanese. The museum paints a grim and chilling picture of what happened here - and left us both feeling very humbled. I would urge all who visit this part of Thailand to, if at all possible, visit this. The bedding of where the actual railway ran, has been cleared in this area and made into a memorial walking track.
We spent quite a bit of time reading, walking, contemplating and being overwhelmed by it all.

The first section of HellFire Pass.

We ended our afternoon with a quick visit to the Srinakarin Dam, before looking for a place to stay the night along the River.