Quint: We had organised a full days tour to see some waterfalls, hot springs and mainly to see parts of the original railway deep that runs deep into the valley.
Again we hadn’t slept well. As nice as the rooms are, the walls between each room are made of 2 layers of timber. As a result any tom-foolery can be easily heard 3 rooms either side. Anyway eventually a lout bit of coughing and throat clearing on our side made them realise the mic was practically on, and the night quietened down.
The minibus left at 8pm sharp. As if lack of sleep was not enough we were presented with a back seat of 3 overweight, adolescent, foul-mouthed New Zealand girls. The joy of packaged trips, once you’re in, you’re in for good – like one big happy family!
Apart from that the tour was great, we visit the most famous part of the original railway line known as “Hells Fire Pass”. About 400m long and 25m deep, dug straight out of the side of a mountain using picks and chisels. Once down there we could appreciate the conditions the POW’S must have worked in – it was a nightmare. The lack of food and water forced some to resort to eating plant shoots and even worse. Malaria was rife and so was the dysentery and cholera. On good days, workers were rationed to a spoonful of sticky rice per day and when other foods such as meat eventually arrived in the camps, they were so rotten and riddled with maggots that the POW’S had no choice but to eat what ever they could get their hands on.
That afternoon we took a train ride on a part of the track that is still in use today. Quite scary in parts, travelling over old rickety wooden bridges clinging to the side of steep cliffs. We ended up at the Bridge over the River Kwai – a famous sight and title of a best selling book and well known movie.
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