The Bridge on the River Kwai

From the morning shopping, the tour takes a somber turn. We pick up an English guide and enter a cemetery full of ally graves. From Japanese prison camps the soldiers marched into the country to build a railroad on to enemy troops in Burma.

On the stones, messages from home. Etched into one: Time Passes Swiftly By But Love and Memories Never Die. We probe for back-stories and current political grief. Through the rows of tombs we move on to the Bridge on the River Kwai.

The famous film created a tourist trap where we eat an extensive Thai buffet. We stuff ourselves with noodles, then cheese and coffee before a walk across the bridge pointed at the border. A phone call warns of water drops, so we speed on to the tigers before the rain.