Kanchanaburi and Bridge Over The River Kwai

Peaceful Kanchanburi sits some 130km north-west of Bangkok amid verdant green countryside surrounded by dense forests and mist-shrouded mountains.

The town and province is steeped in history - and that's why we've come here. Less than a 10-minute walk from our hotel lies one of the most infamous of all World War II sites - The Bridge Over The River Kwai.

After checking into the super friendly Sabai @ Kan Hotel and grabbing a quick lunch at a floating restaurant on the Mae Nam Khwae Yai (the Kwai) we start our history lesson at the Thailand-Burma Railway Centre, an inter-active museum which provides a fascinating and disturbing insight into Kanchanaburi's role in the war.

Having previously had limited understanding of how and why the railway was built - the book The Bridge Over The River Kwai and David Lean's epic film of the same name provide answers too - the centre offers an educational and moving experience, detailing the building of the railway and the staggering cost in human sacrifice.

We are stunned to learn that of the 60,000 Allied prisoners of war - Australian, British, American and Dutch - who worked on the railway between October 1942 and October 1943 more than 12,000 died, as did a staggering 100,000 civilian Asian labourers from of a workforce of 270,000.

While the bleak statistics are numbing, film archive, documentation and photographs of the appalling treatment meted out by the Japanese to the POWs and Romusha (labourers) are nothing short of heartbreaking.

Allied War Cemetery
We leave the museum - incredulous at man's inhumanity to man, shocked not only by the death toll but the reasons - appalling living conditions, starvation, disease, inadequate medical facilities and the brutal punishments and cruel torture inflicted on the men by Japanese guards and railway supervisors.

Stepping out of the darkness, literally and figuratively-speaking, we cross the street to the Allied War Cemetery. Of the 6,982 POWs buried here, nearly half are British. Their final resting place is set among immaculately maintained gardens brimming with flowers, shrubs and trees of various shades of red, yellow and orange. We note the ages of some of those who perished - 30, 28, 24, 22, 20 - and leave in silence.

Jeath War Museum
Take a rickshaw to the other side of town - our bicycle guide has a good smattering of English, pointing out some interesting sights along the way. Drops us at the Jeath Museum - so named because of the Japanese, English, Australian, American, Thai and Dutch (Holland) involvment.

Very different from the Railway Museum, we enter to find ourselves in a reconstruction of the cramped and primitive bamboo huts POWs were kept in. Along the walls are original photographs and POW paintings and drawings of what life was like. The Jeath provides a harrowing eye-opening experience.

Lightning the mood
Enough for one day, we head back to the Sabai @ Kan for a relaxing swim in the pool set in lovely tropical gardens, eat a Thai meal at a local restaurant and end up listening to a Kanchanaburi bar owner from Manchester, backed by a talented Thai band, belt out a very presentable version of House Of The Rising Sun and other classic 60s and 70s numbers, and he makes a decent stab at a couple of Oasis numbers. Well done, Ian. Several Singha beers later we reflect on a good pit-stop, with batteries recharged for day two.

Thailand-Burma Railway
Of the 415km railway hacked out of thick tropical jungle and solid rock from Ban Pong in Thailand to Thanbyuzayat in Burma just a small section remains in use - and, having come this far, we are going to climb on board the train that runs along it.

It's a tourist puffer in the main - there are a few locals dotted about and hawkers selling food and drink - but it's third class all the way, reflected in bone-hard wooden seats, no air con (open windows allow what little air there is in) and a jerky, rattling ride.

On the plus side the two-hour journey from Kanchanaburi Station to Nam Tok takes us over the infamous bridge - it was rebuilt after the war (Allied bombs having blown its central span to smithereens in 1945) - and provides us with some spectacular scenery along the way.

There's little to keep us in nondescript Nam Tok, but we are told the picturesque Sai Yok waterfall 2km away is worth seeing. We've only got 90 minutes before we have to catch the train back (it was an hour late leaving in the first place), so board local bus and head for waterfall.

We shouldn't have bothered. It's a major disappointment. Set in a national park, it's one big tourist trap packed with adults and kids in swimming costumes bombing down the falls - there is actually very little water - while sitting on car tyres.

We cut our losses, make a speedy departure and grab a quick bite before boarding train for return. What should take two hours takes three-and-a-half, thanks to an unscheduled and mystifying stop at a station seemingly in the middle of nowhere. No explanation is given for the delay, but we get to thinking it might be to enable a local lady sitting on the station to sell her sausages and cold drinks. And she does a roaring trade. We are bored witless sitting on the train in the stifling heat, climb out and cross the tracks to give her our custom too. Only one winner - and it wasn't us. Sausages not up to much - but perhaps that's because we are sweaty, dishevelled and dog-tired.

Eventually roll across Kwai Bridge as darkness begins to fall. Just time to walk across its 300 metres both ways before grabbing a meal at restaurant on river which affords good views of it. Bridge is lit up at night - a little bit like the Blackpool illuminations - but there are few tourists here tonight and after a busy day we are happy just sitting watching the river - and it's a very beautiful one - flow.

Hellfire Pass
This memorial and museum lies 80km north-west of Kanchanaburi near the Myanmar (Burma) border. We take a taxi there - luxury after the rigours of our train journey the previous day.

Hellfire Pass is a cutting along the 'Death Railway' where POWs and Asians worked punishing hours well into the night. The eerily flickering bonfire lights on the skeleton-like bodies of the workers gave the place its name.

Thanks to a joint Thai-Australian enterprise we can now take a 4 km walk, following in the footsteps of men who toiled for up to 18 hours a day building embankments and timber trestle bridges cut from the surrounding jungle, and who were forced by their captors to drive cuttings through solid rock with just the most basic equipment - bare hands, shovels, picks and hoes.

Much of this work coincided with Thailand's wet season, and weakened POWs living in atrocious conditions on a meagre diet of rice and water fell ill to tropical ulcers, malaria, dysentery, and cholera, the latter claiming thousands of lives.

Walking the trail alone - thankfully one extremely loud and obnoxious American woman in a small party quickly disappears out of sight and, more importantly, earshot. Silence is golden and, now with not a soul around, we suddenly feel we are among ghosts, audio stops along the way where we listen to the experiences of former POWs simply intensifying the haunting atmosphere.

Three hours later our loop walk - it offersstunning views of the Burmese hills - takes us back to where we started. We feel privileged to have spent time at a memorial and museum which remembers in such a dignified manner the men who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

We spend our last evening and at a restaurant recommended to us by Noel and Pam, our two friends in Murton, who lured by Thailand's charms, come back year after year. They know good Thai cusinse when they taste it - and Apple and Noi's riverside retreat proves an excellent way for us to finish off our stay here.

We are coming to the end of not only our stay in South-East Asia, but our travels after nine months on the road. But before we head back to Bangkok and, ultimately Heathrow Airport, we plan to spend a couple of days among the ruined palaces and temples of Ayuthaya, the former royal capital of Siam and its cultural heart.