Kanchanaburi

It was through the Three Pagodas Pass close to the source of the Menam Kwae Noi that the Burmese armies were always launching their attacks, the last one taking place in 1767, when they fell upon Ayutthya and razed it to the ground. The town of Kanchanaburi, as provincial capital, was therefore strategically located as the point where the Siamese army could take on the enemy as the Kwae Yai, the River Kwai, joined with the Kwae Noi to become the Mae Klong, and then flow down through wild mountain gorges into a broad plain on the Gulf of Thailand.

Kanchanaburi was probably already an attractive place to settle since it had the kind of fertile soil which could be cultivated to grow sugar cane, tobacco, cotton, maize and manioc, although most of the farming here is now given over to rice. The many nearby sapphire and spinel mines also contributed to its importance.

The surrounding limestone hills, covered in rain forest and rising up to 1800 m (5908 ft), hold a great number of caverns and major waterfalls. The town itself, usually known just as "Kanburi", has little to offer apart from the usual lively street scenes, but is a good base for anyone seeking to get away from the hurly burly of Bangkok to relax in an idyllic setting.

By car: Highway 4 from Bangkok or 338/4 to Nakhon Pathom, then 323 (130 km (81 mi.)).

By rail: from Bangkok-Thonburi Station (also known as Bangkok Noi); also regular excursions by Thai Railways; information at Bangkok-Hualampong Station.

By bus: regular service from Bangkok Southern Bus Terminal. Many Bangkok travel companies include day trips or excursions lasting several days in their program.

The first systematic excavations were begun in the 1950s by Dr van Keekeren, one of the Dutch prisoners of war forced to work on the building of the bridge over the River Kwai, who had stayed on after the end of the Second World War. The initial finds of prehistoric stone tools were made in Bo Phloi and Sai Yok, to the north and west of Kanchanaburi respectively. The implements found in two caves at Sai Yok and on the wooded banks of the Kwae Noi date back to Paleolithic times. Other discoveries included a complete Bronze Age burial. This took the same form as is still customary in Kanchanaburi today, with the face turned towards the north, the legs at an angle, and the upper torso weighted down with a stone, clearly to keep the spirit of the deceased held fast in the tomb so that it could not trouble the living.