Thailand- Bridge Over the River Kwai // The Tiger Temple

When the 80,000 British troops in Singapore surrendered to the Japanese, many were sent to Kanchanaburi, Thailand to help construct a rail line between Thailand and Burma.

The troops referred to the railway as the Death Railway because so many soldiers died, mostly from   malnutrition and disease.

There were three different camps and some had higher death tolls than others. One officer who wrote a book about the experience said of the 1700 troops who arrived with him, only 400 were alive at the end of the war.

Families had the opportunity to inscribe the nameplates of their loved ones.

Sadly, when the allied planes bombed the bridges, they also bombed the camps, killing hundreds of their own  soldiers

The bridge is still in operation today. The original bridge was badly damaged but restored after the war.

Trains cross the bridge daily. Some go deep into Burma but others are for tourists who want to say they crossed this famous bridge.

This is a good shot of the bridge.

The day we were there seemed to be a day the local monastery had an outing.

I loved this shot.  The monk on the end, wearing Ray-Ban wrap around sun glasses, was taking a selfie with his Iphone.

This pretty tourist was talking to the the monks hoping for a picture with them.  Women are not supposed to touch a monk or be too familiar.  Thus his concern.

But in the end and with a smile, he decided one little photo could not hurt.

Japanese tourists seem so conservative except when  it comes to photos

This group of school girls stationed themselves at the end of the bridge where they could meet tourists and practice their English.

These girls had a set of prepared questions, 25 to be exact, and after each question they would ask Medi to write out the answer she had just given. We did not make it through all the questions.

We visited Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua or the Temple of the Tiger.  "Wat" is the word for temple and it is an active, serious religious ground. It is not particularly old for a temple , built in 1999 as a refuge for tigers and other  animals.  By 2014, there were 100 tigers at the temple but many were kept far from the main tourist area.

This young lady, a nineteen year old British student, is the reason we did not pose for photos with the tigers. In August of 2013, one of the tigers turned around while she was petting it and bit her thigh. She survived but spent three weeks in the hospital undergoing numerous operations.

This father and son team were more adventurous.

This girl was also brave. Perhaps she had read recent articles that the temple masters drugged the tigers to prevent any more incidents. You must admit they do not look particularly dangerous.

Other articles questioned whether the area was a true temple or more of a theme park.