Bridge on the River Kwai

Just two and half hours bus ride from Bangkok in Kanchanaburi municipality, the famous Bridge on the River Kwai is a monument to the Second World War. For those who are WW2 buffs, this town is a must for a complete low down on the South East Asian war sector starting with the fall of Singapore right upto the Japanese advance into the North-eastern hills of India. (Remember Imphal).

The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery is the final resting place for many of the Allied soldiers who were engaged in the War in this sector including a plaque for 11 Indians.

There is a museum next to the War Cemetery called the Death Rail Museum giving the history and facts about the Siam-Burma Railway built by the Japanese.

If you have loads of time, you can stay over at Kanchanaburi and explore the place. If you trek and follow the railway line towards Burma, you will come across more sites of interest. We did a morning-in-evening-back trip as we didn’t have much time

Brahma Shrines – One in Mahabalipuram and One in Bangkok

According to Wikipedia, there are only three temples in India dedicated to Brahma with the one at Pushkar claiming to be the “Only One in the world“

In one of the rock-cut temples in Mahabalipuram, the one called Trimurti, there was a relief of Brahma. I don’t know whether it is counted among these three temples.

I came across one in Bangkok called Erawan Shrine. It is in the same compound as the Erawan Hyatt and was built in the fifties to ward off bad spirits that plagued the building and development of the hotel (Erawan Hotel). You can check the history in Wikipedia (Erawan Shrine)

For those backpacking to Bangkok, a 5 minute detour is well worth it for its neat structural and historical value, irrespective of your religious practices.

Incidentally, the name Erawan is actually Airavat, the elephant of Indra, King of the Gods.