Kanchanaburi

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Kanchanaburi

Kanchanaburi is a town (thesaban mueang) in the west of Thailand

Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand is an independent country that lies in the heart of Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Laos and Myanmar, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the west by the Andaman Sea and Myanmar....
and the capital of Kanchanaburi

Kanchanaburi Province

Kanchanaburi is the largest of the central Provinces of Thailand of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Tak Province, Uthai Thani Province, Suphanburi Province, Nakhon Pathom Province and Ratchaburi Province....
province

Provinces of Thailand

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Kanchanaburi is a town (thesaban mueang) in the west of Thailand

Thailand

Kanchanaburi Province

Provinces of Thailand

Thailand is divided into 75 provinces , which are geographically grouped into 6 regions. The capital Bangkok is not a province but a special administrative area and is included as the 76th province since it is administered at the same level as the other 75 provinces....
. In 2006 it had a population of 31,327. The town covers the complete tambon
Tambon

Tambon is a local government unit in Thailand. Below district and province , they form the third administrative subdivision level. As of the 2000 census there are 7254 tambon, not including the 154 khwaeng of Bangkok, which are set at the same administrative level, thus every Amphoe contains 8-10 tambon....
Ban Nuea and Ban Tai and parts of Pak Phraek and Tha Makham, all of Mueang Kanchanaburi district

Amphoe Mueang Kanchanaburi

Mueang Kanchanaburi is the capital district of Kanchanaburi Province, central Thailand....
, and parts of the tambon Tha Lo of Tha Muang district

Amphoe Tha Muang

Tha Muang is a district in the southern part of Kanchanaburi Province, central Thailand....
.

Kanchanaburi is located where the Khwae Noi and Khwae Yai

Khwae Yai River

The Khwae Yai River , also known as the Si Sawat , is a river in western Thailand. It flows for about 380 kilometres through Amphoe Sangkhla Buri, Amphoe Si Sawat, and Amphoe Mueang Kanchanaburi Districts of Kanchanaburi Province, where it merges with the Khwae Noi River to form the Mae Klong at Pak Phraek Tambon....
rivers converge into the Mae Klong

Mae Klong

The Mae Klong is a river in western Thailand. The river begins at the confluence of the Khwae Noi River or Kwai Sai Yoke and the Khwae Yai River or Kwai Si Sawasdi in Kanchanaburi, pass Ratchaburi Province and empties into the Gulf of Thailand in Samut Songkhram....
river, where in 1942, under Japanese control, the famous Bridge on the River Kwai
The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai is a Cinema of the United Kingdom 1957 in film World War II film by David Lean; based on the novel The Bridge over the River Kwai by French writer Pierre Boulle....
was built by prisoners of war (POWs). A memorial and two museums are also located here: the Thailand-Burma Railway Museum (opened in March 2003), and the JEATH War Museum

JEATH War Museum

The JEATH War Museum is one of two war museums in Thailand about the Death Railway built from 1942 to 1943 by Allied POWs under the direction of the Japanese....
dedicated to the bridge and the Death Railway

Death Railway

The Burma Railway, also known as the Death Railway, the Thailand-Burma Railway and similar names, is a 415 km Rail transport between Bangkok, Thailand and Yangon, Myanmar , built by the Empire of Japan during World War II, to support its forces in the Burma campaign....
. The city is also home to the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

Kanchanaburi War Cemetery

The Kanchanaburi War Cemetery is the main POW cemetery associated with victims of the Burma_Railway. It is located in the town of Kanchanaburi, Thailand, and is maintained by the Commonwealth_War_Graves_Commission....
. It is the easiest access point to the nearby Tiger Temple

Tiger Temple

Tiger Temple, or Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua, is a Buddhism temple in Western Thailand which keeps numerous animals, among them several tigers that can be petted by visitors....
.

Kanchanaburi spans the northern banks of the river and is a popular spot for travelers, its location at the edge of a mountain range keeping it much cooler than the other provinces of central Thailand. The city has two major commercial districts: the downtown area consists of a grid of several streets with office buildings, shop fronts, and a shopping mall; and the riverfront area businesses are mostly located further west along River Kwai Road. Once a year a carnival comes to town and is set up in the area next to the bridge. At night there is a small pyrotechnics display that reenacts the Allied bombing of the bridge.

Trivia

Kanchanaburi was one of the stops on the first season of The Amazing Race
The Amazing Race 1

The Amazing Race was the first installment of the reality television show, The Amazing Race. It premiered on September 5, 2001 and ended on December 12, 2001 on US television....
.
It is the birthplace of the Buddhist
Buddhism

Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal....
monk Phrabhavanaviriyakhun
Phrabhavanaviriyakhun

Phrabhavanaviriyakhun is a Thai Buddhist monk. Born in 1941 in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, he followed secular education to post-graduate level.When Wat Phra Dhammakaya, Pathum Thani Province was founded in 1970, he was the enthusiastic leader who was not only in charge of the pioneering construction work but also for developing the friendly r...
.
5km SE of the city is a fascinating Buddhist temple Wat Tham Phu Wa which features a series of grotto shrines in a large limestone cave system. Each grotto features a statue of The Buddha at a different stage of his life.
3km on the road to Wat Tham Phu Wa is the Chong Kai allies cemetery; beautifully tended this was created by the Thai Government to honour the soldiers of several WW2 allied armies who died during the defence of SE Asia.

External links

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Kanchanaburi

Trivia

See also

External links