The Bridge over the River Kwai

The Bridge over the River Kwai was immortalised by the French author Pierre Boulle and made into a major movie. The bridge covers eleven spans and was brought in pieces, by the Japanese all the way from Java to be reconstructed here. Partly destroyed by Allied bombing, it was repaired after the war.

Unfortunately Pierre Boulle had never been to Kanchanaburi or he would have known that the railway actually crosses the Mae Klong River and not the River Kwai. When the movie - which was actually filmed in Sri Lanka - became popular, Thailand faced something of a problem because many tourists came to see the Bridge over the River Kwai and they didn't actually have one. So, with admirable lateral thinking, they simply renamed the river. http://www.bangkokdaytours.com/tour.asp?tid=56