SINGAPORE AND THE THAI RAILWAY EXPERIENCES OF ...

wagons, I think it was 25, but the two guards insisted on taking up most of the room. After
we crossed the river we had to push the train which we found on the further side up a long
slope to the station. Here they attached several coaches full of Thai and Nip passengers and
at daybreak we left on the last stage of our trip to Bangkok.
At Bangkok we found that the station had been severely bombed and there were large craters
all over the place. We were a poor-looking bunch compared with the well-dressed Thais.
They did not seem to bear us any animosity. Here the guards passed over to some Nip
guards, who looked a superior type to the Koreans, and we all were congratulating ourselves
on saying goodbye to our dear friends, the Koreans. The Koreans were all lined up and there
was a formal handing over, during which we were counted about ten times. As we went away
we wished the Koreans a fervent farewell. We were then whisked away on to a ferry and
soon found ourselves at the godowns where we
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were to stay for a week. The Nip guards were not so good as we had at first hoped. During
the air raids of the preceding month, the water supply of Bangkok had been knocked out, and,
as a result, the supply for the godowns had to be carried from ponds about ¼-mile away. The
Nips had to provide the escort to and from the ponds and they were unwilling to do any more
than the minimum number of trips. As a consequence we were without water on the day we
arrived at the godowns for about ten hours, and it was a scorching hot day. The Dutch ran
this camp and they seemed to think it was a good place. The reason for this would not be far
to seek. The godowns were bombed about a fortnight before we arrived and there were big
holes in the roof. It rained several times whilst we were there and, as a result, we were
several times soaked with rain. When this happened, the guards were delighted. There was
an awful lot of saluting to be done in this camp. They confined us within the godowns all the
time we were not working except for a period of half an hour after roll call in the evening.
Every time one passed the guard on the way to get food or to get water one had to salute or, if
without a hat, bow. During my stay in this camp we worked on two occasions at night in the
godowns. This was a wonderful opportunity to do a bit of stealing. I got away with several
blocks of writing paper, some biscuits, and sugar. The sugar was very pleasant to eat after so
long without and the biscuits helped to fill up the empty spaces. The paper was, however, the
best haul because at that time there was a great shortage of paper for rolling cigarettes and I
sold three sheets for ten cents, making about fifteen ticals for my three blocks.
There were the usual searches made after the work was over for the night but I was able to
keep the paper under cover. Some Dutch were discovered and kept at attention for several
hours.
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The goods we were moving consisted of shoes, shirts, shorts, biscuits, paper, soap (of which I
got two tablets), sugar, peas, beans, dried fish and a few other odds and ends. All this stuff
was intended, I believe, for the armies then on retreat from Burma. Whilst we were in this
camp we were fed well on meat and plenty of vegetables, but there was always a shortage of
water. The latrine had been hit by one of the bombs and there were a lot of flies about which
made an outbreak of dysentery likely. I was glad on the whole to move from the camp. The
chief reason was that there was so little liberty.