lonely-planet-myanmar-burma-11-edition

There also used to be a WWII museum, butthe government let it turn to ruin as, accordingto one local, ‘They do not even want usto remember this history.’Half a mile west of the clock tower towardsKyaikkami, on the southern side ofthe road, lies the Thanbyuzayat War Cemetery.This lonely site contains 3771 gravesof Allied POWs who died building the railway.Most of those buried were British butthere are also markers for American, Dutchand Australian soldiers. As you walk aroundthis simple memorial, maintained by theCommonwealth War Graves Commission,reading the heart-rending words inscribedon the gravestones it’s impossible not to bemoved to the brink of tears.Some are simple and state only that ‘Oneday we will understand’, which of course wenever did. Others are personal messages oflove and remembrance, such as: ‘I waited,but you did not come. Life was cruel to us.Dorothy’ – GE Wright, died age 28.Daw Pu (hbreakfast & lunch), a Burmeserestaurant located across from the pickup-truckstand, west of the clock tower, is agood place to eat.8Getting There & AwayBus & Pick-Up TruckHop on a bus or pick-up from the eastern side ofzeigyi (Mawlamyine’s main market) heading in thedirection of Mudon (K1000, 45 minutes) and askto be dropped at the junctions for any of the aboveplaces (with the exception of Thanbyuzayat). Noteyou will have to pay the full fare to Mudon.THE DEATH RAILWAYFor Thanbyuzayat there are six departures(K1000, two hours) from the east side of zeigyi,all before noon. As there is no legal lodging inThanbyuzayat, start early so you can catch thelast bus back to Mawlamyine at 3pm.KYAIKKAMIkYŸik'xmILocated 5.5 miles northwest of Thanbyuzayat,Kyaikkami was a small coastal resort and missionarycentre known as Amherst during theBritish era. Adoniram Judson (1788–1850), anAmerican missionary and linguist who haspractically attained sainthood among MyanmarBaptists, was sailing to India with his wifewhen their ship was blown off course, forcingthem to land at Kyaikkami. Judson stayedon and established his first mission here; theoriginal site is now a Catholic school on asmall lane off the main road.The town is an atmospheric seaside destination,although you’ll probably not do anyswimming at the rocky and rather muddybeach. Instead, the main focus is Yele Paya,a metal-roofed Buddhist shrine complexperched over the sea and reached via a longtwo-level causeway; the lower level is submergedduring high tide. Along with 11 Buddhahair relics, the shrine chamber beneathYele Paya reportedly contains a buddha imagethat supposedly floated here on a raftfrom Sri Lanka in ancient times (see ThihoshinPhondaw-pyi on p 76 for more detailson this legend). A display of 21 Mandalaystylebuddha statues sits over the spot wherethe Sinhalese image is supposedly buried.The strategic objective of the ‘Burma–Siam Railway’ was to secure an alternative supplyroute for the Japanese conquest of Myanmar and other Asian countries to the west.Construction on the railway began on 16 September 1942 at existing terminals inThanbyuzayat and Nong Pladuk, Thailand. At the time, Japanese engineers estimatedthat it would take five years to link Thailand and Burma by rail, but the Japanese armyforced the POWs to complete the 260-mile, 3.3ft-gauge railway in 13 months. Much ofthe railway was built in difficult terrain that required high bridges and deep mountaincuttings. The rails were finally joined 23 miles south of the town of Payathonzu (ThreePagodas Pass); a Japanese brothel train inaugurated the line. The railway was in use for21 months before the Allies bombed it in 1945.An estimated 16,000 POWs died as a result of brutal treatment by their captors, astory chronicled by Pierre Boulle’s book Bridge on the River Kwai and popularised by amovie based on the book. Only one POW is known to have escaped, a Briton who tookrefuge among pro-British Kayin guerrillas.Although the statistics of the number of POWs who died during the Japanese occupationare horrifying, the figures for the labourers, many from Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysiaand Indonesia, are even worse. It is thought that 80,000 Asians, 6540 British, 2830Dutch, 2710 Australians and 356 Americans died in the area.103MON SOUTHEASTERN STATE 8MYANMAR 8 AROUND MAWLAMYINE