Along the River Kwai

Two great things happened to me in Kanchanaburi, one of which was taking the train over the Death Railway Line.

During the Second World War, Japanese forces used Allied prisioners and Southeast Asian labourers to build a rail route to Burma. Such a task resulted in many many deaths - hence the railway's name. Before the end of the war, Allied bombs have destroyed big portions of it, which has surely added to its negative connotation.

I happened to be on one of the trains, which goes through the line's surviving portions and I can tell you that death and destruction were the last things on my mind. The landscape was magnificent and the views over the River Kwai, breathtaking - definitely a lot more captivating than the ones from the famous bridge. The train itself was also incredibly charming - in a rickety kind of way. I felt really happy.

The other great thing that happened to me in Kanchanaburi was meeting Maria and John Free. Maria, from Chile, quit her job and decided to invest all her savings in a five-month soul-searching trip across Southeast Asia. John Free, from Canada, is a rafting instructor on his way to Morocco, where he will work until something more appealing comes along.

Our time together was great and our conversations, amazingly enriching. I will always remember our evening under a tree of lights smoking apple-flavoured tobacco and sharing a blue-coloured cocktail named "Kamikaze"; I will always remember the captivating way we were approached by Nitin Bhatt, a Nepalese student collecting tourists' opinions on waterpipe smoking; and I will always remember John mentioning that he had such a great time with us that he was actually sorry to have to leave the next day.

I hope John has a safe trip to Morocco - via Nepal; and I hope Maria and I manage to meet again soon.