World Dead Space   Cemeteries: Thailand
During World War II, the Japanese occupied Thailand and used Allied POWs (prisons of war) and forced local labor to build, among other things, a railroad from Singapore, Malaysia, to Rangoon, Burma. A railroad bridge was built across the Kwai River in Thailand. Because of the movie, this site has become a major "tacky" tourist attraction, with all the associated gift shops and restaurants. Meanwhile, the Chungkai War Cemetery, one of three, where some of the English, Dutch, Australian, and New Zealander soldiers who died (1939-1945) building this bridge, attracts hardly any tourists. These foreign governments now pay for the maintenance of these military cemeteries. Yet no cemeteries exist for the Asian laborers who died working with the POWs!

Buddhists burn their dead in crematories like this one beside a Buddhist temple in northern Thailand. In southern Thailand, crematories stand alone and are away from temples. The Chinese in Thailand bury their dead (cremated) under distinctive tombstones; in the background, Buddhist tombstones -- containing ashes -- look like those in Cambodia.

By Ingolf Vogeler, based on a trip to Thailand in January 2003.