2010 Quiet Lion Tour Report

By Maria Jones

The Thailand Burma Railway Quiet Lion Tour of 2010 was indeed a true once in a lifetime experience, which all who attended, thoroughly enjoyed, and would gladly attend again. Before the tour, many of the teenagers who attended did not have much of a knowledge about the death-railway but, after and during the trip, everyone’s eyes were opened to the reality, the details, and the hardships, our Australians, and POW's from other countries had to go through whilst building this railway.

The first few days, as described by Eric were the “tourist days”. During the tourist days, we visited many temples which had amazingly large Buddha statues which were places of worship. One of the Buddha’s we visited was so large it took up much of the room, and was made of solid gold, the site of this statue was so unique, that words cant describe how amazing this statue looked.

On the 18th, the 19th and the 20th of April, we travelled to many tourist locations such as the Kanchanaburi war cemetery, Floating Markets, and travelled along the existing railway on the train to the Wampo Viaduct. At the viaduct, we walked back along the tracks on the mountain side, and into a cave were many men sheltered and died during the building process. Whilst inside, Pai told us that the Thai people placed the statue of Buddha inside to put the souls inside the cave at peace.

On Wednesday the 21st of April, it was then that the true journey for us travellers began. At 8:00am, we travelled by bus to the Hintok road POW camp, and Kinsayok camp area. At each of these POW camps, we gathered around Bill; one of the ex-POW’s and he told us the stories of labour, starvation, and great sadness. The stories told were very detailed, and Bill left out no details. After these visits, we all climbed up the hillside to the rail trace, and walked through the compressor cutting to Hintok road. The hardest part of the walk was climbing up the hillside, but everyone, including the un-fittest made it in the end.

Although some found this climb challenging, it was an eye-opener to what these men had to endure, and build, and what we climbed and walked compared to them, was nothing. On Thursday the 22 nd of April, we travelled back to the road were we ended our walk, and continued the trail from Hintok cutting to Hellfire pass Museum. Although this walk was much easier, there were many stairs to climb. When we reached the museum, many people sat down for a breather and water. After our short rest, we all started coming inside the museum were we watched footage from the war, and saw/read much information and artefacts men carried from the war.

The next day, we travelled to many camps such as, Tarsau and Tonchan. It was again, where we stopped and listened to the eye-opening and detailed war stories that Bill had to tell us.

Its day 9, and everyone on the trip is starting to realize that we will be soon on the plane, travelling back to Australia, and so we all start to come together and get the know each other, and build friendships that we will remember for the rest of our lives.

Day 9, was a somewhat relaxation day, from the walking and travelling done the days before. It was this day that we went to the Anzac Cup Football Match at Visut College with the POWs as guests of honor. The game was being enjoyed by all, and us ‘kids’ got the join in and play, or run around the field distributing water to the football players. After the game, on the way back to Home Phu Toey, we stopped of at some places to shop, which was very cheap!

Its 3 o’clock in the morning, and we receive our wake-up call at 3:30am. Everyone is finalizing their packing, and moving downstairs for breakfast. In the lobby all of the students, and us Defence force cadets and smartly dressed in black pants, black shoes, the white tour shirts, and tour hats, ready to travel to Hellfire pass for the Dawn service. It’s 5:30am when the service starts, and when the sun starts to rise, the service was such an amazing experience, and other people on the trip, including myself, had the feeling that another presence was there, and we all had shivers going up our spines, but this feeling was not one of fear, it was a strange calming feeling, and you couldn’t help but smile.

After the service we traveled back to Kanchanaburi for the 11:00am Anzac Day Ceremony at Kanchanaburi War Cemetery. It was very hot, and fans were set up around the tents. The job of us kids was to walk the wreaths to the statue centered in the cemetery, and lay the wreaths on behalf of those who bought them. That night was the farewell dinner; teenagers had dinner and danced on a party boat, whilst the adults had karaoke and a formal dinner by the pool.

On Monday morning, we packed up and left the country side, and Home Phu Toey, back to Bangkok. Today was the last day to see points of interest, shop and see Thailand. That night we had our last formal dinner together, there were speeches made by Bill, and Eric, and afterwards photo taking and good-byes were made. The next morning we awoke at 3:30am in the morning, and left Bangkok for the airport to catch our plane back to Perth.

For all of those who have read my report, and are thinking of, or are attending this trip, the Burma-Thailand Trip was an exciting, enjoying, refreshing, and educational trip, and all who attended, in the end did not want to leave. The knowledge gained and the friendships made on this trip will be remembered for ever, and the story of the Thai-Burma Railway will continue to be heard among the young and old for many years still to come.