We are up and out early this morning, first for a lovely walk around the resort in the daylight. There is a trail that winds up around the lake, through the zipline which looks really scary and sort of rickety. Yeah, we’re happy on the ground level here! The path winds up and into the woods, but not knowing exactly where it goes, we circle back around the lake, over to the infinity pool (which was packed yesterday afternoon) and then back for a shower and breakfast. Nice morning walk.

Then we’re off to the Hellfire Pass Railway museum – located on the actual railway where we will get to walk through the pass and down the old train passageway. We’re early getting to the museum and Odum and the driver con our way into the guarded grounds by telling the gate guard we need to use the toilets. Love it! Once the grounds are open, we are some of the first to descend the steep stairs down into the railway bed and through the Hellfire Pass.

The beauty that surrounds this place is surreal. Even though there are placards that say the vistas gave prisoners time to reflect and find comfort in the natural beauty, it is hard to believe they were able to do this when you stand here between the rails – uncovered in the ’80s after ex-POW Australians started a project to uncover the railway they had toiled upon during WWII – looking up at those steep, high walls of stone, knowing that men had to dig this out by hand is pretty overwhelming. The depth of human cruelty in the quest for power. Sad and scary all at once.

We continue through the pass and walk a ways down the rail bed. There is no evidence of the railway here except for the pathway cut through the jungle along this rugged cliff above the Khwae Noi Valley. It’s beautiful and peaceful, even given its history, and we could walk for hours on this trail. But sadly, that is not to be because of course, we’re on a tour! We have a time limit.

After a while, we tear ourselves away from the beauty and reverse course to the Memorial placed at the end of Hellfire pass. Every year on ANZAC day, there is a ceremony here commemorating the lives lost building this torturous railway.

Instead of walking back down the Pass, which is now filling us with visitors, we take the steep stairs back up to the museum. This allows us to stop and rest at different lookout points, giving us perspective on just how deep and vast the cavern of the pass truly along with more stunning vistas out over the mountains in the distance.

We spend some time in the museum proper, examining the different pictures and information there, then hit the restroom and get ready for our next excitement – the train ride on the actual death railway.