SINGAPORE & THAILAND The Bridge Over the River Kwai The River Kwai, Kanchanaburi, Thailand DAY DATE OVERNIGHT HOTELS MEALS HIGHLIGHTS 12 SINGAPORE Yotel Meet & assist on arrival 1 Jul Orchard Rd. Group coach transfer to hotel 13 SINGAPORE Yotel Full day Singapore city tour: Little India. 2 B Jul Orchard Rd. Botanical Gardens. Chinatown, etc. 14 Yotel B Full day Battle of Singapore tour: 3 SINGAPORE Jul Orchard Rd. Kranji, Bukit Batok, Ford Factory, Changi 15 Yotel B Full day Defences of Singapore tour: 4 SINGAPORE Jul Orchard Rd. Mt Faber. Sentosa Isl. Fort Siloso. Battlebox 16 BANGKOK River Suraya B Transfer. Fly Bangkok. Transfer. Half day tour: 5 Jul Bangkok Jim Thompson’s House 17 River Suraya BL Full day Bangkok city tour: Royal Palace, Wat 6 BANGKOK Jul Bangkok Phra Kaeo, Pho & Arun. Floating Market 18 Tamarind B Transfer. Fly Sukhothai. Drive Chiang Mai 7 CHIANG MAI Jul Village Visit Sukhothai National Park. Wat Srichum 19 Tamarind B 8 CHIANG MAI Full day Chiang Mai tour: Temple Quarter. Jul Village Museum. Doi Suthep, Wat Phra That Suthep 20 The Legend BL Drive Chiang Rai. Half day Chiang Rai tour: 9 CHIANG RAI Jul Chiang Rai Wat Phra Kaeo. Hill Tribe Village 21 The Legend BL Full day Chiang Rai tour: Mae Chan. Boat trip, 10 CHIANG RAI Jul Chiang Rai Opium Museum. Chiang Saen 22 Royal River BLD Fly Bangkok. Drive Kanchanaburi. Visit Nong 11 KANCHANABURI Jul Kwai Resort Pladuk. Death Railway Mus. Allied Cemetery 23 Home BLD Full day River Kwai tour: Chunkai POW Camp, 12 KANCHANABURI Jul Phutoey Death Railway train trip. Hellfire Pass 24 KANCHANABURI Home BLD WWII POW Dedication Ceremony. POW Film 13 Jul Phutoey Dunlop Memorial, Chalker Gallery 25 BANGKOK River Suraya B Drive Bangkok 14 Jul Bangkok Afternoon at leisure 26 FLY B Transfer to the airport for departure flight 15 Jul SINGAPORE & THAILAND The Bridge Over the River Kwai INTRODUCTION: On this itinerary we sprinkle the ashes of the last Allied ex-POW soldier to be buried in Thailand, and perhaps the last WWII POW to be publicly buried, anywhere. BACKGROUND DETAILS: On 7th December 1941 CE, the Japanese landed an army in Malaya, invaded Hong Kong, and attacked the American fleet in Hawaii. For the previous decade, the Japanese military had fought a brutal war in China and the soldiers that invaded Malaya were from the same army responsible for the notorious 'Rape of Nanking', one of history’s most damning brutalities. In contrast, the allied forces were an army of amateurs, mostly conscripts led by untested officers. BOMBARDIER JACK BRIDGER CHALKER One of the British conscripts was artist Jack Bridger Chalker, a bombardier in the 118 Regiment Royal Field Artillery, Territorials. Captured during the Fall of Singapore in February 1942 CE, Chalker was part of Britain's 'Forgotten Army' which had just suffered the worst military defeat in British history. Along with 60,000 other POWs captured in Singapore, Chalker was taken to Thailand and enslaved to work on the ‘Death Railway’ being constructed across a teak-forested granite mountain range between Thailand and Burma in order to supply the Japanese invasion of India. The Japanese enslaved 160,000 POWs and Malays to build the Death Railway. Just 52,000 survived. Gunner Chalker spent three and a half years as a POW slaving on the Death Railway. He was in the very worst place (Hellfire Pass) at the very worst time (Speedo period). Commissioned at the risk of his own life by CMO of Nakon Pathom Hospital Camp, Sir Edward ‘Weary’ Dunlop, to keep a pictorial record of the atrocities and medical techniques used in the camps, my father’s life, and those of the remaining POWs, were saved only by the dropped of the Atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 CE. Immediately after the war, Gunner Chalker was seconded to the ANZAC forces and became one of the official war artists at the Bangkok War Trials. In the 1980s CE, Chalker’s paintings became well-known in the UK, and were soon used as the iconic images of the FEPOW organizations of British, Australian, New Zealand and Dutch armies. His war drawings made him moderately famous among the POW survivors, particularly in ANZAC circles, and Chalker has subsequently featured in more than twenty documentary films on the POW experience, both in the UK and Australia. Later, Chalker became principal of the Falmouth School of Art, then the Royal Western Academy of Art and headed the Bower Ashton School of Art in the UK. Today his paintings hang in the Tate and Portrait Galleries in London and the majority of his wartime illustrations are owned by the Imperial War Museum and the Australian War Memorial. Jack Bridger Chalker, who was born a month before WWI ended in October 1918 CE, died in 2014 CE at the age of 96 years. His son, who is an expedition leader, tour operator and sometime film maker, has made a film of his father’s experiences (which will be shown during the itinerary). He will accompany the group offering an overview of the larger POW experience by sharing his father’s personal anecdotes and experiences. We also visit the main touristic highlights in Singapore, explore Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, take a train trip on the Death Railway across The Bridge on the River Kwai. FILMING: PLEASE NOTE: The BBC and independent film makers have expressed interest in filming the Dedication Ceremony, and our trip may feature some filming during the group itinerary. More details of the filming arrangements will be supplied closer to departure. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. SINGAPORE & THAILAND The Bridge Over the River Kwai ITINERARY IN DETAIL Day 01: 12 Jul SINGAPORE Arrive Singapore. Make our own way to hotel from airport Today we arrive in Singapore. On arrival we make our own arrangements to get from the airport to our Singapore hotel. (NOTE: the address and contact details of our hotel is listed in the Joining Instructions document). Any balance of the day is at leisure. English adventurer Stamford Raffles founded colonial Singapore in 1819 CE as a trading post of the British East India Company. After the company's collapse in 1858 CE following the Indian Mutiny, the islands were ceded to the British Raj as a crown colony. During the Second World War, Singapore was occupied by Japan, but reverted back to Britain in 1945 with the Japanese surrender, gaining independence from the UK in 1963 CE by federating with other former British territories to form Malaysia, but separated from Malaysia two years later over ideological differences. Singapore become a sovereign nation in 1965 CE. After early years of turbulence and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian Tiger economy, based on external trade and its multi-national workforce, and today is one of the world’s most vibrant economies, with the world’s 3rd highest GDP, its politics a heady mix of socialism and capitalism. Overnight (4 star) Yotel Orchard Road (or similar) Day 02: 13 Jul SINGAPORE Full day tour: Little India. Botanical Gardens. Chinatown, etc. After breakfast we depart on a full day tour of Singapore. We first take an orientation drive round the Civic District, passing by the Padang Cricket Club, historic Parliament House, Supreme Court and City Hall. Next, we stop at Merlion Park and enjoy the impressive views of Marina Bay. We also visit Thian Hock Keng Temple, one of Singapore’s oldest Buddhist-Taoist temples. We then visit the National Orchid Garden located within Singapore Botanic Gardens, which boasts a sprawling display of 60,000 orchid plants. Our final morning visit is to Little India a market region where the scent of joss sticks, jasmine and spices dominates. It is fascinating to glimpse the relationship between Singapore’s successful modern economy and the ancient rituals, traditions and beliefs from which it flows. Little India, with its colorful, crowded and noisy streets that contain much of Singapore’s history. Many can trace their ancestry to when Sir Stamford Raffles (founder of the Raffles hotel and much else of colonial origin on Singapore), arrived in 1819 CE with 120 Indian assistants and soldiers who dwelled in Chinatown. Eventually the growing Indian community migrated into the region now known as Little India which, by the turn of the 19th century was a flourishing business district. It remains so today, with much of its historic traditions intact. In the afternoon we return to the city center and explore Chinatown. Singapore’s Chinatown dates back to 1821 CE when the first Chinese junk carrying immigrants arrived from Fujian province. Much has been reconstructed and the old shop-houses restored. The market area of Chinatown is a maze of stalls, shops, booths and hawkers, and the colors, food smells and bustle are hugely entertaining. After our tour we return to our hotel. Any balance of the day is free. Overnight (4 star) Yotel Orchard Road (or similar) Meal Plan: breakfast Day 03: 14 Jul SINGAPORE Full day tour: Kranji. Bukit Batok. Ford Factory. Changi Today we depart on a full day Battle of Singapore tour. We first drive to Kranji Memorial (war cemetery) overlooking the Straits of Johore at the north end of Singapore Island. Nearly 4500 Allied service personnel killed during the Fall of Singapore are buried here. It is also the site of the of the Singapore Memorial, which lists over 24,000 names of Allied soldiers killed during Malaya Campaign and retreat who have no known graves. Next, we visit the site of the Bukit Batok Memorial, built by the Japanese using POW labor to commemorate Japan’s war dead, SINGAPORE & THAILAND The Bridge Over the River Kwai and destroyed by the Japanese prior to their surrender in 1945.