The Khwae Yai River ( th, แม่น้ำแควใหญ่, , ), also known as the Si Sawat ( ), is a river in western
Thailand. It has its source in the
Tenasserim Hills and flows for about through
Sangkhla Buri,
Si Sawat, and
Mueang Districts of
Kanchanaburi Province, where it merges with the
Khwae Noi to form the
Mae Klong River at Pak Phraek.
History
This river used to be the upper section (before the confluence with the
Khwae Noi River) of the
Mae Klong River, however, in the 1960s, this river was named the Khwae Yai River, meaning 'Big River.'
In 1980, the
Srinagarind Dam
The Srinagarind Dam (''also known as the'' Srinakarin Dam; th, เขื่อนศรีนครินทร์; ; ) is an embankment dam on the Khwae Yai River in Si Sawat District of Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand. The purposes of the dam ...
(Thai: เขื่อนศรีนครินทร์; rtgs: Khuean Sinakharin) on the Khwae Yai was completed in
Si Sawat District of
Kanchanaburi Province. It is an
embankment dam
An embankment dam is a large artificial dam. It is typically created by the placement and compaction of a complex semi-plastic mound of various compositions of soil or rock. It has a semi-pervious waterproof natural covering for its surface and ...
for river regulation and hydroelectric power generation.
Bridge
The famous bridge of the
Burma Railway crosses the river at Tha Makham Subdistrict of the Mueang District. However, this is not the same bridge as depicted in ''
The Bridge over the River Kwai'' by
Pierre Boulle and in its
film adaptation
A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...
. A bridge was built of wood approximately upriver from the current bridge, during the construction of the iron and concrete bridge (which runs in a NNE-SSW direction) and also rebuilt in 1945 when the iron bridge was bombed. No remnants of the wooden bridge remain. That wooden bridge was also not the bridge depicted in the film as the river was not called the Kwai Yai at that time. A wooden trestle bridge was built over the Kwai Noi many miles upstream in the jungle and it would more closely resemble the bridge in the film. However, the film is really a fictional depiction of the events with many inaccuracies and neither bridge can really be said to be that depicted in the film.
Up until the 1960s, the river was considered part of the Mae Klong itself, but this part of the Mae Klong was then renamed Khwae Yai to bring geographical fact more in line with the fictional association with the name River Kwai. The main cemetery of prisoners who died during the railway's construction is nearby and is called the
Kanchanaburi War Cemetery.
References
External links
*
Rivers of Thailand
Geography of Kanchanaburi province
{{Thailand-river-stub