Krasae Cave is a small cave on the Death Railway near Thamkrasae Station. You can walk to the cave from either of the two nearest stations. The walk from the Thamkrasae Bridge Station is a little longer and you must walk on the Wampo Viaduct which is somewhat lacking when it comes to OH&S. There are no handrails and many areas for possible slipping and tripping. Add this to the fact that there are still trains using this line multiple times a day and some find this walk a little daunting. The train drivers are well aware that tourists do walk the tracks in this area and normally ample warning is given of the approaching train. Definitely worth the walk if the OH&S issues and heights don’t bother you. I have seen several people back out of this walk especially on a windy day.
Krasae Cave is open to all visitors to come inside and pay homage to Luang Po Tham Krasae, which is the Buddha image that the locals have respected for a very long time.
Built by the POW and forced labor during the second world war, it has been said that this area was one of the most difficult to construct and also the most dangerous sections of the Death Railway.
When travelling in Thailand you will often see variations of how a name is translated into English. This location is a good example. If you look at the signs on the nearby stations and information boards you will see it spelled several different ways. The word Tham in Thai means cave. So “Tham Krasae Cave” is a definite no! Our guide, Phat, explained it to me this way. Thai people join their words together with an entire sentence looking like one word to us. The Thai sign writers, to make it easy for us westerners, sometimes write English karaoke style like “Tham-Kra-Sae”. It basically is up to the sign writer how they do this. It does however sometimes make it extremely difficult when searching the web or keying in the destination to the navigator for directions.
Krasae Cave Image Gallery
Below are a few photos from our visits to the Krasae Cave. Click on any image to open a cascading light-box and to see a description of the image.
