It is so called because during World War II, about 16,000 Allied Prisoners of War died building it. What would have taken 5 years to complete was finished in 16 months. More than 90,000 labourers from Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and Indonesia were also brutally treated by the Japanese army and perished here.

The bridge was a small part of the 415km railway which had linked Thailand and Burma (now Myanmar). Survivors’ tales were immortalised in the book and movie “Bridge on the River Kwai.” Although the original railway was dismantled after World War II, the curved steel bridge sections are still in use on another railway bridge nearby, becoming a place where tourists visit by the busloads.

Team member Abdul Rahman Shariff lingered a lot longer on the bridge than others. Both his father and grandfather had worked on the Death Railway, but only his father managed to escape after 3 months. There's still no news of what happened to his grandfather.

As for Danny Liew, he had no family connections to this place. He once saw the movie when he was a child, and was so moved by it, that he vowed to see the place one day. Three decades on, he brought his own hand-crank gramophone to play the movie theme, "Colonel Bogey and the River Kwai March," on the bridge to do something to remember those that died.

Continuing their journey, there was a short off-road section through a bamboo lined forest. To access the campsite, the team had to board a ferry to get across the Si Nakharin Reservoir. But each ferry could only take six cars at a time so it was only by nightfall that all cars made it safely to the campsite.

The next day (22 August), the team's next destination was to the border town of Mae Sot in northern Tak Province, famous for gems and teak products. It also shares the Thailand-Myanmar Friendship Bridge with neighbouring Myanmar.

En route, the team stopped at the PETRONAS Tak 2 service station to refuel. They also met up with Abdul Rahim Ismail, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of PETRONAS Retail Thailand Limited, and a warm round of applause erupted. Rahim has been PETRONAS Adventure Team’s gracious host at some of the PETRONAS service stations in Thailand.

The team arrived in Mae Sot in the rain at about 5pm, and quickly took the opportunity to explore the town before sunset. Tomorrow the team will head to Thailand’s most northwestern province – Mae Hong Son.