The Bridge on the River Kwai

The Bridge on the River Kwai was an epic Hollywood blockbuster. Released in 1957, it won seven Academy Awards, and has often been lauded as one of the greatest war epics of all time.  The movie’s screenplay is pure fiction.  However, the bridge around which the central plot revolves can be found about 128 kms north of Bangkok.

It was one of two bridges built by allied prisoners of war in 1943 as part of the Japanese Imperial Army’s notorious Death Railway line.  One bridge was temporary wooden structure while other bridge, constructed from concrete and steel is still standing today.  Its formidable structure spans the Mae Klong River near the town of Kanchanaburi.

The bridge's curved steel spans are original, and were brought from Java by the Japanese. However, the two straight-sided spans in the central section both come from Japan.  They were installed after the war to replace spans destroyed by allied bombing raids in 1945.

Kanchanaburi itself is a fascinating place.  The original township was built along the river's edge. Each house was built on stilts in a manner that let it rise and fall as the river's level changed. Today, the township is split between a land-based community founded in part by the Japanese army and the original water-borne buildings. Tourists are encouraged to make their way to the bridge via the river and thus experience the old township's unique location.

Garry and I visited the township and its famous bridge as part our overnight visit to Hellfire Pass.  Prior to our arrival we’d worked an entire weekend at the Nuremburg Toy Fair and were in need a break before plunging into our next round of business meetings in Bangkok.  To help us unwind we booked a night at a remote hotel floating on the river itself.

The Kwai River Raft Hotel was an amazing location. To reach it we had to travel by long boat about 15 minutes up river.  The venue itself is a string of wooden rafts upon which a series of thatched roof hotel rooms have been constructed.  The facilities were well maintained but relatively primitive.  There was no electricity and hot water.  Instead the staff lit kerosene lanterns in the evening and its more emboldens guests enjoyed refreshing cold showers.

However, despite its simple set up the hotel was well worth a visit.  We enjoyed reasonably civilised meals and found ourselves unwinding as we ventured “off the gird”.  With no television, internet or local entertainment we had plenty of time to rest and relax and soak in some wonderful river scenery. 

 

The complex is operated and staffed by native Mon people from a nearby village. Shortly after we arrived, we took a walking tour of the village. Highlights included a visit to the local school’s open-air classroom and a pristine white and gold Buddhist stupa that sat serenely in the jungle.

However, for me the real highlight of our time on the River Kwai was the infamous bridge itself.  We were surprised, and delighted, to discover that we could actually walk across the bridge and explore its imposing structure first hand.  It was mind-blowing to think that more than 70 years ago allied bombers had been targeting the very location upon which we were standing. 

 Sadly, the harsh reality of war was bought home to us when we subsequently visited the Death Railway Museum.  It sits opposite the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery where almost 7,000 POWs, who sacrificed their lives constructing the Death Railway are buried.  The museum itself houses an excellent exhibit on the railway.  It was established in 2003 by an ex-pat Australian who wanted to research and preserve the region’s POW legacy.

Hellfire Pass: Least we forget

Ask most Australians to name the nation’s most notorious wartime locations and you’re likely to hear three names again and again: ANZAC Cove, the Kokoda Trail and Hellfire Pass. Garry and I visited ANZAC Cove in May 2007. It was a truly moving experience that brought home the total insanity and harsh reality of war.

Hellfire Pass is remembered for the barbaric cruelty inflicted on Australian prisoners of war during World War II. It was part of a long-abandoned stretch of railway built by the Japanese Army between Burma and Thailand in less than 16 months. An astonishing achievement - even more so when you consider that remote and muddy conditions meant heavy machinery was rarely used. Instead, most of the back-breaking construction was done entirely by hand.

The entire 415 kilometre track was built using imported Asian labour and prisoners of war from Australia, the UK and the Netherlands. Their Japanese captors were unbelievably harsh task masters. Almost 39 per cent of those who worked on the railway died.

The Asian labourers suffered the most. An estimated 180,000 died. The death rate among the prisoners of war, while lower, was still an appalling 20%, representing almost 62,000 lives. More than 2,800 Australian prisoners died, largely from disease, malnutrition, and the effects of harsh punishments meted out by their captors.

Hellfire Pass was one of the most brutal locations along the line. Japanese engineers were not particularly skilled in tunnel building. As a result, a decision was taken to route the line through a deep rock cutting at Kannyu, about 150 kilometres from its southern starting point. Over six weeks, 400 Australian prisoners of war worked continuous shifts to hand carve a dramatic cutting some 75 metres long and 25 metres deep through solid rock. The sight of emaciated prisoners working through the night, lit by oil lamps and bamboo fires, was said to resemble a scene from Hell.

Weary Dunlop, one of Australia’s most celebrated war heroes, worked here. His compassion and care as a doctor, nursing the sick and dying, was considered exceptional. Many times, he put his own health at risk, earning himself physical punishment whenever he protested to the Japanese. At other times, his sheer physical presence — he was nearly two metres tall — intimidated his captors while inspiring his fellow prisoners. He survived the war and lived until the age of 86. After his death in 1993, a portion of his ashes were subsequently buried at Hellfire Pass.

Today, Hellfire Pass has been preserved as a memorial, funded largely by the Australian Government. An informative museum guides visitors through the railway’s history and the construction of the nearby Kannyu Cutting. The infamous gully is reached via a flight of stairs which lead you onto a peaceful walking trail. The trail traces the original railway track, a curving hand-hewn bench, carved directly into the steep hillside, until you finally reach the cutting itself.

Garry and I visited the site overnight while we were in Bangkok for a series of business meetings. I can honestly say that, after more than 70 years on the cutting, it remains an impressive sight. Garry and I found it hard to believe that this impressive gully was cut by hand in less than two months.

Its rough rocky walls slice dramatically through the hillside. Previous visitors have nested commemorative flags, photos and flowers in various nooks and crannies along its walls. Some of the railway’s original wooden sleepers remain embedded in the ground. At the cutting’s northern end, the Australian Government has built a simple black granite memorial. It’s all very moving.

However, the entire scene is best captured from a small viewing platform at the top of the gully. From here, the scale of this wartime engineering feat comes into stark focus. Arriving visitors appear insignificant as the walls tower around them. Sadly, my photos barely do it justice. What more can I say? Hellfire Pass really is an unforgettable experience.

Follow this link to read more about our time in Thailand.

Sky high in Dubai

Garry and I have finally made it back to Dubai.  Our first visit to this Middle Eastern metropolis was Christmas 2007.  At the time the city was smothered by a forest of construction cranes.  We were curious to what how this building frenzy has transformed the landscape nine years later.

Our stop in Dubai was brief.  It was literally a weekend transit as we made our way to Nuremberg for the world’s largest wholesale Toy Fair.  When were last here the world’s tallest building, Burj Khalifa, was still under construction, the world’s largest Mall was still a tangled mass of steel beams and the first metro rail line was still a year away from completion.

We flew to Dubai on the uber-comfortable Airbus A380 courtesy of Qantas. Garry and I love these giant planes.  Despite numerous flights over the years we still marvel at their effortless, whisper-quiet take-off.  However, despite the comfortable journey, our arrival shortly before 1:00am was a rather exhausting affair.  Thank goodness an airport transfer car was waiting for us when we finally exited the Arrival Hall.

We stayed at Sheraton Hotel on Dubai Creek, just a few hundred metres upstream from where we’d based ourselves in 2007.  Dubai is a rather soulless place, filled with shiny glass towers that spring from rather drab dusty surroundings.  However, the old town and the creek that runs alongside it are the rare exceptions.  This broad, curving waterway provides a wonderfully refreshing and tranquil vista - both day and night. 

We filled our first afternoon in town with a visit to Burj Khalifa.  At 829.8 metres (2,722 ft) its height exceeds anything erected in all of human history.  For many years the CN Tower in Toronto was the world’s tallest free-standing structure, while Taipei 101 was the world’s tallest skyscraper.  However, Dubai was determined to beat them all – which it did in spectacular style. 

When it opened the Burj Khalifa broke every conceivable height record for a man-made structure, surpassing even the most flimsy of guy-masted transmission towers scattered across the mid-western plains of the USA.  When it opened on January 4, 2010, it also boasted the world’s highest observation deck. This was our first destination of the day.

SKY level is located on the 148th floor, a mere 555 metres above the surrounding area.  Its curving wall of windows offers what can only be described as a truly bird’s eye view of Dubai and the Persian Gulf.  The observatory also offers a small outdoor deck where you can literally feel the wind whistle through your hair almost half a kilometre into the sky.

As is typical of so many things in Dubai; tickets to the 124^th floor cost an eye-watering sum. However, the locals attempt to justify this with a few exclusive VIP touches. For example, we skipped the painfully slow queues snaking their way to the ticket counter and on towards the elevators.  We were entertained with coffee and dates while our tickets were validated.  Then, when we finally arrived at the observatory, we were greeted by waiters welding trays of delicious canapés and flutes of champagne.

As for the view?  Well, you’re soaring so far above anything else that it's honestly difficult to appreciate just how high you really are.  In fact, when you look up from the outdoor observation deck and see the building climb another 270 metres into the sky you could be forgiven for thinking you’re still on the ground.

In fact, the building height doesn’t become apparent until you descend to the lower observation deck, At the Top.  This larger observation platform is located a more modest 452 m (1,483 ft) above the ground.  However, you suddenly notice how much larger the same objects appear when you’re 100 metres closer to them.  Only then does the building’s incredible height start to unveil itself.

Having conquered the world’s tallest building, our next stop was the world’s largest mall, conveniently located at the base of Burj Khalifa.  This building is huge.  Four levels of stores work their way around the four sides of a square. It literally takes 15-20 minutes to complete a circuit on each level without stopping. The building boasts two indoor waterfalls that soar three floors, an ice-skating rink and a full-scale walk-through aquarium.

Garry and I spent most of our time shopping for comfortable shoes to get us through six days of wandering the exhibition halls in Nuremberg.  We eventually found our perfect footwear – only to discover we’d both picked up the same pair of shoes displayed at opposite ends of the store.  After a brief debate, we decided that comfort was always going win the day over cheesy “twin dressing”.  We left the store with identical shoes.

Our final day in Dubai was spent largely working from our hotel room.  We had a lot of paperwork to catch up on before we headed to Germany. However, we did break from our routine to walk the Creek waterfront where a flotilla of traditional dhows is still loaded and unloaded each day by hand.

Mixing business and pleasure

Garry and I have flown to Brisbane to visit our third-party warehouse. Our new business, Artiwood, uses an external warehouse to hold its inventory and dispatch orders. The previous owner put in place a highly outsourced model. This made it easy to relocate it to Sydney after we bought it in June. It also facilitates future growth with fewer physical constraints.

We caught an early flight on Saturday, hired a car, and drove straight to Mullumbimby to spend half a day meeting with John Daniels, Artiwood’s former owner. John is currently working for us on a contract basis. He’s coordinating several projects such as sourcing new products and migrating the company’s print catalogue into new publishing software. 

John kindly hosted us for lunch at his new home. He sheepishly admitted that the proceeds of our recent acquisition facilitated its purchase. A part of me envies him, as we took out a significant business loan to acquire the business. However, it's also a tangible motivator in terms of what we could achieve for ourselves as owners at some point.

We checked into the Ramada Hotel in Ballina once our meeting was done. I booked us a superb room overlooking the Richmond River. Saturday evening was spent in Meerschaum Vale celebrating our friend Liz Marchant’s 40th birthday. She and her husband, Adam, recently bought a lifestyle block about 23 km inland from Ballina.

The celebrations included a live band, a lively crowd and plenty of alcohol. I'll be the first to admit that my memories of the evening are a little hazy. Tonight, we’re back in Brisbane ready to spend a full day in the warehouse before flying back to Sydney tomorrow night. I briefly reviewed the warehouse and condition of the stock while conducting due diligence on the business in May. However, this is Garry's first chance to see the facility.

Finally, a quick shout-out for our rental car. Avid readers will recall that we recently bought a new company car, a Nissan Qashqai. We were delighted to discover Hertz had a Qasqhai available at a bargain price thanks to a special Amex discount (we paid $33.16 for a three-day rental!). As a result, we've been driving around in a cheaper edition of our company car. Sweet!

Have car, will travel

For over a decade, Garry and I have relied on a Saab sedan for transportation. Garry bought the vehicle in 2004. It was a showroom demonstrator equipped with a few nifty extras such as fog lights and heated seats. In recent years, it's started to show its age as various components wear out.

As a result, when Garry and I bought Artiwood in June, we also negotiated a hire purchase credit facility with the bank. This funded our new company car, a stylish Nissan Qashqai finished in a deep, near black, purple hue known as nightshade.  It's a compact SUV with an impressive panoramic glass roof that honestly makes the vehicle feel incredibly spacious.

We've yet to test its capabilities for long-distance travel.  However, we have talked about driving it to Mullumbimby, the home of Artiwood's former owner, for a final handover meeting when his transition contract ends next year. For now, we've taken it as far as Katoomba in the Blue Mountains on sales calls.

Last month we also took it for a spin along the Bells Line of Road for a day trip to the recently refurbished Hydro Majestic hotel.  Garry and I took his parents to Medlow Bath for a high tea overlooking the picturesque Meglong Valley.  The occasion was a joint celebration for Murray, Rhonda and my birthday.  Our birthdays all take place in September.

When it opened in 1904, the Hydro Majestic was Australia's pioneering health retreat.  It was built by Mark Foy, who owned one of Sydney's premier department stores and featured cutting-edge facilities like its own electricity supply. It quickly became a haven for celebrities, including Dame Nellie Melba and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The restored venue is impressive. The hotel's new owners have done a superb job of bringing this historic building back to life. The high tea in the Wintergarden room was a memorable affair. Garry's parents also declared the Qashqai a mighty fine vehicle.

UPDATE: 28 June 2020

We've traded in the old Qashqai for the latest edition of the same model, in the same stunning Nightshade colour. This new version included variable cruise control and assisted parking. We're also getting it fitted with an electric boot opener.

Holiday blues

It’s official. My family is off to Rarotonga for a pseudo-family reunion later this month. Friends of my brother Matt own property on the island and have made it available to the family for a week. Mum is going, as are Hamish and Karin, plus Matt, Shelley and the kids. Everyone has suggested we make it a 50th birthday celebration for me.

Sadly, Garry and I have declined the offer. We’ve decided we simply cannot take time out of the business now. As new owners, we’re still on a steep learning curve. The phone is constantly ringing as we rapidly approach our first Christmas season. It's the right decision, but gosh, it's hard to swallow. No big 50th celebration for me!

New Horizons

In 1981 I completed a high school science project on the Solar System. This simple exercise kicked off a lifelong fascination with planets, their moons, and other minor celestial bodies in our solar neighbourhood. At the time, I ran late completing my project. When questioned by the teacher, I explained that I was enjoying the task so much that I didn’t want to rush it. She agreed to let me take my time. I eventually turned in a handwritten book with dozens of pages containing detailed descriptions and data tables. It was illustrated throughout with images a local bookstore kindly let me photocopy from its pricy hardcopy coffee table books.

I couldn’t have timed my passion for the solar system better. The eighties were a golden age of discovery for planetary science. In 1979, two Voyager probes flew by Jupiter. They both carried on to Saturn, reaching it in 1980 and 1981. Voyager 2 then continued on to fly by Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989. 

Various probes flew past Halley’s Comet in 1986 while others orbited and landed on asteroids in the following decades. In 1997, the first of multiple Mars rovers landed on the red planet streaming back some of the most stunning images ever taken from the surface of another world.

By the turn of the millennium, Pluto remained the only unexplored planet. Last month, this tiny, pixelated dot in the sky was finally explored. The New Horizons probe flew past the minor planet and its five quirky moons on 15 July. Launched in January 2006, this hardy machine has spent ten years flying more than 4.83 billion km to reach this far-flung destination. In the image above you can the best photo of Pluto that existed before the fly-by next to one taken by New Horizons last month.

After a nerve-wracking journey, New Horizons skimmed over Pluto’s surface at a height of 12,472km. Traveling at a speed of more than 13km per second, it completed 236 separate scientific observations of all six bodies in the Pluto system using all seven of its instruments. It’s incredible to think that the entire encounter lasted less than 30 hours. I cannot imagine spending ten years of my career focused on a single event that lasted barely a day.

The first images beamed back from the edge of our solar system are truly spectacular. Pluto has surprised and delighted everyone. This is a dramatic icy world, filled with vast frozen nitrogen ice plains, dramatic towering ice mountains, oozing glaciers, and dark stained craters. Its largest moon, Charon, has proven equally spectacular. The moon's surface is hewn by deep and dramatic rifts, a red-tinged polar cap, and plenty of photogenic craters.

Charon is an extraordinary moon. It was discovered in June 1978 by James Christy and Robert Harrington at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. At the time, they weren't even looking for moons. They were trying to refine Pluto's orbit around the Sun. You can see their discovery image as a hazy blob in the inserted image above. The "knob" on the edge of Pluto's pixelated disc is Charon.

With a diameter of 1,214km, Charon is almost the same size as Pluto (1,400km). As a result, these two bodies are often referred to as a binary dwarf planet system. Not only that, their gravitational attraction is such that they actually orbit around a point in space midway between them. When viewed from above, these two objects appear to spiral along Pluto's orbital plane rather than move in a smooth arc.  

With so many extraordinary observations, it seems that the solar system has saved the best for last. As I remarked to my mother last week, she’s been lucky enough to witness in her lifetime the exploration of every major body in the solar system. We’ll never live through such a golden age of exploration again.

NOTE

The image above was added in 2023.  I took the photo above of a New Horizons replica during a visit to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in 2017.  Ditto for the replica of the Voyager probe. I've also updated a few links and added a spectacular oblique image of Pluto's ice mountains released in September 2015.

Putting on a big show

We’ve just completed our first trade show as the new owners of Artiwood. It’s been a frantic time since acquiring the business in June. Garry and I have been working long hours as we come up to speed. We’ve also kicked off a series of projects to modernise the company’s marketing and back-office systems. 

It’s been a rewarding experience so far. We can see early signs of strong growth, particularly for the forthcoming Christmas period. For example, orders placed at last week’s trade show set a new record. This is encouraging given that the company’s revenue is highly seasonal. 

We exhibited at the Australian Gift and Homewares Association’s (AGHA) annual Melbourne gift fair. This is the industry’s largest event of the year and operates from two locations in Melbourne. The main event happens at the Showgrounds in Flemming, supplemented by a small contingent at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC) in Southbank.

Artiwood has been exhibiting at the showgrounds for many years. This year we used a custom-built stand for the first time. It was designed and built by the previous owner. We saw it for the first time in February at an event in Sydney. It created a strong impression, encouraging us to begin serious discussions with the owner. We also used his team of temporary staff for last week’s event. They've been incredibly loyal to the former owner and really know their stuff.

I’ll share more about the business soon. However, for now, I'm grateful that our investment appears to be paying off. This is particularly reassuring for me personally. In March we convinced the National Australia Bank (NAB) to loan us a considerable amount of money to buy the business. 

Given my corporate heritage, I naturally built a detailed business plan, accompanied by a 23-page business case to support our loan application. After approving the loan our business banker commented that he’d never received such a comprehensive document from a small business owner. It appears this worked in our favour as the loan was approved in record time.

UPDATE: 22 December 2021

We've just paid off our business loan, three years ahead of schedule. Our big bet has clearly paid off. For the last seven years, Garry and I have kept a roof over our heads and successfully grown a thriving, reputable business. A proud milestone!

Now the fun begins!

Garry and I have bought a toy company. Yes, you heard that right. After almost five months of due diligence and fraught negotiations, we’re now the proud owners of Artiwood. The company was established in 1999 by its founding owner, John Daniels, who’s just sold his business to us.

We signed the paperwork, and handed over a fat bank cheque, at a signing ceremony at our solicitor’s office in North Sydney on 11 June. We’d already paid an initial deposit a month earlier. Here’s an industry magazine’s story about our acquisition. 

Since then, the last six weeks have been a blur. We closed the business for a week to manage the transition of its back-office systems and bring a new IT network up to speed. Garry’s burnt the candle at both ends to ensure we hit the ground running. John Daniels also flew down from the Northern Rivers to help with the transition. He based himself in the Meriton serviced apartment across the road for a week.

Now the fun begins!

First light in the East

Cape Byron is the easternmost point of the Australian continent. The cape sits on a narrow and rocky point less than three kilometres from the popular resort town of Byron Bay. The cape is capped by three hillocks.  Atop the easternmost, and highest, of these peaks sits Cape Byron Lighthouse.  Built in 1901, this dazzling white, 23-metre high, structure is Australia's most powerful lighthouse (A staggering 2.2 million candela).

The light continues to operate.  More than a century later it's still shining a beam that's visible up to 50 kilometres away.  It's also become one of the surrounding region's most popular attractions.  More than half a million people visit it every year. During Summer its popularity peaks as the cape is an ideal location from which to watch whales migrate up the Australian coast.  A local dolphin pad can also seen frolicking around the cape throughout the year.

This morning, shortly after dawn, I was lucky enough to be taken on an hour-long trek around the Byron Cape headlands.  As we walked we spotted the local dolphins and plenty of enthusiastic surfers. It was a perfect morning to experience the cape for the first time.  The lighthouse was simply dazzling in the morning sunlight, while all around, perfect feathery white surf curled its way along the shoreline. Even the odd wallaby was taking time out to enjoy the nation's first light for today.

UPDATE: July 10

You may be wondering why I’ve been visiting Byron Bay. Last month Garry and I bought a toy wholesaling business. The former owner was based in Mullumbimby, located about 18km inland from the renowned coastal resort. I based myself in Mullumbimby while conducting a final round of due diligence on the business in early June.