mr_hippo
Living Legend & Old Fart
I was answering a thread on another forum about the bridge on the River Kwai and remembering my first visit to the festival that is held every year in late November/early December.
We watched, from the grandstand, the son et lumiere, saw an authentic WWII train cross the bridge, 'heard' the Mitchell bombers overhead and saw the bridge being 'blown up' (they did not really blow the bridge up!). On a raft in the river, there were tableaux - Thai dancing, typical 1940s village life, etc.
Coming down from the grandstand, I saw just in front of me about 20 Japanese soldiers; I started shaking, hairs stood up on the back of my neck and I hid behind a support pillar until they had gone. It took me quite a while to calm down and I was not able to tell Mrs Hippo anything until the following morning.
A bit of background information: Three of my relatives died on the Death Railway, my first visit to the cinema, and the only time Dad ever took me, was to see 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' and it is still one of mt favourite films, the first 'adult' foreign book I read was Pierre Boulle's 'Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï'. All of that is possibly coincidental but... Have we been here before? Could a visit to place bring to the fore memories of a past life? Was I so 'wrapped up' in the show that I thought those soldiers were genuine?
Has anyone else experienced something similar?
We watched, from the grandstand, the son et lumiere, saw an authentic WWII train cross the bridge, 'heard' the Mitchell bombers overhead and saw the bridge being 'blown up' (they did not really blow the bridge up!). On a raft in the river, there were tableaux - Thai dancing, typical 1940s village life, etc.
Coming down from the grandstand, I saw just in front of me about 20 Japanese soldiers; I started shaking, hairs stood up on the back of my neck and I hid behind a support pillar until they had gone. It took me quite a while to calm down and I was not able to tell Mrs Hippo anything until the following morning.
A bit of background information: Three of my relatives died on the Death Railway, my first visit to the cinema, and the only time Dad ever took me, was to see 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' and it is still one of mt favourite films, the first 'adult' foreign book I read was Pierre Boulle's 'Le Pont de la rivière Kwaï'. All of that is possibly coincidental but... Have we been here before? Could a visit to place bring to the fore memories of a past life? Was I so 'wrapped up' in the show that I thought those soldiers were genuine?
Has anyone else experienced something similar?