After a pleasant bus ride we arrived at Battambang bus station and jumped in a tuk tuk with Tong, who to our surprise appointed himself as our driver for however long we stayed in town. To be fair he was a nice chap if not a little insistant.
Checked into the Royal Hotel before heading out for dinner. In contrast to the capital this place was dead. The locals who were about though were friendly and welcoming, especially the kids who all waved and said hello as we walked around. Dinner was very nice and afterwards we chilled out at the hotel.
Tong had booked a trip for us but we had not agreed a time so out for breakfast we went. As we were eating Tong pulled up asking why we weren't at the hotel. We were confused so told him to take other people as we were unsure what we wanted to do. Went back to the hotel via some old railway sheds and Tong had gone. His friend, October, was there so we booked a trip with him instead.
So, off we went to the not long left to live Bamboo Railway. This was very cool indeed. The 'train' is basically two axels, four wheels, a bamboo crate and an engine. When assembled you have a very basic train that can be dismantled and lifted off the track in seconds. Understand that this contraption runs on the main line, a single track running from Phnom Penh to Battambang. Should a proper train appear in the distance then you had to hop off, dismantle the bamboo express and stand in the bushes whilst the real train passed. Fortunately for us no real trains showed up. Many of the bamboo trains did though and it was pretty impressive how the drivers quickly got one train off to allow the other to pass.
We rattled down the wonky, back breaking rails at quite some speed, brushing the bushes along the way and inviting ants onboard and duly bite any passengers i.e laire and me. The little bastards really liked us! About half an hour later we arrived at the only stop, a little shop ran by a lovely family who made us some jewellery and a rather realistic grasshopper out of nothing but grass leaves. The kids then took us on an unexpected and pretty interesting tour of a brick factory. After tipping the little kids we waved goodbye to the family whose tiny shop will sadly cease to exist once the bamboo railway is killed off by the new railway being built. We hopped back on our bamboo train for the return journey. Great fun.
Rejoined our driver and headed for a hill which had some temples on it and some caves including the Killing Cave. Akin to the killing fields, this was a place where the psychotic leaders of the Khmer Rouge would order the mass execution of innocent Khmers. Once dead, the bodies would be thrown into the cave. Awful stuff. We were shown around the caves by a cute little lad called Vic. We'd have got lost without him.
Despite the nearby presence of such an awful place, the temple on top of the hill was very nice and tranquil. We watched the sunset over the hills and also saw thousands upon thousands of bats exit a different cave for their nightly scoff. Pretty impressive.
Met Jim who we had met on Ko Lipe just after the Tsunami warning in April and arranged to go for dinner at a Cambodian barbeque with him and his new found comrades, Clare and Ashleigh.
Barbeque was great fun if not a little bit perculiar. We ate and ate for hours, all sorts of stuff and most of it tasty. Tricked Jim, who had eaten many pineapples recently, into thinking there was a food scare and that pineapples should be avoided on health grounds. Sorry Jim! After dinner we had some beers outside our hotel and watched the locals eat bags of crickets. A bit gross.
Said our goodbyes and left the next day via bus to Siem Reap.
What Battambang lacks in life it more than makes up for in character. The people are great, the activities unique and the surrounding countryside beautiful. Definitely worth paying a visit if only for the whimsical Bamboo train ride.
Next up, The Temples of Angkor and Siem Reap.
No comments:
Post a Comment