Battambang

We were up early and were taken to the bus stop so we could catch one to Battambang. The hotel charged us $6 per person for the tickets but we discovered they were only $4 when we got to the stop. This is how they roll in Asia but we weren’t too worried as the Guesthouse had been very helpful during our stay. The bus ride was 5 hours with a couple of quick stops. One stop was in a large town and a small boy about 5 years old, came up to us showing us a local currency note hoping we would give him more. He saw the funny side when Tunde tried to take it but was very pleased to be given a jelly cup. He then spent about 10 minutes looking at our Lonely Planet and telling us the local names of things. Another stop was at a small road side restaurant which backed onto a rice field. We spent the time here watching the village people working in the field and watching the Chickens with the chicks pecking around on the ground.
We arrived in Battambang in the afternoon and were immediately overwhelmed by all the hotel staff and tuk tuks trying to get our business. This was a bit much so we told them all we were walking and they thought it was very funny when I said ‘I’m not listening’. During the bus ride we had looked in the guide book and selected a few places we could stay so we headed to these. A room with air conditioning was $12 for three people, not too bad. By this stage we were all starving so we headed to a restaurant for some lunch, Damien and I shared a really yummy sweet potatoes soup.
Its funny, the reason that we were going to come to Battambang, was that it is possible to do it on a very scenic boat trip from Siem Reap. The girls thought that this 8hr trip would be too long so they opted for the 6 hour bus instead. Still, back at the hotel we ordered a Tuk Tuk and headed off on an adventure. Our first stop was the Bamboo train which consists of an old, warped, single rail train track that runs through the countryside. The Cambodians are very good at finding a use for everything so when the French abandoned the tracks the locals began to build Bamboo trains. These consist of two individual axles, a bamboo platform and a 6 horse power gasoline engine. Our Tuk Tuk driver told the train driver we didn’t have very long as the tour started quite late in the day, so I think the train driver stepped on it. We were hurtling down the rail tracks, clunking over the joins and ducking the greenery which was encroaching on our path. Damien likened it to the GrinGotts scenes riding down to the vaults from Harry Potter, it was pretty fun. We think we were probably traveling about 60km when we saw the first train coming in the opposite direction, it was a bit scary! The driver easily managed to stop, got off the platform, then he and the other driver lifted the platform off the other train and place it beside the track. They then grabbed and axles each, put it to the side then pushed our train through, then reassembled the other train behind us. This whole procedure took all of 2 minutes. We continued on and watched this procedure a few more times. We think we had right off way traveling in one direction but it depended on which cart had a larger load and if there were multiple carts coming in one direction.
The bamboo train took us to a small town which manufactures bricks. One of the local girls took us through the factory showing us the massive brick kilns and told us the process for making the bricks. Again the Cambodians showed their resourcefulness, the kiln use rice husks as fuel. The clay is taken from the field beside the factory then pushed through a machine which produces a long piece of clay with holes in it, a bit like a play dough spaghetti machine. This is then fed onto a platform where it is cut into brick sized pieces. It then dries for a few days before being fired in the kiln for 15 days. This girl’s English was excellent and when we asked how she learnt she simply said she talks to tourists every day. We returned to the Tuk Tuk on the bamboo train. Damien and Tunde were both very pleased to have a go at ‘driving’ but fortunately I think it must be pretty hard to crash so we made it back in one piece. Back on the Tuk Tuk and the adventures continued. We watched the country scenery of rice fields and stilt house around us and watched the locals going about their business. We still find it strange how excited some people get when they see white people. Whilst driving through the countryside on the Tuk Tuk, there were two young girls sitting on a mound of soil watching the family’s road side stall. When they saw wave to them they were very excitedly waving back and one girl knocked the other off the mound and she rolled down the embankment.
The second place we visited was the temple Phnom Sampeau. The temple is up a hill which takes about an hour to climb so we had to fork out for motor bikes to take us up, but it was kinda fun. This area is very peaceful but it has seen some horrific things. During the Khmer Rouge rein the caves around the temple became known as the killing caves as people were bludgeoned then pushed through a natural sky light into the cave some 50m below. There were three caves used by the Khmer Rouge, the man cave, the woman cave and the boy cave which tells you who was killed where. Some of the victim’s bones are now housed in a glass case next to a very peacefully looking reclining Buda. The view from the top of the hill was lovely, rice fields as far as the eye could see only interrupted by some small mountains.
Our guide, a 15 year old with fantastic English, was keen to get us down the hill before dark. I think my driver made it three quarters of the way down without turning on the motor bikes engine. We were pleased with what they wanted to show us, millions of tiny bats leaving their cave to go out hunting for the night. It was quite amazing, a constant black stream of tiny creatures, which apparently lasts for around two hours. The local people sometimes catch them with nets and make interesting stews and things, we didn’t ask to try. Back in town we headed down to the river front for dinner at the night market, however we didn’t stay long and ended up eating in a restaurant called White Rose, which was cheap, looked nice and turned out to have good food. After $4 chicken noodles and a beer we headed back to the guesthouse.
Next morning we woke early, had a coffee and bacon and egg bagel in town and then jumped on the bus. We had bought tickets the night before for the 9am bus, but when we arrived at quarter to, we were rushed onto a bus which left immediately. Were still not sure if the 8.30am bus left late or the 9am bus left early!