Liz's friend had told us the best things he had seen in Cambodia were an abandoned Pepsi factory and the bamboo train which were both located in Battambang so we decided to go there before the girls headed to Vietnam and I to Thailand.

When we arrived we arranged for 2 tuk tuks to take us there after we had eaten. Battambang was much more like the 'real' Cambodia and I don't think they see too many tourists….it was supposed to be Cambodias second biggest city but we didn't see many nice restaurants or bars. We found a place called Gecko Café which was another place were the money goes towards local projects but the food wasn't as nice as the other ones we had been too.

After dinner we headed to the Pepsi Factory…when the Khmer Rouge had invaded the city the workers literally walked out and left and no-one has touched the place since. There were lots of crates stacked by vans waiting to be shipped out, it was so bizarre that no-one had reclaimed the land or started production again!

The Bamboo train is run on a part of the railway which I think has been cut off from the main line where normal trains run. It is literally a platform made of bamboo on wheels run by some kind of attached motor and is how the locals get from one place to the other. When we got there it was a bit rainy and they said it was raining heavier down the line so we should try and wait for it to pass. After waiting for a bit some of the group decided we should just get on it anyway as it didn't look like it was going to clear. Sure enough, as we got about 10 minutes down the line it was raining so heavy that we all got completely soaked! It was extremely funny and very surreal and wasn't too bad until the engine broke! Adam and the driver had to literally run along pushing us all the way back and Adam kept losing his flip flops as it was so slippery! Half way back though we ran into another train coming the other way…the only way for the trains to cross is by the dismantling the one with the least people and taking it off the track so the other one can get by! So theres a Cambodian family standing in the rain under a massive plastic sheet to keep them dry just laughing at us being wet through and having to be pushed back! When we got back Jess fell over and got covered in mud so a lady came out with a bucket of water and sponge to clean her up whilst her baby was running around in a poncho…such a fun day!!