Siem Reap to Battambang

I rose early once more to be ready for my pick up. It never came! In the end the hotel rang up the travel company and ended up putting me on a tuk-tuk, which took me to a bus. The bus was full, more than full. I had to climb over a pile of bags in the aisle only to find all the seats taken and more people arriving. It became apparent that the bus was going nowhere fast. In fact, having gotten on the bus an hour late, we sat in the same place for another hour. Some people used the time to get sandwiches from a nearby stall, but I wasnt hungry, having been up early enough to have breakfast.

Anyway, eventually we made it to the dock and came across a similar problem. The boat was quickly full and seemingly overflowing with bags and their owners. I was one of around 15 who were shepherded onto a much smaller and less fancy boat. Initially this was fine, maybe even preferable to being squashed into the proper boat, but gradually, as we passed through one scenic waterside village after another, we filled up with locals. We went from having loads of space to having to climb up onto the sides to be able to stretch out. Nevertheless, it was a great trip. The sun was shining as always and we passed through so many pretty villages and then squeezed through narrow waterways where we had to quickly jump back into teh boat to avoid being whacked by the branches of the bushes.

The boat trip itself took around 7 hours and then I took a minibus to a hotel that I had heard would be fine, and it was.

Battambang

The town is a quite a small place with the river flowing through it's centre. The atmosphere of the place was far more Cambodian than any other place I had been so far. It didnt feel like it had the influence of the French (perhaps too far west) and it was not touristy in the slightest.

I only spent one day there, hiring a bicycle and cycling 13km to a hill temple in the morning and then 13km back to town for lunch. Then, in the incredible heat of the day, I set out to cycle the 5km to the bamboo train (I will explain in a moment). Unfortunately, my map was rubbish and I was soon a little lost. I tried to follow directions from a chap who spoke a little enlish, but got lost again before I stopped at a small shop along the dirt track that gave better direction and even drew me a map. Finally on the right path, I was only 1km when a tuk-tuk stopped and asked if I would like to share a train with its passenger, a Ghanain bloke who lives in London. I was happy to save myself $5 by sharing, so the driver plonked me AND my bicycle into his tuk-tuk!

Ok, the bamboo train. This is a strange contraption, which is basically a bamboo platform about 6ft by 8ft sat on a couple of bogies (do you spell it like that?), the rear of which is hooked up to a small engine. This machine then hurtles along an old and very wonky railway line at what seems like great speed, but is probably only 20mph. The beauty of its simple construction is that it can be dismantled in seconds, should it meet another train coming the other way. Traditionally, the trains meet, push against each other, and the lighter train draws the short straw. Nowadays the tourist trains distamantle on the way out, and not on the way back. We had to do it twice, but I would have been dissapointed had we not. They simply get off, unhook the engine fom the wheels, lift off the bamboo platform, then lift off the bogies and place them by the side of the tracks. The other train passes and the process is repeated in reverse. It probably takes 30 seconds, though I imagine it can be a nightmare if you are fully loaded on your way to market!

That evening I booked my onward travel. I wanted to get to a place called Krong Koh Kong, but there is no direct bus from Battambang, so I bought one to Sihanoukville, with the intention of staying there a night and continuing in the morning.