Crossing the border from Thailand to Cambodia was to be the first time we had entered a new country overland. Research had indicated that crossing from Thailand to Cambodia via the Poipet crossing was fraught with frustrations due to the number of scamming opportunities, so we opted to go via the crossing point at Daung/Ban Packard. This is generally a much quieter crossing so it promised to be an easier procedure. Our first challenge in Chanthaburi was to locate the shared taxi which would take us to the border. In Thailand these taxis take the form of either 10 seater minibuses, or Songthaews- the small truck like vehicles which have benches in the back to accommodate 5 on each side. In practice Songthaews can accommodate many more if you aren't too particular about personal space, or can hang on the back ! Our information indicated one firm ran a taxi three times a day from a location outside one of the big hotels so we donned our backpacks and headed there, only to find they had relocated. After asking at the big hotel, and being told by local taxi drivers the bus didn't exist we eventually found the new departure point, just round the corner from our hotel in a dusty carpark, and bought our tickets from the driver. Then we had to wait as the bus only departs when it's full !. These minibuses function as local buses for the Thais so it didn't take long before we reached the necessary quota. After a couple of hours we reached the border...... the first job was to be signed out of Thailand. This involved completing a small piece of paper providing our name, address and passport details, and having our eyes matched to the computer record to check we weren't imposters. An ink stamp on the paper and we were officially no longer tourists in Thailand. We walked over the bridge towards the Cambodian side- followed by hopeful taxi touts. "Where you go? I ring for taxi". We walked on towards the small window which was labelled arrivals. All the information we read before leaving said the visa could get obtained at the border so we were hoping this was correct. It turned out to be the case. Fifteen minutes after arriving at the visa office, completing a short form, supplying the officer with a passport photo and 1400bahts each, (£28) we were on our way to the final stage- being stamped into the country.

By this time we were both feeling peckish, and with the prospect of a further two hour journey to Battambang we decided to take a break for something to eat and drink. Our first experience of Cambodian food. As we left the border crossing we entered a street full of food vendors and local restaurants. We always follow the logic that an eating establishment which is popular with locals is generally good, and headed to one of the local favourites, judging by the number of diners. We were soon faced with the problem of what to order. There was no menu, just four pots of what appeared to be stews of varying descriptions. It's difficult to describe the contents of the pots in an appetising way. We selected the one which had the most recognisable ingredients, namely chunks of aubergine and tomato, served with a plate of boiled rice. It turned out to be quite flavoursome, although as John likes neither tomato or aubergine he wasn't too impressed. Eating with the locals did give the added advantage of involving us in some basic English conversation. There didn't seem to be many people who can speak English, so those who can say a few words are often called on to help those who can't. Conversation took the usual route of "where you from?" "England, nice country" "where you going?".
We took a shared taxi (this time a more recognisable saloon) from the border to Battambang, sharing part of the ride with a young couple who had an adorable young baby.

Battambang is apparently the second largest town in Cambodia with a population of around 250,000 yet it doesn't take long to leave the town behind and find yourself in the rural outskirts where the residents live in traditional wooden shelters, on small holdings often housing chickens, cows and/or pigs. The train service was discontinued in 2009, and although there have been plans to restart some services nothing has happened yet. The only "train" which was running in Cambodia during our visit was The Bamboo train. Each bamboo train – known in Khmer as a norry (nori) – consists of a 3m-long wooden frame, covered lengthwise with slats made of bamboo, that rest on two barbell-like bogies, the one at back is connected by fan belts to a 6HP gasoline engine. Pile on 10 or 15 people, or up to three tonnes of rice, crank it up and you can cruise along at about 15km/h.

As the driver cranked up the engine the platform picked up speed and in the absence of any grab rails John and I were left to push our bottoms down hard in the bamboo surface to stop ourselves flying off. I was sure that one or other of my Birkenstock sandals would head for the sidings at the slightest opportunity. The "train" sped for about 20 minutes down the track to the next station, before reaching the point where we were due to turn round. We found a small collection of stalls there selling clothing and soft drinks, so we dismounted to allow the driver to take the norry off the track and turn it round. We were immediately mobbed by a group of schoolchildren, each carrying a plastic bottle wrapped in friendship bracelets, each asking us to buy one. Feeling this would help to contribute to their family coffers I agreed to buy a bracelet. The problem was how to decide which child to buy from. In the end I bought one from each child...and left six dollars lighter. One of the adult traders later informed me that the child sellers were becoming an increasing problem as they were opting to sell to tourists rather than go to school. Maybe that's something the parents need to acknowledge and just allow the kids to sell after school. Education here is apparently free, although so far we haven't seen much evidence of the same high status given to educational attainment as in other countries we've visited.


Anyway, back to the train. The genius of the system is that it offers a brilliant solution to the most difficult problem faced on any single-track line: what to do when two trains going in opposite directions meet. In the case of bamboo trains, the answer is simple: one car is quickly taken apart and set on the ground beside the tracks so that the other can pass. The rule is that the car with the fewest passengers has to cede priority. On the way back we witnessed the dismantling process in action as we met an oncoming norry when we reached the railway bridge.

Leaving the train behind we were taken by our driver to an authentic roadside cafe for a Cambodian sandwich. We were delighted to see a relic of French colonialisation - the baguette. The pork which was squashed inside turned out to be somewhat chewy as it came complete with a large overcoat of rind, and fat, but it complemented the sour papaya salad alongside. The meal stop was a brief interlude on our way to visit one of the most popular attractions in Battambang- the Phare Ponleu Sep. Alongside a government-run public school for 1000 children this non profit Cambodian organisation provides a visual and applied arts school, using performing arts and incorporating music, theatre, circus, and social support. If you want to know more this is their website : http://www.phareps.org

The hour long performance of acrobatics and humour sprinkled with theatre. was extremenly good. The audience was spellbound by the skills of the young performers, as their muscle ripped bodies effortlessly performed a host of acrobatic moves. Later we shared our returning taxi with a young French women employed at the centre who told us of her job In the animation dept of the school. A small but expanding arm of the school- applying the schools vision to include children from all walks of life, enabling them to achieve their artistic and expressive potential through the free specialist tuition. We left there with a good feeling about Cambodia.

Next day we started our morning with breakfast in another social enterprise - a community cafe called Coconut water which was involved in women empowerment and after school education, and ended it by watching the nightly bat migration from the cave on Phnom Sampheau. Millions of tiny bats leave the cave every evening at around 6pm, producing an amazing sight as they fly off like a murmuration of starlings into the night sky.

For our last day in Battambang we decided to walk out into the rural area close to the town to visit a memorial called the Well of Shadows. It turned out to be a lovely day, tinged with some sobering reflections at the monument. The walk took us alongside the river so we were able to witness life on the banks, as well as the dwellings along the roadside. The small shanties side by side with some beautiful detached French influenced houses. All the way along we were greeted by chickens with young, and cries of "hello" from the many young children. No one asked us for money, but all seemed genuinely pleased to see us. Houses had large grey Ali Baba style earthenware pots outside, some with as many as five or six. These are used to hold water for the household. Although many had electricity and had small televisions they often had very low light levels, and slept in hammocks or on mattresses on the floor. Some families had a small business adjacent, or in front of the house. Selling anything from fishing nets, to Coke bottles refilled with petrol. They were all trying to make a living to support their families.
Cambodia underwent extremely difficult times during the 1970s when Pol Pot and the Kymer Rouge murdered large numbers of Cambodians. The monument we had gone to view depicted many of the atrocities which took place during this time. There was also a large number of skulls and bones which had been recovered from surrounding fields. These were graphically displayed in a Perspex cabinet within the monument. During the reign of the Kymer Rouge many Cambodians died due to starvation, and the population turned to eating whatever they could find to stay alive, including insects and vermin. On the way back along the river we saw vendors selling BBQ rat, and cockroach, so they have obviously become favourites. It's surprising what you will eat when it's a matter of life and death.