Bats, Mud and The Bamboo Railway

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There are some days on my journeys that are good, some days are great, and there are days like today, where I wish I could have piled all of you into the tuk tuk with me and hit the road. Its not easy to put into words or pictures the experiences, sights, sounds, smells, but you know I give it my best.

My tuk tuk driver is David, and his English is good enough, but as we were starting out today he made the fatal mistake of telling me that if I see anything interesting, just tell him and he will stop. I think I added an hour onto the day, but he was a good sport about it. When you are going along and you see food for sale on the side of the road and you are curious about it, you just want to stop and explore. I think I received a high compliment, when after about lunch time he told me I don’t seem have the sensitive stomach that most westerners do. I told him the test will be tomorrow – lol!

We left about 8 ish and after a few stops around the town for the usual buildings and statues, all with fascinating stories we headed out of town. The first stop was the Bamboo Railway after a couple of curiousity stops to check out Bamboo Sticky Rice on the side of the road. I had no idea what to expect with this, but on arrival you are taken to some railroad tracks and this bamboo flatbed (see pictures) is set on 2 train rails and the engine is hooked up. It was explained you would go about 6 miles and return, about an hour round trip. What a blast!

First of all these tracks are narrow gauge that were put in by the French in the colonial times, and not maintained since from what I can tell. After the French left and during the civil war that followed, the rail cars sat and rotted leaving the tracks and wheels from the old train cars. The industrious Cambodians took the wheels, built a flatbed, threw on an engine and bingo, you have transportation. Remote villages use these to move goods into the market, especially where roads are scarce. This small stretch of track is used for the tourist.

Right after we left he hit top speed, and I am guessing it had to be 35 ish mph. I was surprised how fast it went. Now mind you, the tracks are a bit warped, all the rails no longer line up properly, so the ride is a bit bumpy, but its all fun. If you meet a car coming the other direction, I think protocol is the car with the least amount of people get off, disassemble the vehicle, and let the other pass, then you put yours back together and on your way. I would guess this takes all of a minute to do. There is a little shanty town at the end of the line where they sell drinks and nick nacks. All in all it was a fun experience. I heard a rumor that the Chinese want to build a railway from the ocean port South of Bangkok, through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and on into China. They said the tracks will be ripped up and freight cars will be blasting through, ending this little enterprise. If this is true, glad I got to experience it before it leaves forever.

From there we visited several small villages, went across this suspension bridge that is used to connect some villages to the main road to Battambang. It was interesting and the bridge would sway and rock as you walked across, then you had to dodge the motorbikes going back and forth. He also took me and showed me this fishing area, and this man showed me his huge nets. It was quite interesting.

The chain on the tuk tuk was messing up so we stopped and he had it looked at. I was busy checking out the goodies this lady had for sale. They had these little cakes, almost like muffins wrapped up, they were good. This lady across the street was cooking stuff on the charcoal fire, so we walked over and had lunch. I had a chicken leg and thigh that was grilled, that still had the foot attached. She also gave me some papaya salad she had made for her family and it was all delish. I spotted these items rolled in banana leaves had to try that also. Then to close I had pineapple dipped in hot chili sauce. All told it came to $1.75. You gotta love this place. Since I gave her $3 for being so nice, she poured me a shot of her rice wine. One was enough. While I was eating I noticed this kid of hers had an Arizona Diamondbacks t-shirt – go figure!

We made a couple of other stops here an there, watched these kids dive off a bride into a very muddy river, spent about 30 minutes getting through a very muddy intersection where there was a stuck car, and almost got stuck ourself. Next we ended up at this old temple built before Angkor. When I walked up I had flashback of Machu Picchu, and Tikal in Guatemala, as the only way up to this temple of a very steep set of about 350 steps. Why is it that anywhere I go, you have to climb to see the good stuff. I made David go with me in case someone had to run down to get an ambulance. The place is nice, but I think the picures will tell the whole story.

We then headed to this mountain tp Pagoda that is also the home to a cave that is referred to as the Killing Cave. Similar to the Killing Fields that I visited in Phnom Penh, this place is where as many as 10,000 people were sent to their death down this hold that led into a cave during the Khmer Rouge time in the late 70’s. Its really a sad experience. They have built a Pagoda on top of this mountain that is amazing. After seeing the cave and Pagoda, you are taken to what is referred to as the Bat Cave where at about 5:15 each day millions of bats head out to feed for the night. Its truly an unreal site to see millions of bats leave that cave. It just goes on and on, like it never will end.

The weather cooperated for the day, except at the end when I was on top of the mountain at the Pagoda. It came a downpour, but it did not put a damper on the day.

Believe it or not, I am making this short and sweet because I am exhausted from the day. David has another day of activities tomorrow and I told him not to divulge, just take me around and surprise me. I wish I could have taken you with me today, you would have appreciated what a beautiful country this is and how sweet and humble these people are.

Happy Travels, Don

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Comments

[Peggy]

Love the pitures and story. Glad your having a good time.