Day 6 Siem Reap - Phnom Penh(not quite)

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Today I decided to head off for Phnom Penh by boat, having organised my ticket the previous night at one of the many travel agants that are in Siem Reap.
I was meant to be at the travel agents at 620am to catch my lift to the boat which left at 7am.
I turned up and there was no transport, the driver had either already left, or didn't turn up, so i was forced to get a tuk-tuk the 12km or so to the boat. Thinking I was going to be late i encouraged the driver to go as fast as he could, so the wet muddy conditions and the handling capabilty of the tuk-tuk never really went hand in hand and we almost ended up in the river going round a bend.
Anyway, i arrived on time(just) for the boat and went onto the one my driver pointed out after i showed him my ticket and told him where i was going. I jumped on the boat and got my bags stowed away and sat down and relaxed, anticipating a fairly pleasant 6 hour boat ride to Phnom Penh, however, as i found out around half an hour into the journey, I was in fact on the boat to Battambang. The english couple who told were more upset about it than i was, but i just saw it as all part of the adventure.
Anyway, 7 hours on a boat going through all these little communities 100 miles from anywhere in the vast expanse of water was quite interesting to say the least.
It was amazing to see all these people who lived on a boat their whole lives and it's probably quite possible some of them may never have/will set foot on dry land.
The little communities looked so tranquil and everyone seemed happy.
I was also impressed at how the boats captain/driver was able to remember the routes through this watery route as we were quite often going through channels barely the width if the boat lined with trees and bushes that were the height of the boat.
Once we were through the lake, we had a pleasant last leg of the journey travelling up the river into central battambang.
I ended up in a cheap backpackers hostel which cost £2.50 per night.
I was only there for a night and was catching the bus to Phnom Penh the next day so when given the opportunity of seeing something i decided to take it. In this case it was the Bamboo train, a young guy named Nim who worked at the hotel offered to take me out to see it.
So off i went on the back of Nim's scooter, around 20km into the jungle/countryside of battambang. Dirt tracks and cows everywhere, just like you see in the vietnam war movies.
Little kids running down the roads after you saying hello in big gangs of 15+
Then came the Bamboo train. Health and Safety was clearly not top priority on this train route as it consisted of a bamboo platform set upon two sets of rolers for the rails and a petrol engine with a rubber belt which was attatched to the drive roller.
The rails were uneven and had gaps between them, which wouldn't have been of much concern if we weren't hurtling along the track at 50mph, or at least that's what i gauged it at. The driver seemed to let the trains in front get way ahead so he could get up as much speed as possible before we would meet a train comin in the opposite direction on the SAME track!
As there was only one rail when trains met one another on the track both drivers would get off, deem which train was lightest, then disassemble it and lift it off the track, the etiquette of the Bamboo train was a simple thing to grasp.
After that it was back to the hotel for a shower then out for something to eat, before heading back to bed for an early start again for the bus journey to Phnom Penh.

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Photos

House Boat
House boat on one of the floating communities

another floating house

Police Station
Thought the would have speedboats with sirens on them, but no.

Comments

[Stuart]

Kovach
Oh my breathers got 50 trains like