Battambang - The Bamboo Train & Killing Caves


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February 4th 2013
Published: February 4th 2013
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Dambong Kronhong StatueDambong Kronhong StatueDambong Kronhong Statue

Huge statue in the centre of town, it is considered sacred, and is often prayed to for harmony.
We were standing outside Globalteer House on Friday morning, with five minutes to spare before the transit bus was due to pick us up. We were still standing there an hour later, convinced it wasn't coming at all. Eventually, after two phones calls to see where they were, a grubby outdated van pulled up, with two Khmer men in the front. The door was unceremoniously pulled open for us and we piled in. We were the only passengers aboard but picked up others along the way. We were all offloaded 15 minutes later to a larger bus, which offloaded us again at a dusty bus terminal. Another change of bus, and we were finally on our way!

The bus wasn't air conditioned and we knew we were in for a stifling hot trip. When we saw the co-driver open windows at the back of the bus, which were the only ones that opened, we made a dash for the back seats, before anyone else got wise. Definitely a 'survival of the fittest' mentality happening here. Thank you Ginny, for the great idea!

The trip took three and a half hours through dusty uninteresting countryside, and we were glad to get there
Incense SticksIncense SticksIncense Sticks

These two big pots of burnt incense sticks were at the base of the Dambong Kronhong Statue.
at last. The bus was met by touts, all jostling each other at the bottom of the bus steps, with their signs and offers for accomodation. We had ours sorted - The Banan Hotel and were quickly taken there by one of the tuk tuk drivers. The hotel is rather elaborate, lots of heavy carved timber furniture and panelled walls. I think our beds are the grandest we've ever slept in, with their hand carved bed heads. We have air conditioning AND hot water, things we don't have at Globalteer House, and we'll enjoy them for the next two nights!

The tuk tuk driver who bought us to our hotel was a friendly man, who spoke good English, so we made a deal with him to take us out for the afternoon and see some sights, for $8 each. I guess we could have got a cheaper price if we'd bothered to bargain, but everyone was happy, so we left it at that. He was calling back at 2pm to pick us up.

Our first visit was to the bamboo train. We arrived at the local 'train station', a loose collection of bamboo and wooden buildings on a very dusty road. There are no 'real' trains in Cambodia, the last passenger train stopped running several years ago. The bamboo train is actually a norry, or a rail riding platform made from bamboo, which sits loosely on two sets of wheels. They run on a small motor with a belt attached to the rear axle, and zip along at a maximum speed of 40klm. To accommodate two way traffic on a single line, norry curtesy dictates that when two loads meet, the one with the lighter load is dismantled and leaves the track. Described as one of the 'all time classic rail journeys' by Lonely Planet, it's unthinkable to visit Battambang and not experience it.

We bought our right to a seat on the bamboo train for $5 each, and had a norry to ourselves, complete with driver. No comfort here, and definitely no first class! We sat at the front on nothing more than a reed mat, and hung on! It was a hot, noisy, bone jarring hour long round trip. We met other tourists on their return trip, and our norry was the one which was dismantled to allow the others right of way. A village called
Train TracksTrain TracksTrain Tracks

I tried to photograph how warped the tracks were. Not sure if I succeeded.
O Sra Lav, where we stopped before doing the return trip, was very uninspiring. A few more corrugated iron and wooden huts with the usual array of tee-shirts and bottled drinks for sale, which we didn't buy. On return to the 'train station' we jumped into our tuk tuk and were soon underway again.

Next stop was Phnom Sampov, a limestone mountain about 12klm outside of Battambang. The Killing Caves and the Bat Caves are located here, which we wanted to see. The Killing Caves are as morbid as their name implies. They were used by the Khmer Rouge as an easy dumping ground for the bodies of their victims from Battambang and surrounding areas. Victims were often bought to the caves alive and thrown in, for ease of transportation. There are separate, smaller caves where children were bought to and killed. Not a nice place, and a grim reminder for all of Cambodia's recent history. Locals say that the caves were either caused by, or opened up by, bombs dropped by the US during the Vietnam war.

We had to wait until almost 6pm before we could see the bats, our other reason for being on Phnom
Dismantled TrainDismantled TrainDismantled Train

Our norry was dismantled to allow another right of way.
Sampov. Every night there is a mass exodus of thousands of hungry bats in search of food, from a cave in the mountainside. We waited underneath the cave opening with other 'batty' tourists and watched them leave. Apparently they return around 4am every morning, but we'll be long gone by then!

There is a Monkey Cave here as well, but we didn't have time to see it. We did see a few renegade monkeys running around, keeping the tourists on their toes. They're perfectly capable of bag snatching, and you would have to kiss yours goodbye if they got hold of it, as they're much faster than you are.

We were dropped back in Battambang around 7pm. We needed to eat, as neither of us had eaten anything since breakfast and we were starving! We had burgers at a small eatery in town, which we didn't finish as they weren't very nice. Ginny actually complained about them and refused to pay full price. The beef pattie in them was under cooked and we were both concerned about getting sick. I think the motorbike pulling a trailer with two dead cows on it, which passed us on the way
Soon Be On Our Way...Soon Be On Our Way...Soon Be On Our Way...

It only takes a minute to dismantle and reassemble a norry, especially when the only load it has is two tourists!
back into town, was on both our minds. Wish I'd got a photo of that...

Back to the hotel for much anticipated hot showers, after a visit to a pharmacy for cough lozenges for me. This cough is starting to get me down and I want to sleep tonight...

Breakfast was included in our $25 per night twin room, and we wondered how/where they were going to do it as we couldn't see a dining room anywhere. But, then again, it would be easy to miss in this hotel where the furniture blends so well with the wall panelling. We enquired at reception, to be pointed in the direction of a huge round carved table with equally huge carved chairs in the corner of the lobby. There, set out in all it's splendour, on two battered reed placemats, was our breakfast.

Well, it was like sitting down for breakfast at home. Butter melted in the container because no one bothered to put it in the fridge, two half finished jars of strawberry jam, sugar cubes and Lipton tea bags. Oh, and one if those pump thermos to dispense hot water for our tea, but there was no
Almost Done...Almost Done...Almost Done...

We'll be underway again in no time.
milk! We had to purchase a small long life milk from the display fridge (2000 Reil/.50c) before we could enjoy a cuppa. Breakfast was a set menu - an omelet with a crunchy heated bread roll. A used bottle of tomato sauce was plonked down with it. Too bad if you hated omelets because nothing else was offered. It was hot and rather tasty so we ate it. It has been a while since I've had eggs for breakfast, but we drew the line at the melted butter, full of other guests knife tracks, for our bread rolls.

After breakfast, we decided to take advantage of the hotel's offer of free bicycles for guests. No helmets unfortunately, but we did get a bike chain and lock. Can't lose the bikes, but who cares if the honoured guest's head gets run over in an accident? Admittedly Battambang streets were nowhere near as frantic as Siem Reap's, and we spent the morning cycling from one end of town to the other with no mishaps. At 1pm we called it quits, as it was too hot to ride anymore.

We did have a look at the markets where we watched local women
O Sra Lav villageO Sra Lav villageO Sra Lav village

This is the village where the bamboo train stopped.
make fish paste. Ugh! The smell of fish was overpowering, not to mention the blood and guts which was everywhere. All the stall holders were gutting fish. We were horrified to see a man with a steel bar bashing live fish on the head one after the other. He was stunning them, before beheading them, not nice to see. His friend laughed at the looks on our faces...

We headed back to the hotel, showered and spent a lazy few hours before heading out for dinner. We ended up catching a tuk tuk into the town centre but didn't have a lot of eateries to select from. Battambang is very quiet compared to Siem Reap. I think we were used to the vibe of Pub Street which doesn't exist here. On Sunday we enjoyed another breakfast exactly the same as the morning before. I didn't have the omelet and asked for an extra bread roll, thinking I will try the strawberry jam instead. Again we purchased milk for our tea, and avoided the congealed butter.

We had the return bus trip to look forward to today. We assumed that the bus would depart from the terminal where we were dropped off on Friday, but that wasn't the case. We piled into a tuk tuk and asked to be dropped at the bus station. The driver stopped 200 metres down the street at a ticket office, where buses obviously left from as other passengers were waiting. We looked at each other with 'this can't be right' expressions and told the driver so. So, he headed off again to a similar office just around the corner. There are those 'this can't be right' expressions again, but we were beginning to catch on! We pulled out our tickets and showed them to the tuk tuk driver, who headed off again, stopping for the third time at the ticket office from where our bus was leaving. The hotel was maybe 500 metres back down the road! At least this bus, when it finally arrived, was air conditioned.

We were pleased to get on board to escape the beggars hanging around the ticket office. We sat up front and were able to watch the road ahead, which wasn't such a good idea at times. But to his credit, our driver did get us back to Siem Reap in one piece.


Additional photos below
Photos: 51, Displayed: 29


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A New Hat Anyone?A New Hat Anyone?
A New Hat Anyone?

One of the shops in O Sra Lav village where you could buy yourself a new hat, if you felt the need for some retail therapy.
Autumn in Cambodia?Autumn in Cambodia?
Autumn in Cambodia?

Are you kidding? This is dust in Cambodia! This photo was taken on the road to the Bamboo Train.
Painting of the Killing CavesPainting of the Killing Caves
Painting of the Killing Caves

This painting was nailed to a tree on the walk up to the Killing Caves.
The Killing CavesThe Killing Caves
The Killing Caves

Looking down the steps into one of the caves. I wasn't tempted to go any further.
Human RemainsHuman Remains
Human Remains

These are the bones and skulls of victims who were killed here by the Khmer Rouge.
Gold Reclining BuddhaGold Reclining Buddha
Gold Reclining Buddha

This is the Buddha statue which reclines in a cavern at the Killing caves, only a few metres from the memorial of skull and bones in the previous photo.
Looking up..Looking up..
Looking up..

This photo was taken looking up to the top of the cave from inside. Victims were thrown in from here.
The Descent into the CavesThe Descent into the Caves
The Descent into the Caves

Ginny is walking down the steps into the Killing Caves.
Gold Buddha StatuesGold Buddha Statues
Gold Buddha Statues

These statues formed part of the Buddhist temple complex on top of Phnom Sampov.
Buddha Statue Inside The PagodaBuddha Statue Inside The Pagoda
Buddha Statue Inside The Pagoda

This very colourful Buddha and surrounding painted walls is inside the completely redecorated pagoda. This pagoda was used by the Khmer Rouge as a place to house, and torture, their victims before they met their death in the Killing Caves.
Pagoda InteriorPagoda Interior
Pagoda Interior

All beautifully hand painted walls on every side, inside and out.


5th February 2013
Autumn in Cambodia?

Dust
I remember the Cambodian 'snow' well! Xx

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