Bamboo (Battam)banger

I stopped in Battambang on my way to Phnom Penh, for less than 24 hours, mainly for the Bamboo Train. This "train" is a raft made of bamboo with 2 axles/wheels and is powered by a motorcycle engine. There is only one railroad track for 2-way traffic, so whenever there is a jam, the lighter train would disassemble and move around the other train. Pretty ingenious.


When I got into town, I rented a bike and tried to find the Bamboo Train Station, but it took me forever. All I had was this to follow by:


Not quite the most descriptive map, but I could see why after riding around. The landmarks were obvious, but none of the roads were named! But after 45 minutes on the bike, and asking people if I was going in the right direction, I finally arrived at the station. It's run by the Tourist Police, so an officer greeted me and said the train would take me to a small village about 14km away, where I can walk around and get a refreshment. Sounded like a good time to me.

The ride itself was really fun. The train runs pretty fast with the motorcycle engine. It shakes so much and makes loud rickety noises as you are flying by the rice fields. There were the occasional oxen eating greens by the side, or sometimes locals would pop up from their walk through the rice fields. I probably stopped about 3 times to do a change/disassemble.

Bamboo Train Ride


Assembling the Bamboo Train


So...the "village" was really a few refreshment stands, where foreigners could by a pop or have a snack. And of course, right when you got in, they would call you over and try to buy from their stand. There were some tourists sitting around and hanging out, so I guess that was all you could do. I didn't see a path for you to walk around on, beyond the stalls. Kids were playing soccer a little further down, and that was about it. I talked to a nice Dutch couple and a lady from Australia.

The "Village"


Maybe about a half hour later, I could see that my train driver was ready to go.
On the way back, a couple locals had huge bags of hay to bring back into town. I was lucky enough that our train was stopping to pick them up...it turned out to be an even better ride back! We arrived at their stop, a crew of kids jumped on for the last stop of the ride. Sounds like a silly attraction, but it was a memorable experience.