Battambang: Part 2

Determined to make the most of my 24hr stay, I got up early and went to a few sights outside of Battambang. I hired a tuktuk driver to take me out to the Banan Temple and Phnom Sampov, two temple sites with great views of the Battambang area. The rides themselves to the sites were lovely and scenic, with a nice glimpse of rural life.




The Banan Temple was a tough one. 358 steps to get to the top! But there was a nice view once you got up, and the ruins were simple - large blocks stacked up - but interesting to see how well the temples were still preserved.




The Phom Sampov/Killing Caves are located high on a hill, so my driver suggested I hire a local to lead me so I won't get lost. He connected me with Siephon (not sure how to correctly spell his name), who the tuktuk driver said "he's a man, but don't worry, he's a lady boy". Throughout my tour, the town people would see him and would laugh and tease him in a playful way. He didn't seem too annoyed by it; he was playing along with it. It was pretty entertaining to hang out with him. Our communication was so limited because he didn't speak that much English, only enough to tell me what sight was what and some directions on where to go. But he would bust out singing Khmer pop songs as we walked.





He definitely made my trip up to Phom Sampov brighter! Especially considering we were looking at the Killing Caves too. I wasn't sure if I was ready to come face to face with it, but I figured going to the Killing Caves would prepare me later for Phnom Penh's Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields from the Khmer Rouge period.

I wanted to go to the Pepsi Factory that was abandoned in the 70s, but the tuk tuk driver said they had closed the doors to the public. It would have been cool to take some pictures there, because I read that it has been left untouched; there are still full bottles of Pepsi left inside. Ah well. Would have been neat to see. But I'm glad I got to do and see more of Battambang, besides the Bamboo Train. Would've been a shame if that was my only impression of the area.

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.