The Bamboo Railway and other ramblings

Hey all

Today we ventured out into the countryside around Battenbang with a tuk tuk driver now named Snail Simon as one would have driven faster! We had already had a wonder around the town and although the place is pretty large by Cambodian standards and its colonial architecture is very pretty albeit a little faded there was not much to write home about!. Our first stop was the bamboo railway (locally known as the Nori) first made its appearance in the 1960's so the railway workers could make repairs. After the Khmer Rouge lunacy , the Cambodians were struggling to repair their lives and as the roads were in disrepair coupled with few means of transport such a s buses and trains this provided a practical  albeit rudimentary transport solution. Although flimsy in looks the bamboo construction was very strong, cattle and pigs could be taken to market& tons of vegetables delivered. In emergencies it could run in the night. At first they were powered by poles like a gondola, but after a few years small petrol engines replaced them. At their peak there were 1000+ Norries operating on 600km of track. Nowadays very few operate but there is still one here ferrying tourists and firewood up and down the track . So for our $5 we took our trip on a very thin cushion with the couple from Oz we had met on the previous day (Susan & Lex) and we were off! The crude assembly and the fact that the whole thing has to be dismantled when you meet another Norrie on the track which is more laden than you makes the whole thing feel a bit scary!!fair rule). The whole thing moves around 30km/hr at full speed but the track is so worn it was only possible in a few area thank god as it felt that we were about to take off ! Plus the bumps on the track went through you like nothing I have ever felt! We stopped about 12km down the track for a drink, chatted with a few of the locals then made our way back.

Once we had gained the feeling back in our backsides our driver slowly took us around to Phnom Banan which is an 11th Century temple - yep we hadn't escaped them!! The biggest killer was that you had to climb 358 stone steps to get up to it, but the view for miles around was so worth it.

 Our final stop was Phnom Sampeau which has a complex of temples at the summit of its limestone outcrops/ This climb was even worse with over 1200 steps up, but 'luckily' we took advantage of a diversion halfway up & visited some of the 'killing' caves which is an enchanting staircase down into a set of caves where a golden reclining Buddha lies peacefully next to a memorial filed with bones and skulls form some of the people bludgeoned to death by the Khmer Rouge and then thrown in through the overhead skylight. It was pretty gruesome & I managed to come a cropper on one of the piles of rocks badly gashing all down my left leg. Somehow despite all the blood and the guide being horrified I felt given the location I really couldn't moan as I had at least left there alive (what a drama queen !!) We still made it to the top to see all the golden temples although we were careful to stay well away from the macaques given my very enticing leg! A long climb down preceded the highlight of the day as dusk fell and we saw thousands of bats fly out of one of the lower caves. The driver told us that there were over 20  million in the cave system and they took over one and a half hours to all fly out! That's some mosquito eating machine! It was absolutely breathtaking to sea this moving river of bats stream out of the cave opening.

Tomorrow we travel back to Phnom Penh for the final couple of days in Cambodia.

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Sara