Siem Reap to Battambang
Today was another no ride day (the last no ride day that is part of the tour). We went to visit the floating village in Toule Sap which is the largest freshwater lake in SE Asia. All parts of normal village life exist, except on boats instead of on land. People live on their boats. There were bar boats, temple boats, gardens on boats, you name it! Very interesting.
Then a bus to Battambang The highlight of the day was watching the sun set on the "bamboo train". Picture an old set of railroad tracks that were laid in the 1920's . They were abandoned in the 40's or 50's. In the 90's it satarted being used again. The tracks were not in very good shape, so in typically resourceful Cambodian style, they figured out how to make it work. They took old tank parts, created axles that could run on the rails added a light weight bamboo top that litterally just sits on top with a small 4 stroke engine and a belt. There are no schedules, no conductors, just little open platforms that fit 4 Americans (and probably twice as many Cambodians). When a train is coming at you, they both stop, the direction with the lightest load hops off, pulls off the bamboo top, pulls off the axles, lets the train go by, then puts the thing back together again and continues on. The whole process takes about 2 minutes. Top speed is probably about 20 mph. Our guide brought a cooler full of gin and tonics and we watched the sun set... Fantastic!!!
Then a bus to Battambang The highlight of the day was watching the sun set on the "bamboo train". Picture an old set of railroad tracks that were laid in the 1920's . They were abandoned in the 40's or 50's. In the 90's it satarted being used again. The tracks were not in very good shape, so in typically resourceful Cambodian style, they figured out how to make it work. They took old tank parts, created axles that could run on the rails added a light weight bamboo top that litterally just sits on top with a small 4 stroke engine and a belt. There are no schedules, no conductors, just little open platforms that fit 4 Americans (and probably twice as many Cambodians). When a train is coming at you, they both stop, the direction with the lightest load hops off, pulls off the bamboo top, pulls off the axles, lets the train go by, then puts the thing back together again and continues on. The whole process takes about 2 minutes. Top speed is probably about 20 mph. Our guide brought a cooler full of gin and tonics and we watched the sun set... Fantastic!!!
Comments
Post a Comment