Pains, trains and automobiles...

Our last couple of weeks in Cambodia were action packed...so, we have selected a few highlights (in no particular order) that sum up our time in the north.

#1 Bamboo Train

Imagine a small bamboo raft of sorts plonked on top a of a few old train wheels, then add a glorified lawn mower motor and throw a rubber band in the mix and you have yourself a bamboo train. Pretty cool huh? We thought so anyway, and an hour long ride on this shakey hunk-o-junk is what drew us to Battambang. Cruising through the rice paddies at a lazy 30kph on Cambodia's one and only railway line, we often encountered oncoming bamboo trains which required us (or them) to stop and dismantle the train in order to allow the others to pass. Lots of fun!

We were a little nervous before our bamboo train began

#2 Slow boat to Siem Reap

Given the choice of a couple of hours on a bus or 7 hours on what is undoubtedly the most scenic boat ride in Cambodia, we opted for the latter... even if this did involve some seriously hard wooden seats. The scenery was stunning; rice paddies, floating villages and nature reserves passed us by. The width of the river fluctuated from around 20m to as narrow as our skinny little boat and out again to as far as the eye could see. At the narrow points, trees and branches scratched the sides of the boat, flicking spiders and ants on board and occasionally whipping us in the face... but even that was kind of fun.

Slow boat

#3 Sunset at Bakheng Mountain

Being the thrifty travellers we are, we used our amazing detective skills to discover that single day tickets purchased for Angkor Wat could also be used to gain entry to the wats at sunset the previous day... ok, so a tuk-tuk driver told us this and once we arrived at the mountain we realised that this was Siem Reap's worst kept secret - the place was packed! Luckily this didn't take away from the beauty of the sunset...

Sunset at Bakheng Mountain

#4 The Angkor Wats

Obviously a must for any trip to Cambodia and really must be seen to be fully appreciated. Rising before dawn, we (and our cameras) put in a hard days work covering the main temple ruins of the Angkor circuit. Surprisingly (or not), our favourite wasn't the famed Angkor Wat... it was the faces of Bayon and the tomb-raiderness of Ta Prom that took the cake for us. As amazing as all this was, after 4 months in Asia, we are officially templed out.

Angkor Wat

Bayon

Ta Prom

#5 The confusion between a car and a bus and how many people should ride in them

Here's another few bus stories for you... In order to travel from Siem Reap to Ban Lung (about 300 kms as the crow flies), we had to travel 13 hours... south then north then east, 'cos that's what travel in Cambodia often requires due to non-existent/terrible roads... and the mighty Mekong and a lack of bridges. From Siem Reap we took a 5 hour bus to Kom Pong Cham... no air-com and yet another broken seat made this yet another unpleasant journey. At Kom Pong Cham we were supposed to be met by a mini-bus to take us a further 3 hours to Kratie... Apparently the difference between a car and a minibus is a bit confusing in Cambodia, because the 'minibus' we were directed to was, in fact, 2 taxis... for 11 people to fit in. The two of us were quite happy to squish 6 people in a car (wouldn't be the first time), but some of the other foreigners weren't so keen on the idea and managed to argue for an actual minibus...

Enter "piece-of-shit-car".

Turns out that Cambodia's worst minibus was sent for us - bamboo poles propping the seats up and giant cracks in the windshield may give you a small idea if the condition of this rust-bucket... buuut we all piled in anyway and after over an hour of stuffing around, we were finally off... then the police showed up... words and money were exchanged between the cops and the minibus guys... we were given the nod to drive off... we drove around the block... back to the depo... police say 'everyone out'... we get out... not sure why... new bus shows up... much more road worthy... Phew, so we all piled into the new bus and off we went again. All was well until the boot sprang open and Amy's bag tumbled out at 80km onto the muddy road...no real biggie - just a muddy bag and wet clothes. Five minutes further down the road, an accident was narrowly avoided by a quick swerve to dodge a pair of amorous cows attempting to make baby cows on the road.

We made it to Kratie in one piece and arranged another mini bus to take us to Ban Lung the next day...we weren't exactly surprised to find that they crammed a few extra people on the bus (19 people in 11 seats) but we were a little shocked when even the driver shared his seat and attempted to drive a manual van on muddy, unsurfaced roads for five hours. We can't believe we made it alive!!

The mini bus with two people sharing the drivers seat

#6 Ban Lung's crater lake

If you ever get the chance to visit the North East of Cambodia, do yourself a favour and go to the crater lake in Ban Lung. Crystal clear, refreshing water enticed us to spend an entire day by the lake swimming with the locals...the photo speaks for itself.

Crater lake, Ban Lung

#7 Surviving the "death moto"

Lying in a puddle of mud, under a motorbike and a laughing Cambodian wasn't exactly what we expected from a morning trip to Ban Lung's waterfalls, but it's where we found ourselves on our last day in Cambodia. Normally, we try to avoid motos where possible (neither of us are the biggest motorbike fans), but in a town as small as Ban Lung, tuk-tuk's aren't an option and motos are the only way to get around...so we climbed on board with an experienced Cambodian driver (the fact that he had a strong cockney accent is irrelevant but highly amusing) and set off along the steep and slippery, muddy roads to the falls. Mistake, mistake, mistake. We slipped and slid all over the road and nearly fell off a dozen times. And then we did fall off...and it hurt...and it was scary, but we were all ok, just covered in mud and a little shaken. We pretty much decided that's the end of motorbikes and us.

#8 The people of Cambodia

We've banged on about this a bit, but we really met some great people in Cambodia. The smiles and greetings from people on the street and the Cambodian sense of humour, made us feel so welcome and truly enriched our time there, making Cambodia one of our favourite places so far. Go there. You'll love it.