We got in to Battambang around 12.30, and Mony explained that we really should do the optional activity here, since otherwise we would wonder why they would bother having us stop in this place. Indeed as we walked out for lunch, I wasn't particularly impressed. The streets were moderately dirty, there was a river which was far from picturesque, and more or less nothing aimed at tourists. Even though this is the 2nd largest city in Cambodia, it was pretty much a huge village without the interesting village life stuff.
Good job then I had opted in for the optional activity, which was visiting an 'ancient' house, going on the bamboo train out into the country, then visiting a local village and having a look round. Surprisingly only 5 others went for this, the new group, aside from Bryce, doesn't really seem much for optional activities, which I find a bit strange on a holiday like this, but whatever.
We got tuk tuks out to the ancient house, which was on the outskirts of the city. Ancient doesn't really mean ancient in this case, as it was built in the 1920s, but the point is that it uses traditional Cambodian architecture, something which is disappearing these days thanks to the cheapness of concrete. The house is up on stilts, to avoid flooding, prevent the floor from rotting (the whole house is built of wood, and the floor is very often wet here, so it would rot very fast at ground level), and to have a cool place to stay in the day time (under the house).
The daughter of the owner of the house was showing us round (the owner only speaks Khmer and French fluently), and explained that they used 3 types of wood in construction, teak for the balcony (durable), ironwood for the stilts, roof, and exterior (even more durable), and mahogany for the inside (pretty, but soft). The walls were created by making a bamboo frame, then covering it with a plaster made of stuff like rice, coconut, and other common local materials.
We had a look round the house then, the lady explaining various features, and showing us some very strange traditional musical instruments (some pipes that were halfway between pan pipes and bagpipes, and a 2 string guitar used to accentuate story telling). The original kitchen was destroyed by the Khmer Rouge because they stored water up there all the time, keeping the wood all wet and rotting it, so the new kitchen is made of inferior quality wood.
Then there was a little gift shop, with all sorts of recycled things, and some very nice paintings, one of which caught my eye. I hadn't planned to buy anything, and I looked at the price fully convinced it would put me off, but it turned out to be only $9, and the lady pointed out that if necessary it could be taken off it's frame just by removing some staples at the back, so I was sure to be able to fit it in my luggage. At this point, what excuse could I have left? I think the lady liked me too, since I got a free coconut key chain, which Julie didn't get despite spending twice as much as me (since I think it could possibly have flown out of my pocket on the bamboo train, but I packed the shorts I was wearing away, so I hope it's still in there!)
Next up was the bamboo train, and the reason we had to sign a waiver for this trip. Mony assured us it was safe, though apparently there have been a couple of tourist deaths, so I just thought yolo. Since I am still blogging, I believe you can gather that I did not die. The bamboo train is 2 axles, taken from tanks, with a wooden frame on top holding a bamboo platform one layer thick. Originally they used to just use poles to shove them along, but nowadays they use a belt motor.
For about 50 yards the ride was pretty smooth. Thereafter the joins between the tracks got exceedingly rough, with misalignment horizontally and/or vertically by over a centimetre in some cases. Often one side of the tracks was higher than the other, making the car tilt slightly, and sometimes the rails were bowed upwards, or otherwise generally not straight, worsening the transition between tracks, and making us sway alarmingly. After getting over the initial shock of it seemingly crazy dangerous, I loved it! The train can get up to 40km/h, and apparently we got close to that. Being so close to the tracks is exhilarating, and slightly frightening at once.
If someone is coming the other way, the side with less carts has everyone get off, then they lift the frame off the wheels, and lift the wheels off separately to let the other side pass. I had a go at picking one of the wheels (on axles) up, and it was about 35/40kg, so not too bad really. I would suspect the frame isn't much heavier, being only about 3m by 1.5m, and made entirely of wood/bamboo (aside from the very small engine).
Apparently the trains themselves are very safe, with pretty much nobody falling off, and none coming off the rails. The fatalities are caused by cows running onto the track, and given the rudimentary breaks, the drivers cannot stop in time. At one point there was a very frisky cow running and bucking at the side of the lines, causing me to imagine flying headfirst off the front of the car in an explosion of cow blood, but luckily it kept away. I did get bitten/stung by a Cambodian death insect though. I have no idea what it was, but it hurt more than my fire ant, continues hurting for about an hour afterwards, and started coming up in a big weal. Luckily this went down and reverted to redness very fast (unless it burrowed in, and is now living inside me).
The tracks run from Battambang (remember, the second biggest city) to a Phnom Pehn, covering 200 and something kilometres, though the bamboo trains only go about 50km at most. Apparently there are plans in 2-3 years to create whole new tracks, replacing the existing ones, and getting new trains, which would lead to the bamboo trains disappearing. That'd be a great shame, and if anyone wants to try it, you'd best do it soon, just in case!
We stopped after 7km, to just look round a proper rural village. We saw a lot of plants, some of which we ate the fruits, which don't even have an English name, from. There were also custard apples, dragonfruit, and papayas growing, as well as sugar cane, and something called demongrass, which has medical properties. There were also some seed pods which the local guide picked. He then asked for water, and poured it on them, and they exploded pretty violently, even hitting Kelly on the forehead with a flying seed from a couple of meters.
There was also a rice mill, which housed an imposing, and very complex 2 story machine, as well as a load of people playing volleyball (a popular sport here), a parrot which our local guide could talk to (he could make convincing enough parrot noises for the parrot to chatter back; he used to have to catch parrot trying to eat grain in his old job), and who also ate out of his owner's mouth.
There were also some huge brick kilns, used to harden 700-800,000 bricks at a time, using masses of rice husks as fuel. It would take 28-30 days to properly harden the bricks. The husks were all lying on the floor, and walking along them was like walking on super deep, loose sand. We got to go inside one and have a look, and it was pretty nice in there. Thankfully nobody turned it on whilst we were inside.
After looking round, it was back to the bamboo train, and back to Battambang for tea, and bed in preparation for a 7am start the next morning, which would preceed an 8-9 hour drive through Thailand to Bangkok. On the way back to the hotel in a tuk tuk, I saw a tiny girl who couldn't have been more than five furiously hacking at a coconut with a machete half as long as she was tall. Probably not something I'll easily forget, and pretty much par for the course here in Cambodia.
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