Battambang Modes of Transportation

As there is so much to see and do in Battambang, we decided to stay for 4 days. Because we are 3 adventurous and daring ladies, we eschewed the traditional tuktuk tour of surrounding sights, opting instead for a self-led motorbike tour of the countryside. We rented 2 bikes (all in brand sparkling new condition) and headed off, with the adorable moto rental man asking us please to not make any scratches. Oh, never sir. Not on your life.

We headed 13 kilometers up the road to Wat Ek Phnom, a ruined temple built in the 11th century that still shows some incredible stone carving (and boasts a halfbuilt giant buddha next door). We were shown around the temple by a very small 15 year old boy who pointed at things and hurried us along. We accidentally interrupted some Khmer youth making out in a hidden room. All very delightful. We then drove around the countryside for a little while, Molly taking the helm of her moto for the first time. Everything was peachy and we headed back to town to go South, in search of Cambodia's only winery.

Almost to the south end of town, something happened and there was a minor motoing accident. I was driving and Kate and I tipped over and then in shock and horror Molly tipped over in response. Many friendly Khmers rushed to help us and told us to get cleaned up, as we had a couple of minor scrapes. Yikes, these things are a little dangerous I guess, and thank goodness we had opted for the cool looking helmets. A little unnerved, we went back to our hotel to use our fancy little first aid kit and assess the minor damage. Everyone is fine, though we might look a little iffy for surf camp. Or we might look really hardcore. You be the judge.

The winery was now out, and the motos were a little scratched up (sorry motoman) so we returned them and smiled and bought a bunch of beers and watched the locals do aerobics on the riverside and went to dinner and atoned for breaking the motos and swore off finding our own mode of transportation.

The next day we opted for strolling around the east side of town (where we ran into the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation - an unassuming building with a strong gate and no famous Brangelina offspring in sight) and getting a tuktuk to the much discussed Bamboo Train. The Bamboo Train is a square platform of bamboo with a small motor that is on the main traintracks running between Battambang and Phnom Penh. These things are genious because they are so quickly and easily dismantled when there is a train (or other bamboo platform) coming from the opposite direction: the platform is removed into the grass beside the tracks, the two axels are taken off, and people proceed in their direction. Whoever has the heavier train car has the right of way. So we hop aboard the train and zip out into the countryside for about 20 minutes, stopping once to dismantle and remantle. The open air ride was fantastic and we saw rice paddies and cows and jungle on all sides as we clicked along.

Our midpoint was a small village with a few people hanging around the tracks, singing and dancing and clapping, headed up by a spirited gentleman in an army jacket. Molly and Kate joined in and a hilarious five minutes of cart shuffling was spent wiggling on the train tracks and laughing with this funny man who was thoroughly entertained and entertaining. Then we hopped back on the train and went back to where we started, with the singing man and a large group of people and things on the car behind us. Hilarious!

Later we trapsed through the market and bought some scarves and stainless steel stacking lunch pales that are the coolest thing ever. Then we hit the sunset aerobics and dinner on the East Side before retiring early in preparation for the 8 hour boat trip to Siem Reap in the morning.