Battambang – Cambodia: 15th Oct 2009

Today we hired a tuk-tuk driver for the whole day to show us the sights around Battambang. As soon as we started out the rain began, and didn’t stop until midday! Our first stop was a limestone mountain, which juts out of the surrounding countryside and is famed for a temple on top, and more recently for the ‘killing caves’ where the Khmer Rouge carried out many atrocities.

We arrived in the small village at the bottom of the mountain and were introduced to Pay (pronounced Pee) a 13 year old boy who would be our guide on the mountain. Due to the rain and my loathing of walking up hills, we opted to go up the mountain on motor bikes – yay! I’ve never been on one before! So off we set, Me on one bike with a driver, and Matt, Pay and another driver squished onto the other bike. As soon as we set off a thunder and lightning storm started and the rain became torrential, so it was a very dramatic and slightly scary first motor bike ride!

We stopped at the first temple, about ¾ of the way up the mountain and went to sit shoe-less inside, in front of a large Buddha, whilst Pay told us the history of the area and how the Khmer Rouge had brought people here to kill them. They killed anyone educated - teachers, doctors, students – all just for being educated. Even anyone who wore spectacles would be assumed to be educated and would be murdered.

We both know a lot about the atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge, from reading a book called ‘first they killed my father’ which I’d recommend anyone with an interest to read. This didn’t stop us feeling quite shocked though – there we were with a 13 year old boy (with excellent English) telling us about these horrors that happened to his parent’s generation – he seemed so happy with his life, taking tourists around in the mornings, going to school in the afternoons, followed by an hour of private English lessons – it seemed a world away from what happened in this country just 30 years ago.

After he’d finished briefly explaining what happened he led us down a rainy path to a cave. We walked down the steps and could see a huge reclining Buddha and a ‘Wat’ or small temple within. The thunder was roaring as Pay pointed out where people were killed, where they were thrown through a hole in the roof of the cave, and where there were piles of bones and skulls- some of which had been placed in the temple. It was very moving, and quite sinister, and very sad. But because we were there with happy little Pay, it almost felt uplifting, like there was a new beginning and those bad days had gone forever.

We’ll be visiting the killing fields outside Phnom Penh to find out more about what happened in this beautiful country – but for today that was the end of any talk of horror, and we headed further up the mountain to look at another temple at the top with stunning views of the surrounding countryside.

The ride down the mountain was precarious but fun and we got back into the tuk-tuk. We were heading for Battambang’s infamous bamboo trains but on the way stopped at a monastary known for its fruit bats which were hanging asleep all over the trees, and then at a vineyard to try some local wine and buy a bottle (nice..ish).

In Cambodia the government have been ploughing a lot of money into the roads but at the expense of the railways which have fallen into complete ruin. However, the residents of Battambang have been enterprising and designed bamboo platforms which fit onto the tracks and are powered by a motorbike engine to travel along the tracks that trains can no longer use. These so-called ‘bamboo trains’ are completely mental, very unsafe, but really good fun to ride! So Matt and I climbed on board to our ‘platform’ and sat cross-legged on a matt, about 1 foot above the tracks as the driver let rip. We must have been speeding about 40 miles an hour, which was exhilarating, being so close to the ground! We hit a few bumps which shook us around a bit but other than that we just relaxed and enjoyed the breeze and the views of the countryside. The funniest thing about the trains is that if you meet something coming the other way (there’s only one track), you have to get off the train, dismantle it, let the other one pass, and then put your train back together again – sounds complicated but only takes a couple of minutes. It was really good fun!

We went about 6km and then were given a short tour around a local brick factory. We hadn’t realised this was on the agenda, but it’s obviously something that’s done to raise a bit of money out here in the countryside. The family who ran the factory had 7 children who kept handing us flowers - we gave them a few Riel each as we left – amounting in total to about a dollar, so everyone was happy!

One absolutely bizarre thing was when one of the girls ran past us with a toy insect flying behind her on a string – wow, we thought, never seen that before – it was petrol blue and iridescent and would flop down, then she’d spin it round and it would start buzzing all around her – she was flying it like a kite.

We thought this was some amazing mechanical treat that hadn’t reached the west yet, until we realised it was a real insect that they’d tied string round and were playing with like a toy – excellent! (bit cruel but cool!)

After that went for a very late lunch of green and red curry and then retired for the evening in the guest house. We have really enjoyed Battambang after all and we’re off to Phnom Penh tomorrow!