I headed out of Siam Reap on the 26th
heading to a place called Battambang, I had heard on the grape vine of a bamboo
train. Which sounded very interesting. After a full days ride of back tracking
the roads in Cambodia I reached the town. It was a largish town with lots of
roundabouts, each having a special statue on top of it.
I had a rough faded map on my “fake” guide
book as to where the trains should be so I found the rail line and bush bashed
my way till I found where they were loading up the people on it. I had thought
naively that I could have a long trip to the next night stop on the train with
my bike but they were only doing small 7km trips back and forth. So I parked my
bike and hopped on.
Its amazing how simple the “train” was, 2
rollers for the rails, a old compressor motor and a platform to sit on. All
could be dismantled in 2 min and reassembled in same time. They could go about
20-30km a hour with when sitting close to the ground on a platform of bamboo
felt really fast. A few time we had to get off and the driver pulled apart the
train to let others pass.
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| Local "bus" |
That night I stayed in town and on the way
out to dinner I had a chat to a local Tuk-tuk driver, he approached me to ask
about my t-shirt (a MAG shirt), we talked about the landmines and the war in
Cambodia for a hour. He use to work in Cambodia for MAG helping clearing land
mines, and later left as the pay was not enough and he had seen his friends die
doing the job. With the money he earned clearing mines he bought his Tuk-tuk
and now does that. He was really happy to talk to me and I was pleased to hear
his story, it was a sound reminder to the conflicts the region had endured.
The next morning I made a dash for Phnom
Penh, I wanted to get to the capital for new years and party there rather than
be out in the country side. 
My first day in Phnom Penh I visited Wat
Phnom a temple on a small hill in town, it gave a nice view down the main
streets and onto the Mekong. 
I then hired a Tuk-tuk to take me to a
military base outside of town, I had heard that with a bit of money you could
try a small selection of there guns and artillery.
I arrived at a training range used by the
local military and was offered a selection of Russian and American things to
try, I tried the M16 with Grenade
launcher attachment, the AK47, a Sniper rifle, and a RPG Launcher (Rocket Propelled
Grenade). It was quite amazing what you could buy in the range. After trying
the 2 machine guns the owner, quite calmly asked me, “you want to shoot chicken
or cow now?”. I laughed and politely said no thanks, ill stick to the cans and
targets on the range. Poor cows… Chickens meh don’t care about then :P.
Following the rifle range I headed to one
of the places most people visit with coming to Cambodia as well, the Killing
fields. My far the saddest place I have ever visited. Words can not express the
feelings of listening to the audio guide and peoples recollection of the events
that unfolded. I simply couldn’t take any pictures it was far to disrespectful
in my view.
The graves still had human bones and
remains slowly coming up to the surface, rags of cloths. It was a very real and
raw experience being in a place not much large than a football field where
9000+ people were executed. Not a nice place to visit but something you must
pay respects to… IF you want to read more check this out on history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Fields
The following day I visited a large
Buddhist temple a few 50km out of town, it is the largest monastery in Cambodia
and a place of teaching. The local kids in town had just finished school and
were keen to make a quick buck. So they became my guides for the evening
telling me about the history and workings of the area.
On the hill overlooking the monastery, were
the shrines of the previous kings of Cambodia. The top gave the best view over
the otherwise completely flat Cambodian landscape. Inside the center shrine was
over 2000’s small Buddha statues, and images. 
That afternoon I took a stroll around town
visiting the independence monument and chatting to a few locals. It seemed
every old guy had a daughter that was “going” to Australia and wanted to fix me
up with a wife, after all I was OLD!!… I found it most amusing, but not sure if
I was ready for that. ;)
The next day I finally got my act together
and got up early enough to see the palace when it opened, I had visited the
gates 2 times before only to see a big queue and have 40 min left on open time
till it closed…
It was a bit annoying a lot of the things
in the palace was no photo… no entry. So I could only snap up a few images of
the outside of the buildings. Definitely wasn’t the highlight of my trip, but
still nice to see… a palace is a palace, but this one had a temple in the
middle with the floor made out of pure silver. Called the Silver Pagoda.
The following day was new years. HAPPY NEW
YEARS!, I spent the day watching movies on the Mekong river banks and the night
partying in the local bars. Each bar had a theme, but no one cared it was a
free drink on entry. PUB CRAWL! J
I had left Phnom Penh super early the next
day, to try and beat the heat… Cambodia is HOT! Especially in a big padded
black jacket I wear when I’m riding.
When I arrived at Sihanoukville I had a
problem I didn’t think about the fact it was the 1st and everyone
would still be winding down from new years, everything was booked no hotels
free at all. It took me over a hour to find the most filthy and expensive hotel
thus far, the room was moldy to hell the bathroom no word of a lie had cave
formations coming off the roof and on floor… it was gross. The next day I had
booked myself on a scuba tour for 2 days, just to get away from that hotel. 
Sadly my underwater camera broke in Taiwan
so no photos of fishes, but the island we stayed at was very very traditional
and only people born or volunteers (teachers) can stay. The dives fantastic,
untouched reefs as its only accessible 2 months a year and so many fish as the
locals only use line and catch what they eat.
When I came back to Sihanoukville I spent 2
days just laying about on the beach and watching the sunset (or trying to… seem
to miss it sometimes for other reasons ;) )
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| Hammocks on beach side in Kep |
Once I had enough I headed to a place
called Kep, my last stop in Cambodia. A border town but also a costal town. The
road to Kep was amazing beach road and the best ride I had in all Cambodia.
That night with a nice view and a hammock I watched the last sunset in
Cambodia, tomorrow I would be heading back to Vietnam. 
Cambodia was not what I expected at all, I
had imagined lush jungles but it was all 100% flat rice fields. Angkor wat was
amazing but im looking forward to mountains and hills to ride though again.
Bring on Nam.
Till next time, Have Fun!
Steffen
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