All aboard the Bamboo Railway!

Following on from my previous post on Phnom Penh, here is the next instalment of our journey through some of South East Asia in December; Battambang. We had not originally planned to pass through Battambang when we planned our trip from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. A smallish place in north-east Cambodia  to the west of Tonle Sap Lake, home to around a quarter of a million. It was a very pleasant stopping point and a place we are pleased we chose to stop at. It took about five hours on the bus from Phnom Penh and here’s what we did… Arriving mid to late afternoon we were greeted off the bus by a mob of tuk tuk drivers all wanting to take us to their sponsoring hotels. We hadn’t booked a hotel but had an idea of where we would like to stay from the guide book. We walked around the corner, avoiding all the pushy tuk tuk drivers and then eventually picked up a tuk tuk that would take us to the hotel in the guide book. Unfortunately that was full for the night but we were driven round the corner to it’s sister hotel which actually worked out quite well. Ironically though it was walking distance from the bus stand. Oh well. We had a bit of a walk round that evening and enjoyed the atmosphere of the place – very laid back. Although I guess it is hard not to be laid back when beer is about 30 pence a mug! We planned a bit of an ittinerary for the couple of days we expected to stay before moving on to Siem Reap.

Battambang Market Place

First up on our full day in Battambang we arranged to go to the Smokin’ Pot for a Cambodian cookery course. The courses began by a visit to the market to buy all the ingredients – quite a fun thing to do as part of the course. Amongst the ingredients we purchased were; fermented fish paste, straw mushrooms, chillies, beef, chicken, fish, various herbs and a few Asian vegetables along with the standard garlic, shallots and ginger. The cooking took a couple hours and took us through until lunchtime.

Ingredients and prep!

We made three dishes; Fish Amok, Fried Beef with Ginger and a Hot and Sour Soup. All very yummy and great fun to cook. An enjoyable few hours in the morning – all the more so for not having to do the dishes in between each course as they are done for you while you tuck in! Following the cookery course we were picked up by our tuk tuk driver and taken out to the Bamboo Railway. This is the well known attraction in the area and well worth a visit – especially seeing there is rumour that it will soon be shut down. Basically it is two axles with a bamboo mat attached on the top. A small motor and fan belt fit on the mat and attach to one of the axles through a hole in the mat. This powers the ‘vehicle’ along the railway line – a very old railway that runs through the fields around Battambang and is in very poor condition, but that adds to the adventure! The ‘train’  picks up quite a bit of speed and it is good fun although you have to be careful not to fall off as the railway line is quite warped in places and there is no suspension either! The line runs for about 20 – 30 minutes before a convenient stopping point where you have a break and then turn around and head back. We had the only woman driver on the line and she was very good at her job – the amusing part is when you meet an oncoming ‘train’ and being a single line one of you has to disembark, dismantle all the pieces, let the other past then reassemble on the line!

All aboard!

Following our railway adventure, we continued the afternoon touring with our tuk tuk driver around the outskirts of Bttambang. Our tour included a visit to a local ‘factory’ (read family house family run business) making Cambodian noodles (rice noodles), a visit to a crocodile farm and watching the sun go down over  a lilly farm. It was very leisurely tuk tuking through the rive fields and around a bit of rural Cambodia. The next day we decided we’d move onto Siem Reap on the boat rather than the bus. The bus can be done in around 3 hours or so, while the boat – that weaves through very narrow water ways until they open up to Tonle Sap Lake – can take anywhere between 6 and 9 hours depending on the water! Although we have ticked this off and it was another adventure, we will not be repeating it having come close to sinking and taking around 8 hours! 7 hours into our journey the pump on board stopped bailing out the water – not noticed by the captain until the floor boards were pealed back and revealed about a foot and a half deep water in the boat! A number of fixes were attempted and we eventually, nervously, limped home for the last hour. If you are travelling from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap I would most certainly recommend one or two nights in Battambang as a relaxing stop along the way. -PlaneSimple

Thoughts from Scotland

A quick post having been back in Scotland for a week. The time has gone fast and we have been busy with many mundane but necessary tasks.

Most of these tasks have involved filling out pages and pages of forms and ticking box after box (strictly speaking it’s not ticking though, it’s putting an ‘X’). The first day back we applied to renew our passports – so that they are ready for when we fly back. Given that the Post Office have a ‘check & send’ service, for £8, you would think they know what they are doing when they fill out a passport application. No. You’d be wrong. Despite me being the one paying £16 I was also the one who had to correct them 3 times as the form was being completed! Not a good start. Let’s just hope they are ready in time!

Then I was filling out a form for renewing a driving license photo (yes it has been nearly 10 years, surprisingly!). It took 20 minutes or so to queue just to get the form at the Post Office (common theme here). Once I got the form I carefully read through the enclosed leaflet about the form. It explained that it was the correct form for a number of different scenarios including renewing a photo. Great! That was all that was said about it in the leaflet though so I proceeded to fill out the form. Section 1 about who I am and my drivers license number etc. Section 2 about my address (becoming more of a sticking point now we don’t ‘ordinarily’ live here), right up until Section 7 where you sign and date. Then I turn over the page to the end of the form where it tells you how much to pay and where to send it. Oh wait, except one of the last lines on the form, yes right at the end, tells you to only fill out Sections 1 and 2 if you are renewing your photo! Why couldn’t they have said that in the information leaflet or at the beginning of the form?!

We have braved a few trips into the City Centre in Glasgow. It’s nice to see the new motorway coming a long nicely – I was surprised at how much progress they seemed to have made.

Now I admit that it is probably not as cold as what I feel when we’ve been out – not many others had three layers on when walking along Buchanan Street! But that is my next point – even if everyone else feels ‘relatively warm’ some of the clothes they are wearing suggest they should be in a private jacuzzi at home rather than walking down the main shopping street! Grumpy old man syndrome? Maybe.

I mean no offence by this next remark (isn’t the blog looking more professional now that I am including disclaimers?) it is just an observation. There is a high proportion of people out and about who seem on the overweight side. Has the global economic downturn in the past year or two really altered the Scottish diet that much? It is slightly worrying some of the excess baggage some people seem to be carrying about – esspecially given my comments above about suitable clothing!

We’re on to our next bit of the trip now, travelling around England a bit. We flew down from Glasgow yesterday. I find it much easier flying than taking the train. The only frustration was having to wait for 15 minutes at Heathrow once we had landed to park at the gate as there was “another British Airways aircraft at the gate about to depart”. Maybe I don’t understand the complexities of the logistics at Heathrow but I’d have thought they would have had time to arrange a free parking space for us given how long they had known we were coming!

We had feared we were following the bad weather but even thought it was a bit overcast it was much milder than up North. I am now looking forward to seeing more friends and family and hopefully the weather will remain dry at the least!

One last point to add in as I was able to watch the last 20 minutes of the British Grand Prix on Sunday. Congratulations to Mark Webber. I’m delighted for him give the struggles he had with his team over the weekend. Taking parts of his car and giving them to his ‘team mate’ becuase his team mate’s fell off due to his mechanics careless work? He’s a great honest guy and although Australian is really an adopted Brit! Well done Mark (follow him on twitter @AussieGrit).

Do you live in the UK? Have you been to the UK? What do you find annoying? What do you really enjoy in the summer time? Let me know what you think!

-PlaneSimple