A Bed On Wheels

I wake at 6AM and my eyes struggle to focus. Rachelle is still asleep. I figure out from signs that we are in Battambang and wake her. When the bus stops and we make our way off, a happy, smiling Tuk-Tuk driver pops his head into the bus door asking "You need Tuk-Tuk?", before we've even stepped foot off the bus. I wasn't in the best of moods after lack of sleep and was rather short with him. When we had all our bags, he approached us again and we agreed to be taken to the Royal Hotel. He said he would take us on a tour to see things around Battambang later and we took on his offer. I was too tired to haggle down his price, which might mean we were ripped off, but he was very thankful for giving him a job for the day. I suppose it was only $14 for a day's work. He will pick us up at 10:30AM after we've had a much needed couple of hours in bed. 

The Royal Hotel wasn't very royal. The room had a television that didn't work, cold shower, no air-conditioning, and clearly had not been cleaned - just clean sheets on the bed. On the other hand, the price wasn't royal either, and $6 isn't bad. We meet our Tuk-Tuk driver, called Mr. Blue, and I'm in a better mood after the nap. He is going to take us to three places; the Bamboo Train, Banan Temple, and the Killing Caves. 

I suppose my expectations about the Bamboo Train were a little stupid in hindsight. I expected a train with carriages, all made from bamboo. That's not what it was. It was something like a bed-on-wheels with an engine on the back, put on rails. A man worked the engine and we sat on a mat placed on the bamboo slats of the contraption. We took it to the next station where we were shown how bricks are made. Not the most exciting destination, but I guess it was sort of interesting. A little Cambodian girl followed us around and put bracelets on Rachelle. Then we headed back on the train to where our Tuk-Tuk was waiting for us. The Bamboo Train was fun to ride.

Next we went to the Banan Temple. I prefer to call it the Banana Temple, and did so all day. It's an old, 11th Century Temple from the Angkorian period, and it's even older than Angkor Wat. It was funny to see Rachelle's reaction when she saw all the steep steps to the top of the hill where it is situated. It was a big climb on a hot day. At the top, the temple is in ruins, but it's pretty. I liked it and now I can't wait to see Angkor Wat, which I am seeing on my birthday. 

The last stop is the Killing Caves. Again, they are on the top of a hill, but we take mopeds to them and one of the drivers then takes us around explaining things. The Killng Caves are a part of the dark history that Cambodia suffered when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were in power. They would throw men, women and children down the caves to their death. Now, the cave has a memorial made from some of the bones of those who suffered. Monks pray for their souls. 

We get taken further up the hill to a pagoda and a beautiful view of the surrounding area: Rice field upon rice field. We get taken back down the hill and our Tuk-Tuk takes us back to the hotel. As we drive into the city, the buildings progressed from wooden huts to concrete town buildings seamlessly. In the evening we walked around the small city, went for food, relaxed and then had ourselves an early night.