Throw Off The Bowlines: All Aboard The Bamboo Express

Rough day yesterday. I've been careful, but somehow ate something on Sat that put me in bed for most of the day on Sun. Azithromycin is not the usual drug for stomach bugs, but there is a high rate of ciprofloxacin resistance in SE Asia. I can now fully vouch for its effectiveness. Two pills and two hours later, my fever broke. Another 15 hours of sleep and I was back on my feet, with only a raging headache as any evidence that I was sick. I'm on 48 hours of almost no food and my appetite has finally returned. Before I got knocked out by bug, I managed to squeeze in a full day of touring around Battambang. I'll leave most of it to the photos in the next post, but one of the activities deserves a bit more narrative.

The highlight of the day was the ride on the Bamboo Train. Also called "nori" in Khmer, the Bamboo train is a bit of ingenious retro-engineering created out of necessity. The train tracks were built years ago, and in the 50's and 60's, the Cambodian railroads were bustling with activity. However, civil wars and sabotage by the Khmer Rouge in the 70's took a toll and the railways fell into disrepair. It is now rare to see any train go on it at all. However, the locals being the ingenious folks that they are, saw all that unused railway and said to themselves, "Hmmm, this might be useful...". And thus, was born the Bamboo Train. Basically, it is a lightweight rectangular platform made of bamboo that is placed on top of two axles with wheels that were salvaged from junked tanks. It is powered by a lightweight motorcycle motor that is then coupled to an axle by a transmission belt. The locals use it to transport goods to the market, travel to work, or buy things like medicine that they can't get in their own village/town. We barang use it for a fun teeth chattering, butt shaking ride. It's like Disneyland, but without all (any) of the safety features. It travels up to 40 kph (25 mph), which is quite fast when you're only sitting 2 ft above the tracks.

I say tracks, but I mean track because there's only one. So this brings up the problem of what to do when two "trains" meet. They have that worked out as well. Local rules of the rail dictate that whichever train has the lighter load has to get off the tracks. The driver of the "winning" train has to help the driver of the other train disassemble their train. The engine comes off, the platform lifts up, and then the wheels/axles are removed from the tracks. The other train is pushed through about 20 feet and then the first train is reassembled on the other side. Meanwhile, we (better nourished) foreigners watch on in fascination and snap our photos.

Our final destination was only a few kilometers away at a brick factory. After exploring the brick factory, we sat in the shade for some drinks sold by an old man and his family. I whipped out my Khmer dictionary and tried out a few phrases with him. And for the next half hour, I got Khmer lessons for the cost of one soda ($0.50). Now that's a great deal. The man seemed extraordinarily happy anytime we foreigners pronounced something correctly, flashing an enormous toothless grin. And in that hour, I think I came away with a better grasp of something that is so fundamental to human nature - our desire and need to connect.