where in the world is matt

Battambang is crap. Theres no other way around it, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The fact that it has no tourism isnt a bad thing, its just that there isnt anything at all, and this is not in anyway shape or form charming.

The 4 hour bus turned into a 6/7 hour trip with the constant stops and having to go all the way to Sisophan before going back on yourself. Why they simply don’t have a connecting road, I don’t know. The boat trip - apparently the best in Cambodia - sounded interesting but due to the amount spent at Siem Reap, the bus was the cheaper option, and with a few days to kill before a return to Thailand (for visa reasons).

Upon arriving disappointment set in straight away. Its the second largest city in Cambodia but there isn’t anything to it bar alot of shops that sell clothes and mobile phones. Traditionally the buildings are meant to be french colonial, but those that still exist have fallen into disrepair. Even finding a restaurant proved to be more trouble then its worth. A walk in a loop down to the furthest bridge and back up the riverside also provided nothing of a centre.

I decided to give it a go though, and staying another day to explore the sights, I went to ride the bamboo train. Pretty much what it says on the tin, it uses an old railway track and a train made of truck axles and a bamboo platform with a lawn mower engine on, to ferry people and goods the 3km (it could have been longer) trip between villages. Traveling at speeds of around 15km it felt like a rather un-secure rollercoaster, as kinks in the track would occasionally jolt you, the plastic mat you sat on providing little contact for you to grip. The trip is about half an hour there and back and makes for an interesting experience. Apparently it will be dissolved when they finish the major rail works across Cambodia and a more modern track is put in, but this isnt likely till 2015 minimum finances pending, so don’t feel you have to rush to it.

The other major site to the area is a mountain that houses one of the killing sites, a cave that people would be beaten and thrown through a skylight into the cave. However after hiking left right and centre over the mountain as far as the temple peak (anticlimactic modern temple) and halfway back down to eventually find the cave, hidden away, it doesnt say much about the history or hold much as its a dead end that you can climb into but there is nothing to gives away what happened there.

The next day I bid a hasty retreat back to Thailand, a trip that proved to be around 12 hours with the start stopping and changing of buses. From here a few days in the centre before heading to the isles again.