Battambang: The Last of the Bamboo Trains

I've arrived in Battambang, a quiet provincial capital and the second largest city in Cambodia. Its much quieter and more laid back here, and people are very friendly. The city is surrounded my miles and miles of rice fields with occasional limestone hill popping up out of the flat surroundings. Most of these steep little mountains have temples on the top, some new, some ancient.

Phnom Sampeau is a Buddhist and Hindu temple complex (the two coexists very well in Cambodia) on a hill over looking the surrounding valleys.


The Killing Cave where the Khmer Rouge cast their prisoners to their deaths. It's now a memorial and shrine, the golden stupa on the right contains the bones of the victims.


Banan - my first Khmer ruin and predecessor to Angkor Wat. It's somewhere around 1,000 years old and is perched at the top of a hill after a steep 385 step climb.


Riding the Bamboo Train. These are basically wood platforms with a small engine on the back that the locals use on the old French rail lines. When two trains meet, the one with the lesser load is taken apart and then reassembled after the other has passed. They can do it really fast. Sadly, the Chinese have bought up all the rain lines and are going to redevelop them, the Bamboo Trains will be shut down next year.