In order to see some of rural Cambodia we took a 2 dat excursion down to the town of Battembang. Our original plan had been to then cross the border at a remote border crossing at a place called Pailin. This town was apparently the final stronghold for Kymer Rouge and only finally surrended its weapons in 1996. The road to Pailin was rough track and was going to be a 2 to 3 journey in a crowded taxi, then 45 minutes to the border with our backpacks on motorbikes. Once across the border we had no idea what modes of transport there might be! So we chickened out & went back to Siem Reap to take the comfortable bus to Bangkok via Poipet.
Battembang was a good excursion as we hired 2 motobikes & drivers who took us around various sights, particularly on the back tracks (no roads here) & we saw various local villages. In a similar way to the remote areas we travelled in Vietnam, we were constant amusement to the locals who don't get to see many westerners. The sights we saw included some new local temples, Phnom Sampeau (known as the killing cave, where the Kymer Rouge murdered thousands of locals), Wat Banon (locally known as mini Angkor Wat as also has 5 stupas. This wat was up a very big climb in the hot sun. We ended the day with the journey back to Battembang on the Bamboo Train. This was basically a bamboo base that was on 4 wheels and an engine added. The 'vehicle' was built in front of us on the track. This took us two, the 2 motorbikes and our 2 drivers & some other locals we picked up on the way. The track was the one railway line in Cambodia running from Phnom Penh to the border in the north, but now no trains run in Cambodia, some shrewd locals were taking the opportunity to use the track for tourist rides.
On the way back Gill's bike had a puncture so we had to stop at the local village garage. Not surprised that we got a puncture as the 'roads' were all rough tracks!
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