Day 48 Bamboo Express

21/04/13

We got into Battambang just after 7 this morning, as usual there was the clamour to grab custom by the hotel reps but I decided to catch a lift on a tuktuk with 2 American girls who had already booked ahead, the price for a room was $7 which is quite steep for me so I asked the driver if he knew any cheaper options, he took me to a place with almost identical amenities for $3 a night. I got my guidebook out, hoping to find somewhere for breakfast but seeing as I didn't know where I was on the map it was a pointless exercise. I just sat down in a local restaurant, where nobody spoke English, and got served some boney chicken with rice, rather tasty for $1. The next 30 minutes were spent wandering around in the wrong direction trying to find something marked on my map, finally I found a coffee house, near the river, which was down a side street (it turns out it was on the same road as my hotel but I didn't know at this point). The coffee house called Kinyei Cafe is probably the nicest cafe I have ever been into, it is really rustic with bare brickwork and wooden stools and tables with leather chairs and a narrow staircase leading upstairs, through a trapped door, plus they do traditional English food including scones. After having a drink I hired a bike from them and rode a few km to the Bamboo Railway where I met the 2 girls again, Anne and Camden. We shared a carriage and enjoyed shooting down the warped rails at 30kmph. When you meet a car coming the other way the one with least passengers has to be lifted off the rails, easy when they are only 3m long, mainly made of bamboo, resting on 2 boogies (sets of wheels) and driven by a petrol engine  It will be a shame when this enterprising venture is stopped when they finally update the rail link, in my books it is one of the most enjoyable experiences of the trip so far. I spent the rest of the day with Camden and Anne visiting 2 temple complexes which were a long way out of town, I'm very glad I didn't cycle to them, not least because I would've got horrifically lost. I ate an extremely late lunch at half 4 then headed back to Kinyei Cafe for banana bread and a coffee, I think I might be returning here tomorrow!

I have also made a montage of my time in Vietnam here is the video link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jftojzrXYvo

Easy

If only all travel was this simple

Apparently older than Angkor Wat