All Aboard the Bamboo Train!

Location: Battambang, Cambodia. Imagine hurtling through the countryside at a death-defying 20km per hour (or thereabouts) on nothing more than a bamboo platform supported by 2 wheels plus axles, powered by an engine of unknown origin. And there's only one track so when you encounter oncoming traffic, you have to lift your bamboo platform and wheels off the track to let them pass. That's the bamboo train!

Known to the locals as the "norry", this 'train' system connects a couple of villages and is used for transporting anything from rice and produce to people. These days it also attracts a lot of tourists for the sheer fun and novelty of it, and rightly so!

On our outing into the Cambodia countryside we made a few stops to see local industries. First up was a rice paper-making village, where they produce the round rice papers used for making spring rolls. A single family can make around 5000 of these in a day if the weather is good.

We also saw a fish market where they produce fish paste and dried fish. The fish comes from the Tonle Sap (fishing in the Stung Sangker river isn't allowed), where they have over 250 different species. Finally, we visited a family that made sticky rice and beans in sticky rice.



Boat trip to Siem Reap tomorrow!

Bye for now
ML & Mum