A rich relative/friend might have their best at home but not necessarily host you with warmth, but a poor friend will have something at home to give you whole heartedly. Cambodia will give an experience of this .
Our driver blew a long horn – may be a wake up call or a signal. That sleepy village at Battambang woke up to the situation, to host their guests, to treat them with their own amusement, sell their merchandise and the make a business out of it .
Travelling in a’ Bamboo train’ was in my itinerary, but I didn’t think too much about it ,ignored it as yet another train safari ; As anyone’s knowledge train literally means “a number of vehicles or a group of animals moving in a designated line” but Little did I realize, we'll be travelling on a mono Railway trolley on an official but semi abandoned railway track.
It was an old meter gauge track laid by the French from Phnom Penh to the Thai Border, and it passes thru this remote village near Battambang. I understood on enquiry that ,only two trains run thru this route in a day or alternate days or that too would be cancelled, if it is raining . These trains will have only two or three coaches maximum travelling at the lowest possible speed and stopping at the loco pilot’s whim’s.
Children playing the local games in grubby clothes, and its country side are pretty much visible from the houses, shops and the people. There was a butcher shop with two caged pigs squealing to its throats, waiting to go as next day’s meal for these villagers and it was yet another village in its own way till our car reached the spot, where the so called ‘Bamboo train’ starts. A trolley was assembled in a hurry, a bamboo mat placed on a frame of two axles fit with four iron wheels, with a detachable motor fit in the back . It’s a domestic version of a trolley which the Indian railway men use to inspect the railway track.
The guide who accompanied us took the tickets through a small instantly active ticket counter. I asked the guide, is it safe to travel in this!!, he said all the tourist will try this and its fun !, so I decided to take a chance !
Cambodia is a poor country , limping back to its feet after the civil war. This country has a peculiar history of its people killed by its own Government. Its infrastructure and cultural identity destroyed by its own communist government lead by its dictator “comrade POL POT” . The country has got every leftout / hidden ingredients for the tourists like, its thousands of thousand years old temples , natural lakes, Buddhist monasteries , to market it as a tourist place , and for cultural tourists, its simplicity and the innocence of the rural people .
But today’s tourists will look for varieties , the boat rides , amusement parts , experience malls , pubbing , gambling , etc, they can’t settle only for temple visits , which Cambodia has it in plenty . An ordinary tourist will look at these temples as a spread of well aligned stones for no reason, they wont appreciate its history or geography or anything ! They will compensate or get solace their paid visit with a few pictures in various angles and settle for few selfies , that’s it! They eat , indulge in massages ,, collect a souvenir , have a beer and the claim to have visited yet another country .
Hence , the Tour operators also plan the itinerary to keep occupying their clients with a mix of activities. As Cambodia lacks amusement parks, or theme parks , they offer whatever they have , old style tourism , they take you to an ornament maker, a pot maker , typically ,they will try to show their way of living and we can call it a cultural trip , simply understating their lives and experience their culture . And the people of Cambodia showcase whatever they could to make their visitors happy.
The two guys who were busy doing a roof work in a small house near the ticket counter rushed to the spot to attend the situation; they haphazardly put a bed sheet and two pillows for the visitors to sit. That’s the privilege they give to the visitors to avoid them from sitting on a bare bamboo mat and to give a cushion for the bumpy ride on the suspension less train. We were ushered to board the train(?) while we were gheraoed by the hawkers-,small children with all kind of products , cut mangoes, pine apple, beads etc .
But it was fun , with the rumbling sound of the train, it gave an experience of traveling from the Train engine with the driver ,also an open air train experience . I could inhale the fresh air mixed with the smell of the soil from the paddy field. It went on for 30 minutes and stopped at a place , may be a station , where some shops on shakes, closed 15 minutes ago but reopened with liveliness with music; they open it when occasional tourist shows up .The Bamboo train operator will alert them and 30 minutes travel time is good enough to set up the shop and to serve chilled beer . They sell merchandise, food, souvenir, and the some kids were selling talisman tags with Cambodian flags and brother bands they tie it in our hands which we can’t refuse.
While we were checking out in the shops , the driver and the conductor with the help of others repositioned the so called train by lifting it and turning to the reverse direction . Oh! we are going to go back! In fact! When another bamboo train or the real train comes in the opposite side of the track , they will lift the bamboo train and keep it in the shoulder space of the track, to give way and they will replace it back to the track once it is cleared of the way . While coming back, most of the shop keepers, employees boarded the train, it seems their work at the station was over and calling it a day , and they returned back with their materials and constantly chatting their own date to day affairs in their language.
Its yet another experience , close encounter with the Cambodian villagers and enjoy the feel and smell of the country side .
There are countries starved off with tourist contents and they go all out to give whatever they could to give an experience to their visitors ,than other countries who have everything but choose to ignore and keep in mute .
Comments
Post a Comment