Lee had decided that he didn't really feel up for an 6 hour train journey and had decided to take to bus, he had to be in Saigon for the next day and after that boat journey just didn't feel up to it, which was fair enough.
Now we had decided that we would only do one leg of the journey, to Pursat, which should be getting in there at about 12, I think that would have been enough, and then we would get a taxi for the rest of the journey to Phnom Penh, which would take about 3 hours.
we got to the station just before 6, and the train was there. what a sight! It was full of wood and being unloaded really slowly, the engine trundled into view, bouncing along the tracks. while we were waiting for our train to be readied, a few other people turned up for the journey, and English girl, a couple of American guys and an Aussie called Andrew Burke. He's a photo journalist and writer for the lonely planet, he was making a short film about the train.
Getting on the train and seeing the inside was fantastic, better than i had hoped for! in the back carriage that all the westerners occupied half the wooden benches were stacked up as they were broken, there were holes in the floor that you could easily fall down, which you could see the tracks, and even the wheels, maybe those beers weren't such a good idea.
As the train only runs once a week the vegetation by the sides of the tracks has completely over grown and the branches would come through the window and smack you in the face as the train went along, so sleeping next to the window was out of the question.
I'd heard that climbing onto the roof was illegal now after a couple of recent accidents, and there were guards standing at the end of the carriages. Damn I though, this is going to be shit. Looking out of the window and seeing the shadow on the grass I could see a man standing on top of the train, it was one of the American lads. the guards apparently didn't give a shit. Like rats up drainpipes we were on the roof, for about an hour, it was amazing. Journeying through the Cambodian countryside on top of a train going at a jogging pace was an incredible feeling, not something that I think I will ever forget. It made the whole boat journey worth it. Cambodia is very flat, and beautiful, the looks we got sitting up there from the locals was great, the kids all smiled and waved at us.
we put the hammocks up in the part of the carriage with no seats and took it in turns to sit in them, we had to be on guard with our bags as some kids had run along the tracks and jumped on board, and they had beady eyes.
we passed the time by chatting, drinking, jumping off the train running alongside and then jumping back on, I had a go at trying to hold on to the back of the train and ski along the rails, didn't really work, but at least i gave it a go. a few times.
We pulled in at pursat (not to self; never go to a town that sounds like a car), if we weren't running about 3 hours late, and would get into phnom penh before midnight then i might have rode all the way, but those beady eyed kids made me nervous so i got off with everyone else, plus we were all really filthy.
Pursat is a 2 bit shit hole. end of. we tried to get a taxi, but they tried to charge us too much (surprise), so we flatly refused and started to trek down the long and dusty road. I think when me and steve broke into a verse of 'The Littliest Hobo' we realised how lost we were. We sat down at a cafe where 3 of us indulged in a bowl of bamboo, pig fat, rice in brown water, mmmmmmm! I jumped on the back of a motor bike to try and find a taxi, which in a town where no one spoke english, and I didn't speak Khmer wasn't easy. I managed to convey to one agent where we wanted to go and how many of us there were, she told me to sit down while she went off to find a driver. I was surrounded by Cambodian blokes all speaking rather loudly about which part of the white flesh they wanted. Or at least that's what I imagined they were saying.
Anyway there was a mix-up and we ended up with just the one taxi, we could have paid double and had 2 but refused out of principal (1 taxi was $37 2 would have been $74, which between 6 of us was still just over 6 quid each, asia makes you the tightest person in the world), so the 6 of us crammed into a toyota. 2 in the front passenger seat, 4 in the back. For good measure the driver stopped to pick up his 'girlfriend' who sat on his lap. Fanstastic.
3 hours later we were in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, we stayed at a recommended shithole for $4 a room. everyone went went to bed early, and Mona and I fought through the tiredness to watch Italy vs Spain. At 4am on the 50 metre walk back to our guest house we were offered every possible drug in a breathless 5 seconds. it was 4am the last thing i need is opium thanks very much.
So after being up for about 24 hours, today was over. The train was fantastic, the taxi was a nightmare. All in all a day I don't think I'll ever forget.
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