trains, tuk tuks and folding-up bikes

When I lived in London, I considered getting a fold up bike so that I could cycle to the underground train, fold it up, carry it on before unfolding it at the other end and cycling to work. For many commuters, being able to cut down those precious minutes of walking to the station, or even better, being able to cycle to work after getting a train into London, the fold-up bike was a piece of magic. However, the magic does not come cheap and good ones were £400-£600.

In Cambodia, there is a famous bamboo train in Battambang. Its fame comes from being the only passenger train service in the country and how the trains manage to navigate past each other on a single track line. As two trains approach the other, the one with the lightest load stops and everybody get's off and stands at the side as the driver literally picks up the train and moves it off the tracks.

There really isn't a problem with having to give your seat to disabled and elderly passengers.

Life up the bamboo and steel carriage and your left with some axes and wheels. Add a petrol motor and that's all you need for a train. 

As you can imagine the train really isn't used by a lot of commuters. In fact, the train will carry you 15 minutes in one direction and then after a drink and a purchase of some touristy stuff at a stall, it will turn around and take you back to where you started. The only people it could be useful for is my colleague's  family whose house is right beside the tracks, and even then, only if they want to buy touristy stuff at a stall 15 minutes away.

As well as not having a passenger train service, no city or town has a public bus system. It was tried in Phnom Penh but the narrowness of many roads, the absence of traffic control and the love of motos meant that it didn't last very long.

Now, most people in Cambodia are also very poor, so considering this and the absence of mass public transport, there is no reason to think that Cambodia is an untapped market waiting to grab as many folding-up bikes as they can. Plus, in a country where the bike is the mode of transport for many, many people, you would think the shortcomings of the little-wheeled bike would be very apparent. However, regardless of all of these things, the folding-up bike is here, there and everywhere.

A lonely fold-up bike in Siem Reap

Phnom Penh is pretty wealthy and there are even some trendy sorts, so you could nearly see why come people might have them here but we didn't expect to see a girl cycling on one in an extremely remote village right on the border with Laos. I just stood there scratching my head thinking, how can she afford one of those and how the heck did it get here? It certainly didn't arrive on a train.

A girl on a fold-up bike in a tiny village in remote Preah Vihear province

I have a feeling that the global sale of fold-up bikes did not meet expectations, and that a market for cheaper fold-up bikes was never established. This could have meant that mass produced fold-up bikes, probably from nearby China, remained unsold and were shipped to anywhere that would take them. It seems that many people in Cambodia put their hands up. 

It could actually be that in Cambodia, there is a use for them. Some witty tuk tuk drivers will see you on your bike and tell you it would be much easier to put the bike in the tuk tuk, sit back and relax. And when there is torrential rain, they may have a point. The problem is that the bike sticks out from either side of the tuk tuk and you have to pray that your driver remembers his vehicle is now a little bit wider. But if you could fold up your bike when putting it in a tuk tuk...

The tuk tuk and the fold-up bike. Facing away from each other, this couple don't seem to have realised their future together.

Gordon

Kampong Cham - a tale of two bridges

For 16 days, we've been in Kampong Cham (or Kompong Cham depending on a translator's whim), so I thought that I should introduce you to it by virtue of this little blog.

Whereas Phnom Penh is hustle and bustle, Kampong Cham is peaceful and pleasant. It has remnants of its French colonial past with wide boulevards and ornate balconies. The pace is definitely slower here although it is the third largest city with population of 65,000. 

Its big selling point is its location on the Mekong River. Kampong means riverside and here the river is wide and blue with much of the town, including our Mekong Hotel, based near it. The sun rises from the other side of the river making for gorgeous sunrises. This is definitely my favourite time of the day - peaceful, beautiful, calm and cool. Or not boiling anyway.

Kampong Cham is also famous for two bridges that contrast tradition and modernity. The first bridge pictured is the Kizuna bridge (2001) named after the Japanese ambassador who got Japan to build what was the biggest bridge in Cambodia and the first to span the Mekong. I go running across this bridge in the mornings. Well twice.

The second bridge is a little different. It's made of bamboo. But is actually newer than the Kizuna bridge because it is built anew every year after being swept away in the wet season. The Bamboo Bridge (Spean Russey) takes a month to build and everything can go over this bridge and at the same time; motorbikes, cars, 4x4s - the lot.

However, it is an absolute nightmare to cycle across. Those who read this earlier blog may remember me complaining about cycling over cobbles. This wasn't as bad but then there weren't cars coming towards you on that cobbly bridge. Plus, we had to pay twice the price that locals have to because we're "barang", which actually means French, but is used to describe any white, long nosed foreigner.

Kampong Cham also has a few a Buddhist temples, which we are yet to visit, and a few markets. Visiting the market is usually an interesting experience, which I think may be worth a whole blog in itself. So you'll just have to wait.

But since Claire left you with a Cambodian saying last time, I will do so too.

"Songsaa ch'ran, pan-ya-haa ch'ran; pon tai pan-ya-haa la-or" which means "many girlfriends, many problems; but good problems". I think our teacher may have been a player....

Gordon