Generally speaking, once a city has the title of "the largest city" or "the second largest city" in this country, it at least means that the city's infrastructure is relatively complete. Take our country for example, don't mention first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, even third- and fourth-tier cities are developing very well. However, looking around the world, although some cities have the reputation of "the largest city" or "the second largest city", there is still a big gap compared to our country. This is the case with Cambodia Battambang .
Batham is the second largest city in Cambodia on the surface, but everyone who has been there is a little disappointed because the development here is completely incompatible with its title. It can be said that it is on the same level as some small counties in our country. This also shows from one aspect that Cambodia's development is not very good. However, there are still a few tourists coming here to travel. In fact, what they are willing to spend here is not because of Battambang's reputation, but the only bamboo train in the world. The train made of bamboo is entirely relied on it for locals to travel, and is called a "roller coaster without seat belts."
The fundamental reason why bamboo trains exist is the paralysis of the railway system in Cambodia. As Chinese people cannot imagine that Battambang, which has Cambodia's second largest city, would not have railways. In fact, this is no wonder that the Cambodian government is. In the 1930s, the French led the construction of the new railway system in Cambodia. For some reason, the French took more than 30 years to build the railway network of only 600 kilometers long and only two lines in the north and south to successfully build it. The northern line of the two railway lines in the north and south is close to Thailand, and Battambang happens to be a station on the northern line. After the completion of the southern railway line, civil war broke out in Cambodia in 1975. The Khmer Rouge regime massacred million Cambodian compatriots and destroyed the railway lines within the territory. After four years of suppression of the Khmer Rouge regime, the Khmer Rouge regime, and before they could repair the railway, the railway was occupied by the remnants of the Khmer Rouge, militia organizations and armed robbers. They buried landmines under the train tracks, robbed goods and killed passengers, so taking the train became a life-threatening gamble. The speed of the railway repair was far inferior to the speed of destruction of these people, and eventually led to the suspension of operations. Only the small section from Sihanouk to Battambang remained.
I was fortunate to arrive at Battambang Railway Station one afternoon. What caught my eye were weeds at waist level, garbage everywhere, crooked rails and empty garages. It was a decadent image. I just came here from a big city and saw the scene in front of me. It made me feel a moment of trance. The wisps of black smoke rising from a distance seemed to tell me that all this was real. I took a means of transportation called Tutu and Tutu to the starting station of the bamboo train. This is a small village outside Battambang. All the facilities at the railway station are invisible, only scattered wheels and bamboo beds, and crooked rails extending to the distance.
The villagers copied down the abandoned tank wheels in the war and installed them on the train tracks. They put a simple bamboo bed on the two rows of wheels, and the bamboo train was successfully assembled. In the early days, bamboo trains were manually sliding with bamboo poles. Later, the villagers found ways to install gasoline engines on motorcycles or boats, and finally they could not be as tired as manual operation. As the bamboo train was moving, it was bumpy all the way, like a boat drifting on the sea, giving me a feeling of being overturned at any time. The only thing that comforted me was that the dry air in Cambodia was blowing towards me, which was quite refreshing.
In recent years, transportation in Cambodia has gradually recovered. Many people have purchased motorcycles and cars, and fewer and fewer local people take bamboo trains. No one expected that such a backward mode of transportation would become a new form of tourism and be loved by tourists, which can bring some income. People who want to come to Battambang are happy.
