March 02, 2004

Last train from Sihanoukville

Sihanoukville, Cambodia

I went to the train station to see about catching a train on the Phnom Penh line to Kampot. The train only runs at about 20km/hr but I thought it might be an experience. Not as much an experience as a few years ago. The Khmer Rouge would mine the tracks so frequently that the trains had two extra carriages on front to take the brunt of the explosion. Remarkably, they sold tickets for these carriages. The first was free and the second was half-price. Apparently they were the most popular.

Well, that was then and this was now. With the upgrade in the road to Sihanoukville, probably the best in the country, the passenger train had lost it's appeal. I discovered this as I strolled around the empty train station looking for someone to ask about tickets.

Eventually I came across a room with half-a-dozen station staff having lunch and a couple of drinks. They enthusiastically invited me in and before I knew it I was seated down, given a big plate of chicken and rice and had my glass filled with local whisky and soda. I'd bought some of this whisky before, at 2300 riel (about 25 cents) a 375ml bottle, so I knew what to expect. It actually wasn't too bad. Certainly a couple of the train drivers thought so. They were getting pretty cheerful.

The young lady preparing the food, the girlfriend of one of the drivers, spoke no english except "I love you". She sang me a nice Khmer song instead. I spoke a little with another of the drivers. He'd been to college in Russia years before and so spoke some Russian. He was now learning English from a textbook, one lesson a day. He'd only been going for a couple of months and already could hold a halting conversation. I was very impressed.

Every time I was about to leave my glass would be refilled but eventually I made my excuses about being sober for my visit to the Vietnamese Consulate and tottered out, with much hand-shaking and well-wishing.

Posted by David at March 2, 2004 10:18 PM