Ride For Cambodia?

George, Bamboo train did driver control belt tension with a stick of wood? what a fun train ride.... :D Cool pictures!
 
TipSTer said:
George, Bamboo train did driver control belt tension with a stick of wood? what a fun train ride.... :D Cool pictures!
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Yes its a stick which adjusts the tension on the two belts which propell the track car.
I have a video showing the whole shabang, the small engine and the little tracklike craddle it sits in and the rikkety car we are loading five bikes onto. I thought, " No way this can work for a three hour ride with six people". Well, it worked pretty good as videos will show and there was at well over a dozen people on the train at some points. As it pulled out there were local commuters pilling on smilling at us as we looked on trying to smile back through our amazement that what we thought was a car dedicated to us and our bikes, now turned out to be a free for all. It was fun and everyone took it in stride. We shared our bread, water and fruit with everyone and probably won some brownie points somewhere along the line. They smiled at us a lot.

I'll never forget it.

Droid S 3 & TT2
 
lectricmojo said:
You crack me up Tip!! I thought it was you too !!
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Yeah Keith, that picture is very close to my innocent kids days. I would skipped school gone out to rice fields ride those water buffalo all day long with friends, we would have buffalo race and it would ran in muddy pool while I was on it, got shower with muddy water and the buffalo would just laid/rolled in to the mud! fun old dayzzzz :D
 
I don't know, but it sure looks like the operator is on his cellphone. Hope there weren't any train/road crossings that you had to worry about!

:rofl1:
 
He was trying to determine the oncoming train timing. We sat at a switch siding for twenty minutes in order to let two cars full of wood and people go by. We slowed for cows, Water Buffalo and dirt road intersections. There were no paved ones during the three hour tour. :)
If it weren't for that one siding, one of the cars unloads and removes the car from the track to let the other go by, all out in the middle of nowhere. Judging by the piles of wood on the other car, it would have been us.

Once we got rolling and done laughing, it was a very exciting and fun experience. :)

Droid S 3 & TT2
 
I'm impressed! You are all doing it the "local" way and that is always the best fun and most interesting experience! Reminds of the time we rode on the top of the train on a trip to Kathmandu,just a whole different community up there than the ones riding inside the boggies! Keep enjoying the common folk there is a lot to be learned about survival amongst them! Thanks for all the pictures and videos!
 
And they found much jollity in Cambodia. Fantastic. :thumbup:
 
Thanks for the nice comments folks.

We sold the bikes today and got a surprise...all that was promised was delivered and more. They were so sweet to us with offers of iced coffee and hot Jasmine tea along with a purchase price exactly as promised. Everything was returned to us minus fifty USD.
I would not hesitate to do business with them again next year.
uploadfromtaptalk1359802344132.jpg
Again, videos are in the pipe but we fly to BKK at about 10AM tomorrow and have to pack.
Chang Mai on Monday morning after an overnite train.

Droid S 3 & TT2
 
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Gotta be a warm fuzzy feeling that they held up on their promise. Hope y'all had a great time there. We all sure enjoyed the travels through your comments and pics. Keep 'em comin!!!!!!
 
Phnom Penh airport, ride here is done but stories, pics, and vids still to come.

Next stop, Bangkok.
 
Must be a bit of an empty feeling knowing that that part of the trip is done. I know it was awesome watching from here. I prefer experiencing things like the locals do rather than touristy stuff...and it appeared you all were right in the middle of the real life there, not seeing just the kind of stuff a regular tour group would take you on.
 
Have a safe trip home all. It is sad to see your journey come to an end but I'm sure we'll here tales hear and there around a campfire somewhere. Thanks for taking the time tp share your trip with through the many pics and videos! Look forward to seeing a few more when they are posted. Congratulations on a successful ride/trip!
 
Thanksabunch--we all enjoyed every minute of it and I'm sure a little sadness in the feeling that it's almost over. Have a safe flight back!!!
 
A couple of short video clips here of our ride on the bamboo train. In the beginning, Danny appears a little bored, so he practices short radius turn on his ride prior to departure for the "peoples rail station". They named it that because the "people" (who ride this train to nowhere) must first physically lift the rail car onto the tracks. (no small feat for a bunch of ole pharts)
The clutch/final drive for the engine may seem a little crude, but it worked very well. When we got to the end of the line and got the 5 bikes off, we had to find a waterfall (Chrok La Eang ) we were looking for and none of the locals spoke english (that we encountered). We rode a few kilometers of dirt and sand and made it to the place of the falls. We all took a refreshing dip in the cool water and then George and I hiked about a kilometer to the falls in the last video. It was a good day and we rode onto Phnom Penh to prep the bikes for resale.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVw46erCzdc
 
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