On the Move, River Boat, Bus, Van and Train

I spent the next couple days from Phenom Penh to Chiang Mai on the constant move.  I stayed one night in Battambang and got the river boat north to Siem Reap.  It was interesting though the boat had mostly travelers with occasional locals.  We motored up the river through very narrow passages trying to avoid getting hit by tree branches and through floating villages.  The floating villages have some structures on stilts and some structures the are built on a rafts.  Every house and store along the river has it's personal boat for transport.  The people here seemed very nice and always were smiling.  The isolation they have from most tourists separates them from the national psyche which comes across as hostil and rude at times, the attitude of you have and I want.

The river places seemed very clean and we stopped for a bathroom brake at one of the shops.  The toilets were around the back and when I went to use it I realized that it is a little hut with a hole in the floor which dumps directly into the river, mental note....don't swim!  Although the bathroom itself was very clean I am not sure how clean the river was.

Upon arrival in Siem Reap I jumped on the back of a motorbike taxi and got a ride down town where I spent an uneventful night before again waking early to move on to Bangkok....again, the next day.  I was picked up from my guesthouse early in the morning and we took a mini van then bus to the boarder where it took over an hour to get through Cambodia immigration and Thailand immigration.  Once in Thailand we jumped on another bus to Bangkok.

My next mission was to get to Sukathai to break up the long jorney north, but having arrived late in Bangkok I had to hunker down for a night and get a bus in the am.  After second thoughts ran through my head I decided to abort Sukathai and more wats and head direct to Chiang Mai on the night train.   I booked my ticket in the morning for the 10pm train with a bed due to arrive in Chiang Mai at 12:45pm the next day.

I headed for the train station. The next night with a supposed departure time of 10pm, not so much the case.  Delayed till over midnight the train finally arrived and everyone boarded.  The train looked like an old style wild west train.  Inside there was double bunks on either side. The bottome bunks had huge open windows open to the elements if desired and the top had shared fans and no windows. I climbed into my top bunk and quickly fell asleep to the rythmic sounds of the train. 

Throughout the night the train made multiple stops which I dreamily slept through and more and more people got on.  By morning the light and vibrations of the train gently woke me.  The next couple hours I spent reading, sitting in the open door watching Thailand go by, hanging out the door without a care or safety precaution and sitting by the window after they transformed the bottom bunk into two oppossing seats.

Slowly our 12:45 arrival dragged onto 2 then 3 then 4.  We made one stop were everyone had 20 minutes to disembark and run to the local minimart to stock up on cookies, chips and whatever you could find as the dinning cart that was supposedly available did not truely exsist.  With a bit of food, some beautiful scenery and relaxing trip I was not too bothered about the final late arrival into Chiang Mai.

Battambang boat: http://picasaweb.google.com/linseypaddock/BattambangBoatToSiemReap?authkey=Gv1sRgCI3N2ueG5KffWw&feat=directlink

Train: http://picasaweb.google.com/linseypaddock/TrainToChiangMai?authkey=Gv1sRgCL3_rP2djvOk9AE&feat=directlink