Mine show and railway
Mine show and railway
I went to the mine thingie exhibition yesterday at the railway station-it is great.
Lots of photos,ordnance,maps,stories from victims,huge machinery and best of all-trains.
The station has been restored as has a platform and there is a steam loco with armour but unfortunately bullet holes and B40 or RPG holes patched.
Its hooked up to an old blue and white coach with a bedroom inside and an ac either end-the old kings carriage.
Should be dubbed the concubine express.
There is also a 1969 german railcar and coach in the toll livery with over a hundred seats.
I went to the toll office and had a chat with the manager who told me that the railcar can be hired by the day.A trip of 40ks return is a few hundred dollars-it depends on the diesel consumption.
A bargain.
The sister of the railcar is lying down an embankment near battambong,blown off the rails by the KR.
The line to battambong will be complete within a couple of weeks and the missing link to thailand is well underway.
I asked about stations like kampot and snooky and he said that the best stations will be restored later-you bewdy.
Im going to battambong soon and I want to see the pursat station and the old coca cola factory-anyone been there?
The show finishes on friday,you may see ex kiwi PM helen clark there today.
The maps on show including a huge one the same as the map in sideshow are excellent-the extent of the US bombing is mindblowing as is the extent of the mining down every main road,river and railway throughout the country.
I was surprised at the size of the minefields in kandal province between the mekong and bassac and right down into sa ang district.
There is a big raft made from PVC pipe with equipment to scan riverbeds looking for ammunition ships.They have found one up the tonle sap which had eleven tons of ordinance!
Ammo ships would come up from saigon in convoy under KR bombardment and go up the mekong and tonle sap to serve government forces.As well the north vietnamese would ship ammo down to the south on cambodian rivers.
Lots of photos,ordnance,maps,stories from victims,huge machinery and best of all-trains.
The station has been restored as has a platform and there is a steam loco with armour but unfortunately bullet holes and B40 or RPG holes patched.
Its hooked up to an old blue and white coach with a bedroom inside and an ac either end-the old kings carriage.
Should be dubbed the concubine express.
There is also a 1969 german railcar and coach in the toll livery with over a hundred seats.
I went to the toll office and had a chat with the manager who told me that the railcar can be hired by the day.A trip of 40ks return is a few hundred dollars-it depends on the diesel consumption.
A bargain.
The sister of the railcar is lying down an embankment near battambong,blown off the rails by the KR.
The line to battambong will be complete within a couple of weeks and the missing link to thailand is well underway.
I asked about stations like kampot and snooky and he said that the best stations will be restored later-you bewdy.
Im going to battambong soon and I want to see the pursat station and the old coca cola factory-anyone been there?
The show finishes on friday,you may see ex kiwi PM helen clark there today.
The maps on show including a huge one the same as the map in sideshow are excellent-the extent of the US bombing is mindblowing as is the extent of the mining down every main road,river and railway throughout the country.
I was surprised at the size of the minefields in kandal province between the mekong and bassac and right down into sa ang district.
There is a big raft made from PVC pipe with equipment to scan riverbeds looking for ammunition ships.They have found one up the tonle sap which had eleven tons of ordinance!
Ammo ships would come up from saigon in convoy under KR bombardment and go up the mekong and tonle sap to serve government forces.As well the north vietnamese would ship ammo down to the south on cambodian rivers.
Great post. Very informative. Did you take any pictures?
Do update if you go to Pursat to see the coke factory. I'd be keen to see that as well. Is it the one that is in the Khmer Rouge attack in the film "Killing fields"?
Do update if you go to Pursat to see the coke factory. I'd be keen to see that as well. Is it the one that is in the Khmer Rouge attack in the film "Killing fields"?
Alcohol is necessary so that a man can have a good opinion of himself, undisturbed by the facts
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Great post, I'll have to check that out myself. Are you sure you you don't mean the old Pepsi factory in Battambang? Here's an old cover story about it:ken svay wrote: Im going to battambong soon and I want to see the pursat station and the old coca cola factory-anyone been there?
http://khmer440.com/k/2004/11/pepsi-1-coca-cola-0/
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
I read ken svay's post while sipping my morning coffee and immediately grabbed my son and a digital camera and left for it. Well, the exhibition is indeed impressive, but it wouldn't be Cambodia if they hadn't found a way to screw up.
My boy went crazy when he saw the steam loco but when we got a bit closer one of the typical malnourished, illiterate security guards (Where do they breed those guys?) stepped in our way. A French tourist asked politely through sign language whether he might take a photo but was just pushed away. Since the loco is there on display and there is no sensible reason why visitors shouldn't get close to it I tried to talk to one CMAC-guy who was hanging around there scratching his groins. But he simply replied that the loco and the coach were not part of the exhibition and we were not allowed to step on the platform. My impression was that they got annoyed when they realized that most visitors came to see the steam engine rather than their collection of artificial legs.
I'm trying to imagine their train of thoughts:
CMAC-guy A: “Hey, we organized this great exhibition! We can be really proud of ourselves!”
CMAC-guy B:“Yeah, but I've got the feeling that something is missing … but I can't tell you what it is.”
CMAC-guy A:“I know! We didn't think of a way to piss every single visitor off.”
CMAC-guy B: “That's it! Let me see ...let's put a beautiful 1912 steam loco on display and treat everyone who tries to take a closer look at it like a trespasser!”
CMAC-guy A: “That'll do it!”
That was the point when I stuffed a live mortar grenade down his throat an fled in the ensuing chaos. The exhibition is where you see that mushroom-shaped cloud. Well, no, not really, I did that in the American action movie version of my life. But needless to say that we left disappointed.
My boy went crazy when he saw the steam loco but when we got a bit closer one of the typical malnourished, illiterate security guards (Where do they breed those guys?) stepped in our way. A French tourist asked politely through sign language whether he might take a photo but was just pushed away. Since the loco is there on display and there is no sensible reason why visitors shouldn't get close to it I tried to talk to one CMAC-guy who was hanging around there scratching his groins. But he simply replied that the loco and the coach were not part of the exhibition and we were not allowed to step on the platform. My impression was that they got annoyed when they realized that most visitors came to see the steam engine rather than their collection of artificial legs.
I'm trying to imagine their train of thoughts:
CMAC-guy A: “Hey, we organized this great exhibition! We can be really proud of ourselves!”
CMAC-guy B:“Yeah, but I've got the feeling that something is missing … but I can't tell you what it is.”
CMAC-guy A:“I know! We didn't think of a way to piss every single visitor off.”
CMAC-guy B: “That's it! Let me see ...let's put a beautiful 1912 steam loco on display and treat everyone who tries to take a closer look at it like a trespasser!”
CMAC-guy A: “That'll do it!”
That was the point when I stuffed a live mortar grenade down his throat an fled in the ensuing chaos. The exhibition is where you see that mushroom-shaped cloud. Well, no, not really, I did that in the American action movie version of my life. But needless to say that we left disappointed.
I went to a family celebration at a house right on the tracks opposite the old railway station at Pursat, really interesting to see. they have some remmovation to do there though, the old building isn't in a good way. I thought the old pepsi factory was in Battambang.
How long is the exhibition on fo,r is it a permanant fixture? sounds interesting.
How long is the exhibition on fo,r is it a permanant fixture? sounds interesting.
The production of too many useful things results in too many useless people.(Marx)
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Great stuff, Ken. Going tomorrow.
As for location of rail station, I can't find it on the Google map of PP. Can one simply take a moto taxi there?
As for location of rail station, I can't find it on the Google map of PP. Can one simply take a moto taxi there?
"We want our country to develop step by step. But that is such a long way off . . . as far away as the stars."
Jobless father in documentary Cambodia: Country of Scars.
Jobless father in documentary Cambodia: Country of Scars.
Yes. sthani roteh phlaoeng. You will probably be the first customer who wants to get there but they know it. Great stuff indeed. I think I will go there tomorrow again.PenhMan wrote:Can one simply take a moto taxi there?
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I went by there this afternoon with my son, quite an impressive exhibition, a wide range of exhibitors from Veterans International, BACTEC, CMAC, MAG, AKI RA, GEJ and others with quite a few huge demining machines on display, mine-detection dog teams doing demonstrations, and lots of well-presented and labeled old ordinance inside the station building.
I had absolutely no problem checking out any of the old or new trains either, inside or out.
I had absolutely no problem checking out any of the old or new trains either, inside or out.
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
Cool. Thanks for report and pics..
Alcohol is necessary so that a man can have a good opinion of himself, undisturbed by the facts
Does anyone know what time the exhibit closes?
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Those are just photos off the internet but they have both those vehicles and about 5 other similar type ones in the yard there.doktor_d wrote:Cool. Thanks for report and pics..
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
Probably I ran into the wrong security guard. I will try it again tomorrow.
The coca cola / pepsi factory is in Battambang, a few hundred metres north of town along the west side of the river.ken svay wrote: Im going to battambong soon and I want to see the pursat station and the old coca cola factory-anyone been there?
I visited the place last year, and it was all boarded up, with the apparent 10,000 bottles outside nowhere to be seen. Fantastic 70'S front to the building though...
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