Ah Dolla! Greatest tuk tuk driver and tour guide of them all, along with his friend, Same, equally charming, his loyal friend since the age of five, both temple boys, though not of robe. They moved to Battambang from the countryside some five years ago in search of work. Still jobless and homeless, they managed to sweet talk a monk into taking them in to a local temple for food and shelter.
This temple is located just around the corner from a circus we visited on the recommendation of Simon from Rosy Guesthouse in Siem Reap. The night we attended was split over two acts. All of the performers aged fifteen to eighteen were third generation Cambodian refugees who lived on site and had just returned from a tour of Germany. They were amazing, as were the musicians who performed alongside their incredible acrobatics, pieces written by themselves. This made for a great evening which we washed down with a visit to The Ghekko bar near our hotel, Royal hotel, lovely, lovely people hotel.
Next morning, Dolla and Same took us out in a borrowed tuk tuk, on a trip that would take in the Bamboo railway and a visit to what has become known as The killing cave.
Stopping off at a crocodile farm where I'd expected to see a few baby reptilian smilers, we were guided up some metal steps to a platform which overlooked some eighty full sized, writhing, snapping crocs. One man cleans this lot out. Entering the pit he uses a bamboo pole to send them off to a corner should they try anything on. This he demonstrated while Liz shouted, "it's ok, you don't have to do that for us..."
Four years ago he lost one of his dogs, who jumped the fence and tried to make playmates of them.
Next stop, Bamboo railway!!
So it's basically a bamboo raft which is lifted onto a couple of sets of train wheels. Get on, hold on and off you go, hurtling through the Cambodian countryside, over bridges, passing fishermen, dodging hand sized butterflies...it really is brilliant fun. Shame it will close soon. Some Japanese company is sticking a replacement there which I'm sure will provide lots more jobs...
Dolla is great company. This charismatic twenty five year old speaks very, very good English, always cracking jokes and laughing with Stash and Oskar. Actually, both he and Oskar treated us to Michael Jackson impersonations as we walked around a temple surrounded by monkeys. Remember that temple in Jungle book ruled by King Louie?
He took us to The Killing cave, which houses the remains of a thousand Cambodian men, women and children, murdered by another lot of Cambodian people who called themselves the Khmer Rouge.
This lot were very special.Among their specialities, Khmer Rouge would murder young children by grabbing hold of their ankles and swinging them against the cave walls, bashing their brains out and then throwing them into the pit below to die. This saved bullets. Dolla went on to say that he never knew his eldest brother as this had been his fate.
We're not talking about a few years after the dinosaurs died out and we were all in bearskins. This kind of shit happened just over thirty years ago. Dolla said his mother had broken down many times telling him stories of what had gone on during that period and he has made it his mission to pass it on to as many people as possible.
We all went and had some egg fried rice in silence, something of a first.
Last stop was the temple where these two friends live, sleep, eat, drink and play together. They do seem slightly out of place among the orange robed monks, both dress in trendy casuals. Dolla has a place outside of a monk's quarters but unfortunately it is haunted. He was moved there recently because his last room was also haunted but he's no better off, he's got himself more company. He says that a couple of nights ago, he and Same were out near the lake when a female spectre turned up and scared the living crap out of them.
Back at our hotel later that afternoon, we bumped into Lex and Susan who we knew from Rosy Guesthouse. Turned out they were next door to us! So, went out with them for dinner. Lex, I guess now in his sixties, is a retired dentist from Australia, his wife Susan, a primary school teacher. They are nearing the end of a six month jaunt.
Leaving today for Phnom Penh, Lex came and saw us out and the hotel receptionist gave us a gift of four silk scarves.
So it's bye bye to Lex and Susan, the lovely people at the lovely Royal hotel and farewell to Dolla and Same, whose stories both made us laugh and cry. Teach them ghosts to sing Dolla.
BLADDY TUK TUK !!
Location:Battambang
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