Riding the rails from the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh to the southern city of Sihanoukville last year. This rail link had just been rebooted to a twice weekly passenger service after a 15 year absence due to neglect and damage from the civil war. It was the same same but different to when I rode it in early 2001. The exact same mid 20th century rolling stock but with new paint, windows, air-con, wifi and safety procedures. You couldn’t ride on the roof now with the farmers and poultry and there was no need for the flat cars riding in front of the locomotive in case of mines, nor the machine gun and military escort in case of attack by bandits. Unbelievably it even cost the same price, $7 dollars. Music by legendary German group Neu! with my favorite Neu! track “Fur Immer” (forever).
On Track
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