Last train to nowhere

Gett ing around in Vietnam is stupidly easy. Around the main backpacker areas are numerous mini travel agencies selling tours, bus tickets, plane tickets and sorting out visas. This is a cheap and easy way to travel and to meet like-minded traveller types. The problem is, although massively convenient, it does take the adventure out of travelling somewhat. Plus – are we hear to meet people who live round the corner from us back in London, or to meet people who we would never meet back home? That old adage about the journey being equally important as the destination certainly rings true when you’ re on the road. So far we’ve made several attempts to make out own way, some more successful than others. Two attempts at paying our way onto cargo boats (the idea of floating along with hundreds of bunches of bananas is too good to be true) have failed, although we’re still determined to do it somewhere. Arriving in Phenom Phen, the capital of Cambodia, we’ d hear d that although there are no longer passenger trains, it might be possible to blag your way onto a cargo train. However, once we arrived at the station, it quickly became apparent that no train had left from this station for a long time. A few bodies snored peacefully in the main concourse, ticket desks remained sealed and weeds grew thick over the tracks. We couldn’t resist having a poke around – Timur’s shots below give a glimpse of what must have been a once glorious rail system. Just don’ t call us trainspotters, OK?