BATTAMBANG
30th June - 3rd July 2015
After a 5am start, scooter ride to the bus station, 6am bus from Kata to Phuket town, 8am bus from Phuket to Krabi Town and 11am bus from Krabi to Au Nang beach, I finally was reunited with Helen. She had taken one fifteen minute boat and was just hanging out in the beach side cafe. After lots of hugs and stories swapping about the last week (see previous two posts) we had lunch and took a bus to the airport and touched down in Bangkok round eight. Our room for the night was a hotel right next to the Hua Lamphong railway station ready for our 5am train to the Thai - Cambodia border the following morning.
A 6 hour train and a short tuk tuk ride took us to the boarder and soon we were heading for no man's land between the two countries. We did however overt a couple of scams on route. Firstly the tuk tuk driver tried to take us to a fake visa office to buy over priced Cambodia Visas. We had done our research and told him just to take us to the actual boarder and we would sort our own Visas out. Then at the boarder the Cambodian customs officers were trying to over charge foreigners for Visas even-though there was a big sign printed with the price. We stood our ground and only got overcharged by about 2quid as Helen had no spare passport photos and they used this to their advantage. We did bargain them down though which was quite an experience.
The other side of the border was also scam land. Everyone was trying to shepard foreigners onto a free shuttle bus to a tourist bus terminal in the middle of nowhere, where all the busses were double the price they should be. We had read about this too and even after a pretty official looking man said it was run by the government and showed me his pass, we still walked up the road away from the border and luckily found a bus to Battambong for about $5.
We arrived at a hostel round 7pm. It was a nice place with an ensuite, clean room with couple of fans for about eight quid a night. Most of the people here are backpackers, even the staff seem to be travellers that never left. We crossed over the small river opposite to a night market serving cheap local food. The cuisine was let's say interesting. We ate a kebab of boiled eggs that had no yoke and were speckled and grey, a chewy BBQ beef kabab (I don't want to know what parts of the cow we were eating, but it was like no beef I have tasted), veg noodles and a whole fried ducking, complete with some yolk. If you didn't look at it, it tasted amazing. Helen made the mistake of looking and nearly threw up. I really couldn't tell you what dessert was, but it was cold, sweet, coconutty and tasted pretty good. The whole meal and two beers came to just over 3 quid.
The following morning we hooked up with three other folk in the hostel bar and shared a tuk tuk to Battambong's Bamboo Train. The term Train was debatable. A flat platform made of bamboo was sat on for wheels with a little petrol rotary motor. We sat on top on five cushions carefully spaced to balance the platform. Our "conductor" was a smiley Cambodian lady who pulled a cord to bring the little engine to life with a cough and a splutter. The train / platform moved pretty quickly along the wonky tracks. At times the misalignment was so bad I feared for the worse, but I learnt pretty quick these little glitches resulted in a large bang and a sore arse.
As there was only one set of tracks I wondered what happened if a train came the other way. This then happened and after a short stale mate, the four people on the other train hopped off, picked up the bamboo platform and put it on the side of the tracks. They then picked up the two steel wheel axels and plonked them by the side as well. Sheepishly we slowly rolled on through with a flurry of thankyous, sorrys and good mornings. Endless lush countryside and rice fields whizzed by, sometimes the foliage surrounding us would be think and close, other times it would open out in to large flat plains stretching off far and wide. Eventually we clunked our way to a tiny village at the end of the short line where we dismantled our train to turn it round. It was a bit of a tourist trap if I'm honest. There was absolutely nothing except a small cafe, three or four souvenirs shops and shit loads of kids trying to sell bracelets. One young entrepreneur ran up to the girl next to me shouting "bracelets", the girl next to me said "I don't want one" so the little bracelet seller said "okay buy four".
We retreated to the hostel for the hottest part of the day and to have a rest. A week of climbing and surfing plus two days on the road takes it out of you. After a doze and a beer we tuk tuked about 11km to Phnom Sampeau. There was a massive steep hill that is home to the horrific Killing Caves. A gleaming Golden temple sits proudly at the summit and at dusk a shit load of bats (apparently 10 million) leave a massive cave towards the west of the hill for their nightly feed.
We started our little hike with a steep walk up to the Killing Cave. We have been reading up on Cambodia's history and bloody hell. Not only is its history very dark but it's also very recent and the scars have not yet healed. In 1975 the revolutionary dictator Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge army took over the capital Phnom Penh and with it Cambodia. He wanted to turn the country back into a farming utopia with Communist ideals. Everyone was forced out of the cities and into the fields which became death camps, anyone with an education was murdered, even people with glasses were seen as a threat and killed. Within four years a quarter of the countries population was murdered. Large groups were taken out into the infamous Killing Fields where a loud speaker would play to cover the screams. In the case of the Killing Cave, people would be beaten then pushed through a hole at the top of the cave, falling to their death. The cave is a very moving solemn place, the remains of victims are still there in a lit cabinet towards one end. There also is a large golden Buddha lying peacefully along one wall. We quietly looked around, it was a very sad place and our first real glimpse of the horrors of this poor countries past.
Our next stop was the top of the temples on the summit. We followed a steep pathway upwards for about fifteen minutes and then we entered the little complex of Buddhist temples visible for miles around. The Cambodian style of Buddhist architecture is so much more detailed than other Buddhist monuments and stupas we have seen on our journey. The sun was hanging low in the sky causing the temples to shine and shimmer in the warm evening light.
Once you had had your fix of the beautiful temples all you needed to do was turn round to be greeted by a breathtaking view. A flat vibrant landscape stretched off uninterrupted as far as the eye could see eventually disappearing into the horizon. A few monkeys scurried by and the only sounds were the odd ring of a bell or the charting prayers of Buddhist pilgrims near by. We stared silently for ages trying to take it all in. The silence was only broken by a group of young boys having a catapult competition trying to knock a bottle off the edge. That brave little bottle was still standing proud when we left. Well done little fella.
We followed a steep flight of stairs downwards until we were back by our tuk tuk. The driver pointed to a tall cave in the rock and told us to keep an eye on it as a continuos stream of bats would fill the sky within the next few minutes. We had a little time to kill and just next to the cave was a steep, wobbly staircase / ladder. It lead up the a giant Buddha's face that was in the process of being carved out of the rock face. Apparently the body was due to follow, but the project ran out of money. From the ground you could only see the top of the hair so me and another girl decided to climb the precarious stairs / ladder for a closer look. It was massive, it must have been two or three times the height of me and that's just the head! It was really interesting to see the sculpture up close and personal with all the chisel marks on display that you wouldn't see from the ground. However the drop behind was very steep and there wasn't much room, so we made it a short visit and carefully inched our way down to join the bats.
At roughly six there started to be a lot of movement in the cave. A black tornado seemed to be swirling around inside. Then suddenly the black swarm broke free of the cave and a river of bats flowed out, over our heads and above the tree tops nearby. It was mesmerising to watch. The steady line kept twisting and sliding smoothly across the sky.
After a few minutes our tuk tuk driver said he knows another, more secluded spot away from all the tourists where we could get closer to the bats. We zipped off round the corner and quickly climbed up a loose rocky path for about two hundred meters to find another cave with a similar black tornado starting to form. The bats in this cave weren't due to leave till sundown so we turned round and saw one of the most beautiful sunsets of our travels so far. It was incredible as the sun slipped below a small range of black hills in the distance. This created some beautiful colours and rays of light in the sky.
About five minutes after the black hillside had devoured the sun, the cave exploded. Bats flew out from everywhere filling the sky around us. Every now and then you would hear one wiz past your ear. As more and more left the cave the sky in the distance was full of black morphing twisting shapes, like a nineties screen saver. It was magical to watch. I tried to take a few snaps but they really don't do it justice. We stayed till the was just enough light left to climb back down.
The evening consisted of $2 tasty street noodles and a pub quiz at our hostel. We came third out of four. I think you will find that is still on the podium! Our prize was a disgusting shot of vodka, then we all went to bed.
Battambang is known for its colonial French buildings and is summed up in our guidebook as charming. We thought this would be a good starting point on the Cambodian leg of our journey so today we went for a little explore. The town centre is relatively small and at first glance (when zooming past in a tuk tuk) you can miss its charm and beauty. We had breakfast in this little cafe on a side street called Kinyei. The food was good and the coffee was amazing as one of the staff has won a fair few barista competitions.
Shortly after we explored the rustic side roads. The architecture was beautiful, pastel coloured buildings with wooden shutters that with time had aged like a fine wine stood side by side down the little streets. We wondered around soaking up the relaxed, laid back atmosphere. It's is quite quiet in the daytime, generally because most things happen round here in the evening when it's a little cooler.
Our stroll took us to a large modernist building called Phsar Nath filled with a massive market. The theme of the market is hard to say, jewellers jostle for space with vegetable and fish stalls. Tailors, dressmakers and hair dressers sit shoulder to shoulder and there was the odd padded pants shop thrown in for good measure.
After the market we walked down Street 2.5 Battambang's unofficial art district. We firstly wondered into the Lotus Cafe, the top two floors housed and exhibition of paintings called Women by Women. It was okay but there was nothing that made me go wow. I preferred the cafe below's menu design. Just down the road was a crazy little shop selling a mash up of vintage East Asian souvenirs, books, music, found items and memorabilia. It was a really cool place and the music they were playing was amazing. Apparently it was lost sixties Cambodian rock / pop. There definitely was a heavy sixties European and American influence there and the end result sounded wicked. Unfortunately I couldn't read the name.
A little further on we popped our heads into an open artists studio. Her name was Marine Ky and she had just returned from a touring exhibition that just visited Sydney, Melbourne, Bangkok, London, Phnom Penh, and other big cities I can't quite remember. She was predominantly a textiles artist specialising in etchings. Her work was very detailed and beautiful. We sat with her talking about art, travel, textiles, history whilst looking through her vast vintage collection of textiles and prints. On route home we were seduced by some massive pork buns in a Chinese street food stall / cafe.
After the pork buns we wondered back to the hostel. When we arrived dance music was blasting across the riverside. The banks were full of the local people doing their evening aerobics classes. There was hundreds of them all up the bank with different groups following different leaders. It was fascinating to watch. We didn't join due to the sheer size and weight of the pork buns we had just eaten.
That evening we went to see a circus show at a community project called Phare Ponleu Selpak, which translates as "the brightness of the arts". It began life in 1986 in the Site 2 refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border. A group of 9 of children who took part in drawing workshops in the camp had the idea to form a creative association to help other children express the trauma of war. Phare Ponleu Selpak is dedicated to providing a nurturing and creative environment where young people can access quality arts training, education and social support.
The show was bonkers and breathtaking. The acrobatics were amazing any of these kids could give Cirque du Soleil a run for their money. All the different acts were linked together by a weird story that as I understand, went like this: An old man is dying, a demon girl appears and starts dancing and tells the old man's family to build a big house. Two brothers build a house but it's comically tiny, the old man starts crying, they all then board a space ship and go to space do a spot of dancing then come back, when they arrive a massive house has appeared, the end. Other than the mind blowing acrobatics, the rapore between the performers was great to watch. They were having such a great time and if anything went wrong they just laughed at each other and tried again.
For our last meal in Battambang we went to Battambang BBQ & Buffet. In a warehouse a short walk away from the river, a maze of tables with little tabletop stoves sit next to a bunch of food carts. They contain all kinds of raw meat and fish, fresh veg, noodles, rice, fruit, and breads. You can go and select as much as you want and cook it at the table. I think in the end I had about four meals and many spring roll breaks. Sufficiently stuffed we headed back to the hostel to get a good night sleep ready for our 7am boat to Siem Reap.
