Battambang!

16-17.1.2012

The most efficient day on the trip so far! We saw the Banan temple, a wineyard, the circus and the famous bamboo train. All during one day! We rented out a tuk-tuk for the day for 16$, which was a good price for a guide and a ride! (although we were so happy for the day, we gave him 20$)

Firstly we took a stroll around the central area to see what’s up. Cool temples and monasteries.

One of the temple courtyards was this school in session. They were learning english and the teacher would have very much liked if we stayed as guests. We took a rain check though….

Food of the streets

Ice is a major business here as many places don’t have electricity, ice is hauled around and chopped to smaller pieces to keep our beer and food cold.

Unidentified snacks stalls everywhere 🙂

Once we got on with our driver, he took us to many interesting places on the way, such as this community farm with the most natural fences I have ever seen 🙂 They were actually grown like that!

From this pic you can see how the level of income affects peoples’ ability to grow crops. Richer farmers have automated irrigation systems while the poor have to manually carry all the water from the river.

The driver showed us this bizarre beanish plant that spreads seed by exploding when in contact with water! The ingeniuty of nature never ceases to amaze me!

At the steps of Banan temple. I swear I haven’t sweat like this for a long long time. It was a looooong way up. Or maybe we were slightly out of shape as we saw an old lady with crutches coming down…

This temple is actually a hundred or so years older than Angkor Wat! (and it shows, because the Japanese are not taking care of this one)

Amazing detail

Danger! Mines! Um, ok. I’ll just take a piss elsewhere…

Piles of rock ready to collapse? We actually heard that the major reason for any collapse are lightning strikes!

Just love this pic! Pure beauty!

Haymaker

Next up was the wineyard, where we got to taste not-so-bad but sweet Cambodian wine, cognac (sheit) and juices. Not the first thing I thought we would visit Cambodia 🙂 Our guide was nice enough to explain all about local wine production.

As the sun was getting ready to go down, we set for the famous Battambang Bamboo train! It was awesome by the sunset btw.

Quite taken by the humble looks of the vehicle, we were eager to get on. This bad boy runs on a diesel motor and is composed of two sets of wheels, a bamboo platform and a thin rug for our comfort. Unsettling piece of information by our guide: the only rail in Cambodia (all the way to Phnom Phen) is unrestored since the 60’s!!

As you can see from the following video, the ride was at times quite crazy and I would say it beats most rollercoasters I have been to in terms of awesomeness! Nothing quite like seeing the scenery blast by while holding on to your hat. Besides, I just love trains!

There was only one rail, so whenever there was another train coming, there was a head count and whoever had the most customers or load would get to go first while the other train was taken apart and lifted aside to give way :). In addition to tourists, the trains are used to transport food and supplies.

Speed!

At the end of the line there was a classical tourist trap with young well spoken girls showing us around a rice factory and, of course, asking for money in return. No matter, we were so happy for the ride and the girls so cute we spared some dollars.

After sundown, our trusted driver took us to the Battambang circus! It’s been a while since I went to one of these. It was an amateur circus, held by local circus students in hopes of raising enough money to send the best two to a circus school in Montreal!

Pre-circus snacks, boiled eggs and fried chicken.

Pretty ladyboys 🙂

The show was very energetic and full of positivity! We really enjoyed it. Also, the quality was quite good for amateur circus. Hope they will find their funding! We did our part with the steepish 8$ admissions.

Afterwards I enjoyed the suckiest looking burger ever (between two toasts) but the taste was ok. What a day!!

Next day we were ready to move on to Thailand. As per usual, got bored waiting for the bus that was almost an hour late.

Just loved Cambodia!! Would recommend it to anyone. Now, time to meet some friends in Bangkok!