Battambang

By now I reckon there’s no need to go into detail regarding how many people were hanging around the bus stop when we arrived in Battambang offering services, but just say that having rejected so many we ended up having to pick between two of the tuk tuk drivers on offer. They offered the same price ($2 to our hotel) and we ended up going with the more friendly looking one and within the first hundred metres were pleased we picked him. Any Cambodian who puts in the effort to learn some cockney rhyming slang is going to be good value for money.

We were soon dropped off at The Bungalow hotel where we had a good ten minute chat with our driver, now identified as Mr Kim, during which he gave us his number in case we needed any further transport we could call him on the “dog and bone”. Our room, for an incredible £5 a night each, was enormous and as well as an abundance of space it included a sitting area, huge wardrobe and a balcony (again with a sitting area). Having marvelled at the room for a while we headed out the hotel, to explore the local area which it turned out was slightly further away from the centre of town than we thought. Our quite brief walking tour consisted of a wander round the fairly quiet roads around our hotel taking in the Governor’s residence, a walk along the towns old French bridge and a really strange fountain with a statue of a lady seemingly being mugged by a fish.

Battambang from across the river

In the evening we arranged for Mr Kim to pick us up again and take us into town and on the way we planned a tour, for the next day, of all the sights around Battambang we wanted to see. Battambang is a pleasant town not far south-west of the capital city but when it comes to sights they are almost all outside the town itself so the only options are to join a group tour through an operator or arrange one yourself. That evening we ate at a restaurant called the Gecko Cafe, which seemed only fitting to an area of the world which appears to be inhabited by more geckos than humans.  I was getting seriously into my Cambodian curries and the Gecko didn't disappoint. Having had a lengthy chat with a local who ran the Gecko Cafe shop, we were picked up once again by Mr Kim who dropped us back to the hotel.

The following morning we were up at 7:30am to start our self-made tour of the area. We planned to get some breakfast before leaving and seeing as Mr Kim had arrived early he joined us for a coffee and explained that he had already been working for almost three hours. After a breakfast of eggs and toast we hit the “frog and toad” and headed for our first stop which would take us south to one of Battambang’s most popular attractions. Even though we were heading out of town that didn't stop Mr Kim from pausing every so often to point out, and explain, various statues, buildings and bridges for our enjoyment. Our first stop was the famous bamboo train which was originally just a means of transportation for the locals to move produce around, but now serves as a great source of entertainment for tourists. To explain, a train track runs just south of Battambang but rarely sees trains run along it, so the local farmers lunged on the opportunity and built for themselves bamboo platforms, powered by go-kart engines, which could run up and down the track transporting goods. The problem, you may see, is what happens if there is an oncoming bamboo train, or even a full sized passenger one? Not a problem, the bamboo train is so light, and made of so few parts, that one of them simply stops and lifts their train off the track to allow the other to pass.

Dismantling our bamboo train

Although our trip along the track only lasted about fifteen minutes (we had to remove our train twice) it was one of the most enjoyable modes of transport we’ve used so far. Although getting the occasionally butterfly in the face isn’t so pleasant.

Arriving at the main platform

At the end of the track we could explore a tiny village where we only saw locals and one other couple of tourists who we had actually sat next to the previous night in the Gecko. The local children pounced on us and lead us to the snake farm before showing us the village’s main source of income at the brick factory. Although I enjoyed the snake farm I did find myself questioning whoever decided it was worth being called a farm as one snake in a box doesn’t cut it for me. The brick factory lived up to its name as it churned out a good few dozen bricks a minute but still there is a limit to how much excitement can be gained from the production of bricks. A highlight, mainly for Linz, was the local children making us some banana leaf jewellery. The ring and bracelet barely lasted our trip back along the bamboo train line but we were happy to give the children a dollar as they had shown us round their village.

Back with Mr Kim, who didn't accompany us on the train, we headed for our next sight but on the way stopped at the old Pepsi bottling plant, shut down during the Khmer Rouge, and later at a lady making sticky rice cakes by the side of the road. It was good to watch her make them but, following a rather unpleasant experience with these cakes on the Mekong Delta, I had to pass on the offer to try one. I did however try some sugar cane juice she was selling which was much more enjoyable despite being, rather unsurprisingly, very sweet. A highlight here, again more so for Linz, was me failing down the riverbank while attempting to reach a bamboo “monkey bridge” over the stream behind the shop. It was clear from her evil laughing that Mr Kim was a little more concerned than Linz was.

A typical Cambodian petrol station. Green being the expensive stuff

Following this Mr Kim suggested we drive passed the Battambang cheese factory although he did warn us about the smell. I’m not really a fan of cheese but I could easily put up with the smell I thought. As it turns out Battambang cheese contains no cheese at all or even any dairy, but is in fact a paste made up of rotten fish. So actually the smell was horrific and we didn't stay long.

When we had planned our tour with Mr Kim we had mentioned all the places we wanted to go thinking it would be a good tour, however Mr Kim made it so much better by continuing to stop at things we may find interesting on the way. We hadn’t planned to stop at the sticky rice lady or the “cheese” factory but by adding these stops in it made the day so much more interesting. Our next stops were again Mr Kim additions.

Making cheese, apparently

We stopped at two more factories on either side of a small country lane, one of which produced rice paper, which would be sold to restaurants for making spring rolls, and the other making banana paper sold as a snack. Both factories, which were more like production lines made in the back of homes, were family run and let us wander round watching the whole, highly efficient, processes. One slightly odd moment came in the banana factory where I was given a free banana but found myself looking thoroughly confused when also presented with a sharp knife with which to eat it. How do you eat a banana with a knife? Why would you even need a knife? Having peeled and eaten it we left with the ladies in the factory assuming westerners don’t have bananas back home or surely they’d no how to eat them properly.

From here we continued on to Wat Ek Phnom (“Wat” meaning temple and “Phnom” meaning hill) which was to be our only temple of the day. The temple was the scene of many battles during the Khmer Rouge so now is largely destroyed but we could still walk through it a get a pretty good idea of how it looked in its prime. Next to the temple there is a very large statue of a Buddha which seemed in quite a state is disrepair but Mr Kim later informed us that it was in actually half built and that production of it had been stopped years ago as they hadn’t been given planning permission. When we were done exploring the site we returned to Mr Kim, who had just finished his lunch of noodles, where we found some very adventurous Americans trying out crocodile eggs for their lunch. We passed knowing we were heading back to town soon.

The crumpled Wat Ek Phnom

Our final stop, on what had been a very busy morning, was a crocodile farm where I was pleased to find a number of crocodiles which warranted the used of the term farm. Apparently there were about a thousand crocodiles here but it was hard to tell given how many were in each enclosure. Mr Kim, who had been joking all day, took the opportunity to bring out his very best in crocodile related banter including pretending to fall in and suggesting they wouldn’t eat us if we climbed in for really close photos. All the tanks featured pools of green water which the crocodiles could cool down in, except one which had bright red water due to the recent feeding that took place. As far back as our journey to Hue, in Vietnam, Linz has laughed at me for being repeatedly punched in the arm by our overly aggressive bus driver but it was finally at the crocodile farm in Battambang that she could experience the feeling. I’m not saying that I got fed up of being laughed at and punched her for it, I’m saying the lady who owned the farm seemed to think laughing at someone’s joke needs to be accompanied by hitting someone in the arm and Linz was closest. She deserved it.

Following our incredibly busy morning we returned to the hotel where Mr Kim left us for a few hours to have lunch, and let Linz recover from her beating, before continuing in the late afternoon. So far this blog has been fairly light hearted but again we couldn’t get away from the tragic elements of Cambodian history which has scarred the country. Around 4pm we were picked up and headed to the Killing Caves not far outside Battambang where the Khmer Rouge had murdered even more innocent men, woman and children by throwing them, still living, into over 20 meter deep caves. When we arrived it had started pouring down and seeing as the trip up to the caves, atop a small mountain, could only be reached by motorbike it was decided we’d wait for the rain to subside before continuing. In that time Mr Kim entertained us by giving us a detailed history of Cambodia broken up with riddles which he was pleased to see baffled us but turned out to be incredibly simple. How do you get an elephant in a fridge? Open the door. Then how do you get a giraffe in the fridge?

Linz being taken up the mountain

When the rain cleared, Linz and I were ridden to the top of the mountain on separate motorbikes and given a tour of the temples recently built up there as well as the caves themselves. The three caves, used for the disposal of different aged civilians, were quite hard to take as, even though there was almost no evidence at all of what had happened, the place itself had an eerie atmosphere that even S-21 or the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh couldn’t match. Our tour was by a lad of a similar age to us who studied at the town’s university and we enjoyed talking to him about it while we watched the sun set from the top of the mountain. When we reached the bottom of the mountain we tipped him just a small amount but it was equivalent to one weeks tuition.

One of the older temples built atop the mountain

The reason we had come to the mountain late in the day was because at around dusk a colossal number of bats fly out of a different cave on the side of the mountain. According to Mr Kim all the other tuk tuk drivers say that millions of bats fly out the cave but his tours are better because he says a billion fly out. I was prepared to side with him as bats flew non-stop out the cave in a constant stream for the 20 minutes we stood there and we hadn’t even arrived to see the first lot come out. Following this we returned to town and at our restaurant that evening said goodbye to Mr Kim, our favourite person so far, who we even decided to tip a whopping 30% ($10).

Some of the billions of bats

The next day we headed off to our bus to Siem Reap, although slightly later than we planned as there was a mix up with our tuk tuk to the station. We should have just stuck to Mr Kim. Again it was just a local bus but we did have the enjoyment of some incredibly bizarre Cambodian music videos thanks to the on-board entertainment. Other than this we began to plan our next few days as Siem Reap is a mere eight kilometres from the Temples of Angkor, and the world famous Angkor Wat, and I was excited about the prospect of ticking a second Wonder of the World off on my travels.

Oh, and if you were  wondering how to get a giraffe in the fridge you have to open the door as well, but first take out the elephant. Classic Mr Kim humour.