All Aboard The Battambang Express!

Battambang is a nice enough town. Not a great deal going on, and it seemed to be very quiet. Hardly any tourists there really and there was no one on the streets after dark. But it wasn’t a dangerous place, just quiet.

On arrival we went for a walk looking for some lunch so we headed to the riverside as that’s usually where a lot of restaurants can be found. But there wasn’t anything in sight. We walked on and further down thinking that any minute we’d come across something, but no, there was nothing. We were trying to read a stupid map in the Lonely Liar trying to find a local backpackers hangout but couldn’t find it for love nor money so ended up crossing the river into an even quieter area and having lunch in a nice restaurant and playing pool all afternoon. The waiter was a nice guy and was telling us about the Bamboo Train and the route it does and the original train track that runs all the way down to Phnom Penh.

As we’d walked quite a way we got a tuk tuk back to the hotel and asked the driver to show us where the Smoking Pot was (the restaurant we were trying to find – it was no where near where the LP said it was supposed to be – typical!) We’d heard that they also do cooking classes and we were interested in learning some traditional Cambodian dishes so we booked that for the following day on the way back.

The cooking course was great! So much fun. We arrived at 9am and were doing it with 3 other people, so not too many cooks spoiling the broth. We walked to the market first to buy all the ingredients and he told us about all the different herbs and spices. It was great buying fresh coconut milk! But not so great buying fresh fish which was battered to death in front of us. Well not even death it seemed, just stunned before they started cutting it open and peeling the scales off but it was still moving!! I couldn’t look! I know I know – if I eat it I should be prepared to see it and the consequences – but I just can’t. Please let me be happy in my denial that no animals are harmed in order for me to eat meat! Anyway after we got all the food we headed back and began to prepare our first dish – the well known Cambodian Fish Amok. The preparation took longer than the actual cooking each time as we had to cut everything up into little pieces and the first dish was a success. We get to eat our meals after we cook them which meant eating 3 meals before 12pm but it was all so yummy – even my food!! The chef even said that my Fish Amok was better than Tymon’s – haha! The other dishes we cooked were Beef in Hot Basil (which was soooooo spicy – the chillies we used were lethal) and Hot & Sour Chicken Soup. All three were great and we came away with a big recipe book so be prepared people to be treated to some home made Cambodian cooking when we’re back!

We met a lovely girl called Mel on the course who was travelling on her own so the three of us decided to spend the afternoon on a tuk tuk going around the outskirts of town looking at the local villagers making rice paper and rice noodles. It’s crazy – everything is sooo old school and simple. Open fires and pullies made of logs to carry the pots and big rocks to act as pistons to push the noodles through. It was so interesting to watch. Although passing by you’d never guess they were food making areas – they definitely wouldn’t be approved by health and safety – although I don’t think such a thing exists in Asia! We also stopped off the at old Pepsi factory which was abandoned during the war, but still has crates full off empty old school bottles! Then next stop was the highlight of tourism in Battambang – the Bamboo Train!

The Bamboo Train is basically a half hour ride full of clicks and clangs along warped and misaligned rails and bridges which were left by the French. Each ‘train’ is made up of a 3m long wood frame covered length wise with slats of ultra light bamboo that rests on 2 barbell like carriers that run along the track, which are connected by a fan belt to a small gasoline engine that sits on the back. It’s hilarious. It actually goes quite fast or at least it feels like it when you’re just sitting on an open piece of wood hurtling along! And the best part is when something comes along in the other direction you have to follow the rules. Which are whichever train has the more or bigger passengers has right of way so the other has to derail and let the other pass. So for instance cows beat people and 4 people beats 2 people. We had to derail twice. All in all it was really really fun – so much better than we expected.

The next day we spent chilling around town and I went to get my hair cut as it was getting out of control! I decided after looking around in the market the day before that it would be ok to get it cut there as they were really busy and all the locals hair was coming out really nice so I couldn’t go too far wrong. Off I went and picked a place and sat down and began to try and explain to a non English speaking person what I wanted. I showed her that I wanted about 2 inches off the bottom and that I had layers that I wanted to keep in too. Tymon wanted to help show her what I meant but I thought I had done a good enough job so let her to work! She started cutting and cutting and cutting and I could see the layers getting shorter and shorter and shorter! Tymon was saying that she had no idea what I was talking about and was just hacking away and said that it was looking awful. But it was too late and to be honest I really wasn’t that bothered. Truly! (I know it’s hard to believe that I didn’t care about my hair – but I knew it would grow back!) It did end up being ridiculously short and the layers have made me look like Rod Stewart or Jon Bon Jovi (Tymon’s personal favourite nick name for me now), back in their hey day and don’t get me started on the 1 cm of fringe she left me with, but at the end of the day it had had the weight taken out of it, the length shortened and I could still tie it up in a pony tail and clip the fringe back, which is my basic hair diet these days anyway – so no harm done really. As I said – it will grow back. But I do look funny! Let’s just hope the sun speeds up the growth!

We left Battambang the following day to head to our final destination in Cambodia – Ratanakiri. This is right up in the North East of the country and easy access to the border to cross into Laos. We were hoping to do some trekking here as it has a big jungle National Park, but after a very bumpy and dusty ride and checking out the deals the next day we realized that they were charging $60 a day for a trek (and you need to do at least a 3 day trek if you want to really enter the good stuff in the National Park) so we quickly threw that idea in the dustbin. So we settled for hiring a scooter and riding out to what is believed to be a lake that was created by a meteorite thousands of years ago, this being because it is so round. We had a nice walk around the lake which didn’t take too long and a swim to cool off which was lush!

The following day we hired a guide to take us out to the local ethnic minority villages. This was interesting although we did feel a little like we were walking around a human zoo. We were told that a lot of tourists go and that they are used to it and they get money from the guide, but to be quite honest they all had faces like smacked arses on them and looked like they really didn’t want us there at all. Even if we did buy several scarves from the local business as well. But it was very local and the villages were full of superstitions of local spirits and traditional rules and ceremonies for weddings and sacrifices etc. Thank the lord we didn’t see any sacrifices, except for some buffalo horns that were left over from the previous one. There were cows and chickens and pigs everywhere, although we did see one really sad thing. A group of tiny piglets were running after the mum to the mud pond and one was really struggling to walk. I thought it was the runt and would be ok but it just toppled over and revealed a big hole in its belly with its guts nearly falling out. It was soooo horrible! A local picked him up with a rag and put him in the pond with the others but then it started to drown!! I couldn’t look. He then fished it out with a stick and put it on the dry but it was obvious that this pig probably wouldn’t survive the day – and thank goodness for that really! I was practically crying as we left! We visited 4 villages and it is a very basic life. They have a water pump in the middle where everyone bathes and washed their clothes. There were naked kids and women with their breasts out and it was just such great moments to capture on camera – but you couldn’t take them. And I don’t blame them really – I wouldn’t be too keen on some random person coming into the bathroom while I was taking a shower and snapping away at my bits! But that’s not what it’s about – it’s about them living their life that is so beautiful to capture – not their boobs!! But oh well. It was a good experience to witness this and it was worth getting dust everywhere!! The track roads are a red dirt and it gets absolutely everywhere – we definitely looked like we’d been tangoed at the end of the day!

That night we spent a rather last minute dash sorting out our bus to Laos as we didn’t have a visa and all the books and websites said that the border we were going to cross didn’t issue visa on arrival. But there was no way we were going to go all the way back to Phnom Penh! But we finally found a hostel who booked our bus who promised that we could get the visa at the border. We then had to find a photo shop open (at 9pm at night) as we only had 2 passport photos and were told we needed 3 (and of course in the end we only needed one!), so we went and sorted that out and thankfully the store was open, before finally relaxing for the night. Big mistake on my part as I hadn’t looked into the crossing as we had originally planned to cross into Laos from Vietnam. But alls well that ends well (and it did!)

And that was it – the end of Cambodia. I have had such a wonderful time here and so far it has just ever so slightly (just over SA) taken first place as my favourite place on the trip so far. It has so much to offer and has truly been a wonderful experience!

So join us on our next adventure into Laos, which is supposed to be even more laid back that Cambodia. So I think we’ll be in danger of going backwards!

Take care and please keep emailing and sending us your news!

Love

xxx