A few days in Cambodia

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January 19th 2024

Published: January 26th 2024

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sueblueginger

Battambang

Met up with Dave & Ali in Fringe

Susan got a taxi to Chantaburi bus station to catch a bus bound for Bangkok. She would have one night in Bangkok and then a flight back to Kazakhstan and her job at the University. Lisa and I were waiting outside the 7/11 store for a minibus to the Cambodian border crossing when we saw her fly by in the taxi!

Our mini bus stopped and we squeezed in, luggage on the back seat. Our fellow travellers greeted us and smiled and Lisa had a bit of conversation with the man sitting beside her. I had a single seat to myself. We seemed to collect trays of eggs and collect and deliver parcels along the way. A sort of rural Amazon delivery. We were heading for a border crossing into Cambodia, Ban Pakkad, where our friends in Cambodia had told us we could get a Cambodian visa on arrival. Our driver dropped us off outside the Thai Immigration office on the border, and with some waving and goodbyes they drove away. Leaving Thailand wasn't difficult, just an official behind a glass barrier stamping our passports. We walked across the no-man's land between the two countries and were directed to another

Battambang

Pure fruit juice in that bottle. Honest!

glass window where a Cambodian official relieved us of $35 U.S. each. Notes have to be pristine, no folds or bent corners. There was some confusion as we thought we were done, and walked on to enter Cambodia, but the border police sent us back as our passports hadn't actually been stamped. We were a little suspicious that we'd been fleeced, but it all turned out OK, passports stamped and off we walked into Cambodia. There was some negotiation with a shared cab driver and we nearly walked away, but he gave us a low price if we would share with another passenger so we agreed and he drove down some dirt tracks until he picked a young woman up in a village and we went on our way to Battambang where our friends Dave and Ali had arrived the day before from Siem Reap and after dropping our bags off at the basic 'Royal' hotel we set off to meet them in a delightful little cafe called Fringe. It was 2.15 and they'd already eaten so we tucked into bowls of healthy stuff and jam jars filled with fresh fruit juice ( served in recycled spirits bottles) while they

Battambang

Street art

had a naughty choccy dessert each.

Getting around the side streets of Battambang proved a bit exciting as they seemed to be digging up most of Battambang, but didn't seem to mind us teetering across building sites in front of huge diggers balanced on the edge of huge holes. In fact the workmen just seem to have decided that maybe we were too embarrassing and they couldn't see us! There wasn't much traffic on the roads of Battambang so easy to walk around and down to another wide slow moving river. Back to a Wat which was just outside a college and the students were all piling out at the end of the day. They hung around beside brightly painted statues of elephants, horses and chariots and a rather macabre 'body' with corvids tucking into it. A warning perhaps?

We had a lovely meal together and a beer or two and left the restaurant to go to our respective hotels.

Next morning Lisa discovered that neither of our phones had been charged successfully overnight so we found our way to a coffee shop where the staff were really helpful and we were soon charging merrily. Battambang coffee

Battambang

Building in central Battambang

shops were busy serving local food , and we met Dave and Ali in one of them to fortify ourselves with brunch before taking the 10 minute walk to Battambang bus station where we all got into a bus for the 4 hour drive to Siem Reap. It was a pleasant drive through the Cambodian countryside and past rice fields. Two hours into the journey I became acutely aware of the effect of all that breakfast coffee. So was so relieved ( in both senses of the word) when we pulled in to some services with clean loos and lots of snacks on sale. Only one more hour into Siem Reap. After all that time sitting on the bus we opted for the 20 ( or was it 40?) minute walk to Dave and Ali's flat. Time to settle down on their balcony and watch the slow descent of the sun behind the low rise buildings of Siem Reap ( maybe that nothing higher than Angkor Wat is allowed to be built?) And what better than a G&T to toast being their first overseas visitors since they moved in a year ago.

That evening we walked into town and

Battambang

Street Art

had a delicious Indian meal. We walked home , passing the Foreign Correspondents' Club on the way. Last time I was in Seam Reap with Kath, and Kath&Bob we had enjoyed an evening of Jazz, G&T's in the old colonial wooden building with lazy ceiling fans moving the air. And imagined the war correspondents boozing and swapping stories about the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot. Now it's a brightly lit hotel, all fresh paint and air cons.

The next day Lisa, Dave&Ali and I walked into town and hand brunch plus coconut in Tevy's Place. A lovely smiley Cambodia lady and her daughter who started the restaurant with financial input from an Irish man. If you look up Tevy's Place on line you can see the Tube video of her life - family broken and all sent to work camps- she was one of the only survivors. It must be the story of many Cambodian people.

Lisa went off to get a bus to Phnom Penh - the capital and largest city in Cambodia. Her husband Nick was flying in from Australia the next morning to join us in Siem Reap- and to then go off travelling with

Battambang

Along by the river

Lisa. It's a 6 hour bus journey, and after she's met him at Phnom Penh airport they are doing the 6 hour return journey to meet up with us in Siem Reap. Well done Lisa.... and such dedication !!

So Ali and I went along to the newly vamped Foreign Correspondents' Club, now a fancy hotel, and had a look around a gallery there which was exhibiting work by artist Tamara Venn.Bright naive paintings reflecting the nature and streets of colourful contemporary life in Cambodia. We then met up with Dave and spent half an hour in an opticians, and I came out with a pair of prescription glasses. Eye test , lenses cut and fitted in 10 minutes. The longest time was choosing the frames! And all for $57 US ( about £45) Why on earth didn't I buy two pairs!!

In the afternoon Dave&Ali took me to a craft workshop where they were carving traditional Cambodian sculptures based on , I suppose, some that were missing , to repair temple structures . And we went to the market to buy some veg. Back to the cool interior of wooden shuttered 'Leaf' where Ali and I went

Battambang

for the healthy fruit and veg smoothie and Dave went for the alcoholic mango smoothie cocktail. All were delicious but Dave's probably put more of a spring in his step.

Another evening of G&Ts on that balcony with the fantastic sunset and a delicious meal at home. Dave helped me do my Singapore Airlines e check-in and my online visa and showed me how to sign up for Airalo which will give me a month of telephone calls from my mobile in Singapore for only $5 US.

The next morning Dave, Ali and I walked to Theam Gallery on the outskirts of Siem Reap , and actually not far from Angkor Wat. The most beautiful collection of traditional wooden buildings and luxuriant gardens housing both traditional and contemporary art and another story from the tragic genocidal Pol Pot years. He was just nine years old when Pot Pot's regime fell. Luckily his family was among the refugees arriving in France in 1980. HIs contribution towards the restoration and preservation of Cambodian lifestyle and traditions led to the teaching of young apprentices who created traditional Khmer crafts in stone, wood, lacquer, silk and cotton.

A vege 'meatball' curry

Battambang

Wat Damrey Sar

in Leaf for lunch and then back to the flat to cool down before going back into town for some supper before meeting Lisa and Nick, newly arrived on that 6 hour bus trip! And in one of Dave's favourite watering holes in Siem Reap .... 'Embargo', a bar specialising in local craft beers. ( see the 'menu' board for examples ) I particularly liked the Janet Street Porter !

Nick was surprisingly bouncy despite a flight from Australia ( via China) and a 6 hour bus trip, but after a couple of beers we could see that his eyelids were in need of a couple of matchsticks, so we grabbed a couple of tuk tuks and took the easy way back to the flat. ( And I must say I was grateful not to be adding any more to my step count for the day..... it's tough keeping up with the youngsters!)

Nick was revived by the morning and we had coffee and papaya on the balcony and I read them a bit of Aunty Nancy's letter giving an account of her visit to Siem Reap in 1960, not all that long after Angkor Wat was first

Battambang

Wat Damrey Sar

discovered , hidden in the overgrown jungle after it was abandoned hundreds of years ago. To get there she drove to Penang, then a train to Bangkok, then a small plane to Siem Reap. Here's an except from Nancy's letter , February 6th 1960, describing her visit to Angkor Wat :

"The most thrilling days of our holiday we spent at Angkor Wat. The plane flew over the ruins before we landed and to me the first glimpse of the ruins of Angkor was as exciting as my first sight of the pyramids. We stayed at the only hotel in Siem Reap, a small village not far from the ruins. We were in good company. Somerset Maughan, looking very frail and wrinkled, was spending a quiet Christmas there too. Nobody fussed about him and most evenings, after dinner he used to play patience in the bar.

The ruins are very extensive- those at Angkor cover about 27 square miles. We couldn’t possible see all. We spent one day at the temple of Angkor Wat itself- so beautiful to look at across the oblong moat dappled with pink water lilies. The wall reliefs of dancers and ears were still

Battambang

Wat Damrey Sar

clear but practically impossible to photograph when we were there. The temple has no big inner chambers but there are many small separate rooms spread around courtyards to house the ??? of kings or gods. I found the temple beautiful from the outside but some of the narrow inner corridors reeked most foully of bats. There were many other temples, built of massive stones and a huge palace city now crumbles but its four imposing elephant gates are still standing- some of them in good condition. One temple that we visited was quite frightening – very little reconstruction had been done and the jungle was all around. Huge tree roots were snaking over doorways and throttling them., monkeys raced along the walls and everywhere the decaying smell of the jungle almost stifled one. It was growing dark as we left it, thankful to be on our way. Apparently that temple was deliberately left untouched by the archaeologists so that visitors could see for themselves what all the other buildings had been like when first discovered. "

We set off on foot to the centre of that 'small village' ( now the

Battambang

Wat Damrey Sar

second largest city in Cambodia!) off into town for brunch at Tevy's Place. I said goodbye to Nick, Lisa and Ali as they set off to organise the hiring of bicycles to explore more of Siem Reap, and Dave came back to the flat with me and called a cab to take me to the airport for my flight to Singapore. It's small, but a really new little airport further away from the town , about an hour's drive past extensive paddy fields with rice at all stages. My driver was a Frenchman who has set up his own taxi business in Siem Reap, with 7 drivers working for him. He said it was very easy to set up a business there and he doesn't even need a local business partner.

At airports things often don't go to plan, and my flight was delayed by 2 hours due to technical issues. But I'm not complaining - I'd much rather any issues were dealt with! I was just concerned for the friend waiting up to let me in to the flat in Singapore.

I'm here in Singapore now! And you may be wondering why there are no photos of

Battambang

Wat Damrey Sar

the tangled roots and buildings of Angkor Wat....? I explored with friends Kath&Bob and Singapore Kath on a trip to Cambodia in 2015. This time it was mainly a social visit .......... so don't move on yet Ali&Dave ......... I hope to be back to see them again next time!

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