Batta-what now?

This morning we set off early to Battambang. Our minibus that was supposed to pick us up at the Banana at 7:10 (our bus was at 7:45) didn't roll in until about 7:35 (after Maly called them twice- and I'm sure Maly was really happy to get a wake up from me to make that call as well). We were convinced we weren't going to make our bus but by some sort of miracle we made it. Battambang is north of Phnom Penh. It took us about 5 hours by bus to get there- not bad when you have a book and/or an ipod with ya :-) I'm luckily not someone who gets sick from reading in moving vehicles- I feel very sorry for people who can't read on buses. That sucks. Oh, I just remembered, I totally watched the new Star Trek movie on my computer on the way back to PP yesterday. It was pretty awesome, although I'm a little weirded out about the "two" Spocks meeting. I think it was unnecessary. Thoughts?

We got to Battambang and went to the Royal Hotel. Nice place! Our room was $10 and had three beds and a television! A TELEVISION! I haven't watched TV in so long and anyone who knows me well knows I have a slight (ok, certifiable) TV addiction. They had channels in about every language including some languages that I couldn't figure out (I didn't know that the Malay language of Malaysia uses the same alphabet we do. Learn something new every day!). After checking in, we followed some advice given to us by a contact in Kampot and went to eat at the White Rose Restaurant. Good advice- the food was good, cheap, and the fruit shakes were AWESOME- highly recommended. After lunch we headed back to relax for a few minutes (cough watch TV cough) then headed off to our meeting, the reason we came to Battambang in the first place. Siamack had a contact with someone at the University of Education and Development, so we met with them to learn more about their programs. They started as an NGO doing tutorials in villages to impact social action and development from inside the villages. Now their program has expanded and they offer Bachelor and Masters degrees in education and development, human resources and development, and more. Most of their students come from small villages, and while some of them have graduated from high school most of them have failed for lack of money to stay in school or buy materials, or from having to help out at home, etc. This is a huge problem in rural areas here (which constitutes 70% of the population). The idea of their program is to train students who will then return to their communities and help development there. The programs are based on Bah'ai teachings. Siamack follows this religion, which is why he came across this university. The religion seems to be based around social action and moral teachings. The school has opened 11 centers for learning in villages- the idea is that when students graduate they will become directors of these centers. After talking to a few people at the university and going on a tour, we were taken via tuk tuk out to two of the centers. Our guides, both teachers at the school, were really sweet and happy to show us around. It was a long tuk tuk ride out into the rural areas, but it was nice to see the non-city side of Cambodia since most Cambodians live in rural areas such as these. We got to see volunteers teaching English at one of the centers. At the other one there were 4-5 small classes going on at once of kids at different levels. The programs are based on English and morality. Pretty interesting concepts.
By the way, the kids here are ridiculously adorable. I might pull an Angelina before I get outta here. :-D
We headed back to the city (we stopped to try to see the famous bamboo train- literally a raft of sorts made of bamboo and an engine placed on the train tracks to move things and people- but sadly there wasn't one running when we went by the tracks) and there were SO MANY PEOPLE outside, in the park across from the university. A lot of them were participating in mass dance/aerobic routines, one of which resembles the Electric Slide. This seems to be popular here- I've seen a similar dance going on in parks in Phnom Penh. One of these days I'm going to just join in and see how it goes... I'm so graceful I'm sure I can pull it off... umm... (speaking of being graceful I ate it on a curb once again in Battambang. What is it with me and walking these days?)

We headed back to our hotel and up to the roof to see the view. It was pretty nice but the food was expensive so we decided to go elsewhere for dinner. Adam and I (Sia had dinner plans) headed to a place called the "Smokin Pot" (nice double meaning HA). It was highly recommended in the Lonely Planet (aka "the Bible") and they did not steer us wrong. I had a Spanish omelet that was yummy and Adam had chicken amok. Another restaurant you should check out if you come to Battambang!

After dinner we could have walked around, could've seen some stuff, but no.... we rushed back to our TV :-) The Nutty Professor was on, then Meet the Fockers- both funny movies and a nice way to end the night.

Tomorrow we're getting up and heading back to Phnom Penh, where I think I'll be until I head to Viet Nam for vacation next week. More soon!

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