From Siem Reap to Battambang

5:20 am

We tried going to sleep early yesterday, but as we weren't tired we didn't succeed very well. Instead, we ended up joking and laughing a lot. Perhaps that tired us out, because after that we did manage to fall asleep.

The next day the alarm went off at 5:20am, of course not the most pleasant thing. We got dressed, took our bags and got out of our room. The hotel staff was already up and sweeping and mopping floors. We had some breakfast and waited for the minibus to pick us up. We were told, multiple times, that we would be picked up at 6am. As it turns out, that should be 6:30am. Perhaps they said 6 so we'd be up?

How many people fit in a small minibus?

The answer to that is 16. Provided one stands upright, one sits on a pink Hello Kitty folding chair and one sits on whatever, but not a chair or seat of any kind. That was the way we were driven to lake Tonle Sap.

A beautiful boat ride

At the lake we got our bags of the minibus and got aboard the boat. The boat left at 7:23am to be precise. We had a 7 hour boat ride ahead of us. It turned out to be a beautiful trip. At first we went over open water, with only some small water plants to be seen, that then changed to some sort of trees in the water, and we had to go through narrow pathways between them. And when I say narrow, I mean narrow. The branches often got into the boat on both sides as it was an open boat. Sometimes we got into open water again and passed complete villages built in/against the trees in the water, it was a special sight. We were already one or 2 hours on route, in the middle of the huge Tonle Sap, and we saw wooden villages! Complete with dogs, chickens, pigs, ...

A group of people, among myself, got on top of the roof of the boat. It offered an even better view and a more of less constant welcome breeze. At times, when going through the narrow paths between the trees, the branches came over the sides of the roof. We really had to watch out, the branches were rather thick and could really hurt you. I have a clip of that, but it's too big to upload now.

After a while, at about noon probably (didn't check the time) we arrived at another village on the water. We stopped at one particular house, which turned out to be a shop / eating place. We bought a few things and I ordered a plate of rice, made like you see in the films, in a big pot, scooped up with a cup on a small plate. The rice was rather dry, but good. And it was a welcome stomach filler for Lise and myself.

After that we followed some more narrow pathways, so narrow even that we had to close the sides of the boat with some kind of drapes. If those drapes weren't there, we'd be seriously injured.

The river

After we crossed lake Tonle Sap we had to follow the river to Battambang. We're lucky it's wet season. During the dry season it's possible that the rivers don't hold enough water for the boat to pass, which means you have to get off, be transported overland and get on another boat somewhere else. If that's the case, the trip can take up to 12 hours!

But it's wet season now, and that's a good thing, because that way we could see the entire river. And more importantly, the river banks. They sure were a sight!

I could write for hours about the boat ride, but I'm afraid it will have to wait. I'll put up a few pictures and as I'm typing this I'm uploading a movie. I'll edit this post later with a link to the video, so keep your eyes on this post!

Battambang

The boat ride came to an end in Battambang, after more or less 7 hours. Good thing too, because it was a tiring trip. Of course there was a herd of Cambodians waiting for us, offering minibus and tuk-tuk rides to a hotel of our choice as well as offerings for places to stay. We took a tuk-tuk for 2000 riel, that's half a dollar! We went straight to Hotel Royal, which we read about in the Lonely Planet guide. We beat the people in the minibus there so we got first pick of the rooms! At this point, we're lying in bed, watching "Lemony Snickets A Series Of Misfortunate Events" on tv, hehe.

First thing we did here, as always, was take a refreshing shower. Then some rest and after that we had dinner at the open restaurant at the top floor which offered a nice view over Battambang.

Tomorrow

There's not much to do here in Battambang. The bamboo train isn't wat it used to be anymore it seems. You drive 15 minutes one way, and then 15 minutes back. So I skipped it, however special it may seem, I don't feel like paying to end up in the place I started.

So we prepared for tomorrow. We have to cross the border back into Thailand via Pailin. Then on to Chantaburi. It's a good thing we have (wifi) internet access here because although Chantaburi is mentioned in ONE of our books, there's nothing in there about places to sleep. We found this very odd. So internet helped us out, and even then it was hard to find a place!

Ko Chang was easier, so we picked a place to stay over there as well. If at all possible we'll try to make it all the way to Ko Chang tomorrow. If not, we'll spend a night in Chantaburi and then push on to Ko Chang.

Ok, that's about it. There's a million other things to tell, but I'm kind of tired of typing actually =P

Keep an eye on this post for the link to the video! Again, one of the smallest because uploading to youtube takes a long time over here, in terms of hours!

Ok, after more than an hour, and with "only" 23 minutes to go the upload failed. I'll start the upload again and see if it worked in the morning. I'm not staying up for another 2 hours. If the next upload fails ... no video I'm afraid, sorry!

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