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Published: January 26th 2011
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Battambang
There are buses from Siam Reap to Battambang once a day, via Sisophon.
In Battambang we stayed in 'The Bungalow' guesthouse. We found it on tripadvisor as it was not in our LP. For $30 per night we got a suite room, spacious with a tv and warm shower. It is about a 5-10minute tuk tuk ride from the Market in the centre. Would recommend it. Is run by a sweet family and the little restaurant there does nice home made Cambodian dishes for about $2 each!!
The Bungalow appeared to have it's own Tuk Tuk driver and as we seemed to be two of three/four people staying there we had Sambo at our beck and call!
The first day we just looked around the town and tried to buy some green oranges (Battambang is known for them) - 3 bought in the end for 50cents although we thought that was expensive for 3!!
The next day we arranged for Sambo the tuk tuk driver to take us on a tour of the sights of Battambang.
First on the list was the now disused Pepsi factory, which fascinated Duncan for some reason. I was
more interested in the octogenarian doing the gardening outside! We were not allowed in the building which has been deserted since the Kymer Rouge regime started in 1975. Pepsi obviously decided to move on and have never been back. Coke seem to have taken over in Cambodia now (Laos - Pepsi). The old man said he has been working in the grounds since the 1950s. He was not getting paid for what he was doing - he said he liked to keep busy! He was very frail and cachectic looking - therefore looking like he needed to rest more than anything!!
Anyway, next stop was Cambodia's first and only winery. They made red Shiraz only, but at $25 dollars a bottle we said no thanks to the disgust of the owner. It wasn't even nice but I would have bought it for 5!!
The famous bamboo train 'Norry' was our next stop. This train line has not been used since the 2nd world war so the locals use it for transporting goods between the villages by means of a train made of bamboo. There is only one line so the trains are easily dismantled to let trains going
in the other direction pass. They charge tourists $5 each to go on the train to a nearby village where you basically have a drink and come back. It was great fun though although very bumpy and noisy!
After the winery we went to the site of the killing caves at Phnom sampeau. A chilling place where the Kymer Rouge under Pol Pot's regime slaughtered all the intellectuals and their children from Phnom Penh by shooting them in the heads or beating them and threw them into this cave. Some of the bones have been recovered and are on display in a glass cabinet. Needless to say I did not wish to take photos at any of these places.
After the killing caves we went to the Banan temple (built again by the 7th king) on top of a hill. After climbing a large amount of steps you come to the Wat which has excellent views of the surrounding province. It is surprising in Cambodia how flat it is but then intermittently there are random individual hills scattered around!
That evening we went to a circus performance at a french NGO charity for disadvantaged local children. It
was called 'Phere Pon Leu Selpak'. There they offer performing arts training to the kids in the surrounding villages (around 70 families) and they put on a great show with hip-hop dancing that the kids had choreographed themselves and a performance depicting the Kymer Rouge regime.
The next day we travelled back by bus to Phnom Penh ready for Christmas!!
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