http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Cambodia , North , Battambang en-us Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:19:45 +0000 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:19:45 +0000 It took me just over four hours to reach Battambang by bus from Siem Reap. Although a fairly easy journey it would have been better without the blaring sound from a DVD in Khmer followed by some equally deafening karaoke or the driver constantly using his horn when overtaking Much to my surprise awaiting at the bus station was another tuk tuk driver with my name on a sheet of paper. I hadn3 http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-787832.html At the western end of Battambang the old train station clock reads barely past eight. It has been that way for years maybe decades even because having lived out its purpose long ago it stopped ticking. But the truth is its already one in the afternoon and the clock feels like it has stopped less because of technical malfunction than a result of a magical spell that froze time inde http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-783044.html As a last minute decision and in the spirit of travelling we decided not to go straight to Phnom Penh from Siem Reap. Instead we decided to go to the small town of Battambang which incidentally is Cambodias second largest city founded in the 11th century in the Northwest of Cambodia.The name Battambang or Batdambang literally means loss of stick referring to a legend of the Preah Bat Da http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-773164.html After Thakek with the bikes we headed to Savannakhet but moved on quickly as it was a bit dull next stop was Pakse to visit the Bolaven Plateau which was waterfalls and villages galore. Then onto the Four Thousand Islands in the south of Laos we stayed on Don Det in a little bungalow by the Mekong River it had a hammock outside and thats where I spent most of my days. We ran into a group of Spa http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-773129.html HE SAID...We woke early at 5am for a 6.30am start on our last morning in Phnom Penh. We packed showered and headed down to the lobby where our preordered breakfasts were waiting for us in plastic containers. I had yoghurt with roasted cashews and honey while Ren had a banana pancake. Our minibus was a bit late so we ate outside the hotel while we waited. We eventually jumped into the minibus a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-769442.html Dimanche nous avons pris un tuk tuk pour se rendre au floating village. Encore l a nous a permis de visiter la campagne de Siem Reap mais de lautre ct et ctait quand mme assez diffrent. Les chemins sont en terre rouge. Donc toutes les plantes autour en sont couvertes. Cest plutt salissant aussi pour nous. Nous avons visit un orphelinat o les enfants font diffrents tr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-769184.html Hey everyone hope your all doing good and your enjoying our updates For the last few days we have been in Battambang a small town in the north of Cambodia. We took a private taxi here which was nice as we were picked up at our hostel and we drove straight there with no random stops like when were on the buses. But our driver was NUTS He drove very fast and on both sides of the road plus he h http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-758441.html Well after waking up at 4 to the prayers I opened my window to check the neighborhood out that early and realized this was not buddist chanting this was definitely middle eastern in nature. Luckily David shed some light and found out there is a Muslim neighborhood close by so that is where the prayers are coming from. This goes on for a good hour.Today was one of my favorite days in a city Ma http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-749043.html Spent the day tuk tuking around with David but before I set off just a bit of housekeepingSorry I was so tired last night I forgot to mention the names of a couple of these places. That climb up those 300 some odd steps took it out of me along with the humidity. The preAngkor temple at the top of the steps is called Wat Banan. The area at the top of the mountain near the Bat Cave is called Phn http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-748844.html There are some days on my journeys that are good some days are great and there are days like today where I wish I could have piled all of you into the tuk tuk with me and hit the road. Its not easy to put into words or pictures the experiences sights sounds smells but you know I give it my best.My tuk tuk driver is David and his English is good enough but as we were starting out today he http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-748549.html This is a case of the good news and bad news. The good news is I got up at 6 am despite not getting asleep until about 2 still trying to adjust for the 14 hour time difference. The room comes with a water pitcher that boils water in short order to what can only be described as incendiary temperatures then you put this little packet of Nescafe in and stir. It taste horrible but for some reason http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-748213.html Day Cut Short Our day started early as we caught a taxi to Angkor Wat to meet up with Cambodian Childrens Trust. I was excited as I was going to get to spend the day with Kai touring Angkor Wat followed by horseriding in the afternoon. When I woke however my tummy was rumbling and cramping and I was feeling generally under the weatherWe got out to Angkor Wat and after a few phone calls with Eri http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-743499.html Meneer Kunn vroeg wat we heel graag deden tijdens onze reis. Ik zei direct koffie drinken. Ergens op39t gemakske genieten van een heerlijk dampend kopje koffie of als het te warm is ice coffee koude koffie met ijsblokjes. Ah dan neem ik jullie mee naar mijn stamcaf in de stad zei Kunn. Inderdaad een uurtje later zaten we in zijn auto en reed hij met ons naar zijn stamcaf. Een caf zond http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-740581.html OK...terug naar onze namiddag met Suka. Eerst nam hij ons mee naar een cactustuin van lokale mensen. De mensen staarden ons aan alsof we Aliens waren Wij genoten volop van de belangstelling we voelden ons als de Paus in een pausmobiel. We zijn de starende blikken en de openvallende monden al lang gewoon.Een vrouw dat groter is dan een man en Jan met zijn speciaal kapsel. n dan nog het feit dat http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-739002.html Het werd een heel leuke namiddag. We kregen een heel vriendelijk chauffeur. Suka was zijn naam betekend Happy of Gelukkig. Ideaal toch Hij wist ook dat we ziek waren geweest. Gek dat bijna iedere tuktukchauffeur die we tegenkwamen wist dat we 39ziek39 waren geweest of nog altijd ziek waren. Toen we meer uitleg vroegen hoe het kwam dat ze het wisten zeiden de chauffeurs 39Meneer Kunn i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-739001.html Het stadje zelf is op zich niet groot en er is ook niet zoveel te zien buiten wat tempels zoals Banan tempel en The Killing Caves en de Batcave de vleermuizengrot. De ingang voor deze tempels bedraagt 2 per persoon. Je geraakt er het best met een tuktuk. De prijzen variren tussen de 15 en 18 voor een ganse dag vervoer.In de stad zijn er diverse gezellige restaurants maar je moet wel opletten http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-739000.html You should never base your opinion on a place from first impressions if we did we may have just jumped back on the bus and left. We took the early bus from Siem Reap and arrived around midday to check into Aisa Hotel where Dennis Nicole will also be staying. We took a walk to find some lunch and felt a little let down by Lonely Planets 4th highest tourist destination in Cambodia. The evening http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-727410.html It was just a couple of days in Battambang for me. The call of Phnom Penh was drawing me. I went out for the day in Battambang and visited the Killing Caves and on the advice of my favourite 39sexy man39 I went to the Bamboo Railway.Just before I got on the tuktuk that I had arranged the heavens opened. I was sitting outside thinking that the trip would have to be called off. The tuktuk d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-727142.html Well after a few more days of wandering around Siem Reap I decided to wait until the day after the football I stayed up why to take the boat to Battambang.Pick up was from my hostel at around 6.40 a quick drive around town picking up other brave and intrepid travellers and on to the ferry. I had left my water at the hostel but was lucky enough to buy another one from a lady just before I got http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-726332.html 26th Sept Yet another early morning can39t wait to have a liein sometime in the future. Packed up had brekky and headed to the bus station. Got chatting to a German guy I had met yesterday at Bokor Hill Station and he was heading to Phnom Penh too. The bus journey was fine about 4 and a half hours. They put the film the Killing Fields on and I tried to watch it but the volume was too low http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/Battambang/blog-719289.html