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Published: July 14th 2007
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Donna and I took a nine hour boat ride from Siem Reap to Battambang, Cambodia. According to the Lonely Planet guide, this trip can last anywhere from three hours to eight hours depending on the water level. We assumed that since we were travelling during rainy season we would be fine ie: the ride would take 3 hours.... As it turns out, 9 hours later, the reason it took so long is because they no longer use the "fast boat"....oh well. The boat ride did end up being nice though...especially the last 1/4 of it....lots of beautiful scenery.
So we arrived at Battambang to at least 20 different touts trying to get us to stay in their hotel. After checking out a couple of hotels, we ended up choosing the Royal Hotel because it had a nice vibe to it. We stayed in a room with cable tv, refrigerator, and a/c for $8/night (with a little haggling)....Donna and I love paying so little for stuff out here!
So after crashing that night, we showed up to the Battambang Optical Center (the B.O.C. as it is known around town) and met the owner of the B.O.C. and our liason,
Dr. Ek Sarou. Dr. Sarou is a nice guy who is married and runs a nice practice in the area. He has a 3 year old son, and does quite well for himself in Cambodia.
For our first assignment, he took us to an orphanage with children who were there for vairous reasons, some of which include: rescued from the sex trade that unfortunately exists in southeast asia, extreme poverty (parents can't afford to care for them), or AIDS (both parents have died from AIDS). We helped screen 60 kids that day and met some really nice people.
We finished early that day so we explored the town and ate at what ended up being our regular restaurant...the roof-top restaurant at the Royal Hotel. The sunsets from this restaurant were spectacular every night, and it was the perfect place to unwind every day with some cold beer.
The following day, we went to a local village about 10 miles out of Battambang center. It was a truly rural village where the only medical care they receive is via charity. That day was a challenging yet fun day as we saw about 120 patients between the two of
us! At the end of the day we were dirty and sweaty but happy with the work we did. I saw my first land-mine victim as a patient. He completely lost his right eye and his left eye was still severely damaged.
Our last big day volunteering was at an HIV/ AIDS meditation center. We saw about 75 patients (a mix of people with HIV and AIDS and the extreme poor who can't afford medical care). Everyone was so appreciative of our work; Donna and I loved when some patients would put on the glasses we prescribed and we saw the huge smiles on their faces.
The next day Donna and I worked for a while at the B.O.C. It actually proved to be a boring day... only four patients in 8 hours! That night we left and ate at a restaurant recommended by Lonely Planet...the Riverside Bar and Grill. Long story short...crappy food with a good view. We wouldn't go back.
Our last day in Battambang, Donna and I took in some of the local sights. We hired a couple of moto drivers to take us to Phnom Sampeau...famous/ infamous for good reason. At first glance,
it just appears to be a beautiful Wat on top of a mountain, but as it turns out this is the local equivalent of the "killing fields" in other parts of Cambodia. This was one of the locations where the Khmer Rouge murdered millions of their own people from 1975-1979. The Khmer Rouge turned the temple into a prison, and then used the adjacent caves to murder their victims and leave their bodies to rot. We saw the skeletal remains of thousands of bodies...it was a pretty somber scene.
We worked the second half of that day at the B.O.C., and then took Battambang's legendary "bamboo train". Here's the scoop. It is basically an old, defunct railroad whcih was abandoned several years ago. The locals decided to make use of it, though, by creating a mini-train which consits of a flat bamboo platform attached to two sets of train wheels. The bamboo train is powered by something like a lawn-mower engine. So Dr. Sarou's wife took us and their entire staff on the bamboo for a ride back and forth for a couple of miles down the track. The bamboo reached speeds of at least 20-25 miles an hour
at times. So, was as it worth it? defintitely...but our asses were bruised from hitting bumps in the track.
The next day we shared a taxi from Battambang back to Siem Reap where we were scheduled to take a plane to Krabi the next day. What this means, of course (to anyone who knows the geography of Thailand) that we had to drive a good portion of the legendary road from Bangkok to Siem Reap (on the Cambodia side!). For those who don't know, there's a legendary Thailand scam which involves buying super-cheap bus tickets from Bangkok to Siem Reap. As it turns out, passengers end up spending TONS more money in bribes at the border, problems negotiating taxis in Cambodia, etc. To top it off, when the passengers finally reach Cambodia what should be a 3 hour ride (from that point foward) magically turns out to be a 9 hour ride due to the speed that the bus must drive. The road from the boarder of Thailand/Cambodia to Siem Reap is legendarily bad. It has never been paved, and is filled with pot-holes big enough to sink a car. So Donna and I decided to brave this route
despite it's legendary status. Well, here's our experience....we took a taxi during the rainy season, and it took us less than four hours from Battambang to Siem Reap. The road was in super-crappy condition, but our driver just powered through it and got us there quickly.
We spent the rest of that day and night relaxing at the "Ivy 2" again. We did squeeze in some dinner and dessert at "The Blue Pumpkin". If you make it to Siem Reap and you want some awesome desserts, this is the place. They had super rich ice-cream (like Ben and Jerry's) and awesome warm chocolate cake. It really hit the spot for us.
The next day we took a plane to Krabi, Thailand (with a stop in Bankok). This represents the last 1/4 of our trip to southeast asia. We have two weeks down here we planned our trip this way so the last 1/4 of our trip is super-mellow. We are staying at the famously beautiful Railey (Rai Leh) Beach. I'm there now typing this blog, but I don't have the camera, so I can't upload pictures....sooooooooooo.......once again.........pics to follow!!!!!
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