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Published: September 21st 2008
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making the sticky rice sticks
Christoph and Julia took a picture of this beautiful lady on their motorbike trip to the countryside BATTAMBANG AND BACK TO PHN0M PENH SEPT. 9-13, 2008
So we decided to go see more of the country side around Battambang in Western Cambodia. We took the bus which ended up being a mistake as the road was under construction almost the whole way. Boats do run daily between Siem Reap and Battambang and we heard later from travellers who chose this route how very wonderful it was. Next time we’ll choose the boat! An interesting moment en route was the pee stop (a kind man translated this for us -though the evidence was soon there). We were at the side of the road - and men headed off to either side and women efficiently draped their sarongs and squatted enclosed in the sarong. We crossed our legs and waited for the next stop! Squat toilets here we come!
Battambang is a big agricultural area in Cambodia and rice is its main product and is of the highest quality. It is also Cambodia’s second largest city with a population of about 158,000. The authors of the local Cambodia guidebook also state: “The countryside around Battambang looks like something from the pages of National Geographic”. We stayed at the
the sticky rice bamboo sticks cooking
Thanks Christoph and Julia for this photo and for this yummy snack for our trip back to Phnom Penh! Chhaya Hotel for $5. per night (3rd floor walk up, lots of stairs) and the guys here were all encouraging us to go on a day long motorbike trip with them the next day. The 4 of us -Christoph, Julia, Al and I - were all keen but when we woke up the next morning the monsoon rains were in full force. It did clear up a bit in the afternoon and Julia and Christoph braved the muds and did head out for a couple of hours. Al and I opted to stay put at our “outdoor living room” at the Gecko Café and read and work on pictures and e-mails -some days are just like that! 😊 The Gecko Café is owned by a couple from California; they just opened 2 months ago on the 2nd floor of a lovely old French colonial building. They are very laid back and were fine with the fact we spent the day there -and ate breakfast, lunch and dinner too -all delicious!
We just had 2 nights in Battambang and headed back to Phnom Penh on September 11th. We had the lovely idea we would all 4 rent a taxi and
Happy Buddha
many carvings for sale in Battambang especially be able to take a scenic tour back to Phnom Penh, explore the roads off the main highway and have a leisurely trip. Somehow this plan was lost in translation and as we were en route we discovered that our driver did not speak English (he had to call back to the hotel manger when we wanted to converse) and also he was under strict orders not to leave the highway…oh! In fact he was just set on getting to Phnom Penh as quickly as possible. So - we had to give up our lovely idea, realize that we could just as easily have taken the bus and let go of the original trip vision we had and enjoy the scenery -which was indeed beautiful and the roads were smooth.
We arrived back in Phnom Penh in the early afternoon and back to rooms at the Okay Guest House. The staff there was again very welcoming.
We ate that night at Friends’ Restaurant. This is a fabulous place that trains street people, disadvantaged people for work in the service industry. The staff was excellent and the food divine. And behind the restaurant they have a Centre from which
they have a number of projects happening and where they work with about 1800 (!!) street kids per day.
Our last day in Phnom Penh and our last day together as a travel group of 4 was most relaxed. We “hiked” up the only hill in the city to the top of Phnom Penh which literally means “Hill of Penh” to Wat Phnom. And we explored the fascinating Russian Market -the Toul Tompong Market - very fun for shopping and for browsing. Al bought us a Lonely Planet for the Philippines here -photocopied of course as are all the books here -for $4. And our last dinner together as a group was at Flavours of India - very good once we got there - after a hair raising ride in a tuk-tuk, weaving in and out of traffic and doing like everyone else, ignoring red lights! Why stop?
On September 13th we said good bye to our wonderful travel partners Christoph and Julia as they headed by bus to Laos and the rest of their year of travel - and we flew off to Bangkok.
It was sad to leave Cambodia and its people - so much
potential here but so many challenges. Cambodia holds a special place in our hearts; we hope to return.
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