Blogs from Battambang, North, Cambodia, Asia - page 20

From the moment we arrived in town, a forty-year old Cambodian man had been hounding us to hire him for a motorbike tour through the countryside. He’d be waiting in the lobby of our hotel every morning when we came down, and would ask if we’d like to go for a ride today. His eagerness suggests the profitability of work with tourists over other traditional jobs available to him. We finally said yes and he called a friend with another motorbike. The fee was $15 for the afternoon, total. We set off down the red, dirt roads, dust quickly coating our ears, eyes and mouths. When another vehicle passed us, we had to cover our mouths, or be left choking. Our drivers had mouth masks but we unfortunately did not. They took us to places we ... read more

Hellooo Everyone. After a week of bacteria-ridden stomach sickness (for Aaron), confined 10 feet between the bathroom and bedroom, we were eagerly awaiting a change. We spent 4 days of nothingness in Battanmbang, Cambodia. This the second largest city, located in the northeast corner of the country. This was an interesting city for several reasons. 1. It isn't a popular tourist destination at all, but it is a popular place for Christian missionary work. They go into the country and try their best to spread the word to the locals, whilst building drinking water wells and emulating other deeds of the world's most famous carpenter. I wish we could have watched them give a presentation. Who is this Jesus guy? I imagine the locals think it is a strange concept. Really determined people though, I appreciate ... read more

The bus trip to Battambang was quite an interesting journey. We boarded the local bus in Phnom Penh and the four hour trip turned into a bit of a circus a couple of miles down the road. The further out of Phnom Penh we traveled the cars became less frequent and were replaced with horse drawn carts. We were certainly getting out into the sticks. After stopping every 30 minutes at the local roadside restaurant we hit some trouble when our radiator seemed to have a leak in it and the engine was overheating. So the next two hours consisted of stopping every 15 minutes whilst we topped up the radiator. We eventually made it to Battambang and spent the afternoon in the local markets and found a restaurant where we had the best smoothies ever: ... read more

I spent a month in Laos in total, and it still wasn't enough to take everything in. After doing the trek mentioned in the previous blog, I headed for an even smaller town, Muang Sing, which was according to Lonely Planet, the eco trekking centre of Laos and one of the highlights of South East Asia. They must have been having an off day, there was absolutely nothing to do and no one knew of anything to do, apart from going to look at the Chinese border 10km away. The 2 hour journey up through the hills was spectacular, although I was a bit distracted by the old woman sitting across from me leaning out the back of the sangthew (an open sided minubus / van thing) to be sick at regular intervals. As my legs ... read more

Boating our way to Battambang Leaving the grace and beauty of Siem Reap behind, we headed towards the provincial town of Battambang. The boat ride between Siem Reap and Battambang was purported to be one of the most scenic in Cambodia and thankfully, unlike our experience in Ratanikiri, the boats were still plying these waters. As the dry season advances, journeys along this stretch of the Tonle Sap become increasingly difficult. The Tonle Sap floods during the wet season, creating a vast expanse of water that slowly seeps away when the rains cease. Late December wasn’t too far into the dry season, but even then we were given a taste of how difficult navigating the waters can become. It was a rewarding ride, despite the absolute lack of comfort (sixteen of us packed into a ... read more