Blogs from Battambang, North, Cambodia, Asia - page 26

Monday 3rd July Paul - The bus to Battambang was leaving at 10 so we had a quick breakfast in a filthy hole of a restaurant (Laura was so shocked at the state of the kitchen when she went to the toilet she refused to eat any more food) and hopped on the bus. The usual Cambodian bus trip. God awful roads and terrible driving. Why does this seem completely normal now? Anyway had lunch at the usual random road side stall. Laura and I were the only foreigners so we were the subject of much amusement. One of the items on sale was a delicious and crunchy fried cockroach. Yummy! Pulled into Battambang at 3pm and was harrassed by the usual mob of moto drivers wanting to take us to their hotel. Decided on the ... read more

Another temple... Today I went on another ride in the countryside around Battambang. First stop was the ????? temple, almost a ruin but with an exhausing, seemingly neverending, staircase to reach its highest point. Cottage Industries After the temple Ton took me on a tour of the countryside. We drove first along the rough roads we did yesterday, and then we hit the small roads, if you can call them that. They were only roads in that people drove motorbikes down them - infact there was no attempt at surfacing, no edges, nothing. Just tracks really. And at the end of these tracks we found some pretty cool places. First stop was a weavers where hand powered looms are used to make fabrics. The output was low, although it has to be said everyone was taking ... read more

We had come to Battambang to catch the boat to Siam Reap, we'd heard it was a spectacular journey. Only problem was, there wasn't enough water in the river! Nevermind, next time. We hired some moto drivers for day who took us a tour of some local sights. Saw a few temples, some great little villages where they grow quite a bit of fruit and also a tip on the "Bamboo Railway". This was basically a bamboo platform powered by a small engine that just sits on the track. Passenger trains don't run on the line anymore as the track is knackered and its too dangerous! Some cargo trains do though and we were informed that if one came the other way we just had to get the bamboo train out of the way. Fast.... read more

Motorbikes are by far the most common means of transportation in Cambodia. It is not uncommon to see a whole family on a motorbike: mom, dad, and a kid or two. We have seen motorbikes carrying as many as four or five people. We have also seen motorbikes carrying an interesting array of cargo: bicycles, chairs, bamboo, pipes, pigs, baskets of live chickens, several racks of dead chickens with the feathers still attached. Well, today we saw a sight strange even for Cambodia: a motorbike with one person driving, the person in the middle receiving an IV, and the third holding the patient's bag of plasma. At least if the patient blacked out, the other two would hold him up and prevent him from falling off the bike. Sihanoukville is a town on the seaside and ... read more

Got the boat ... a slow boat to Battambang the second largest city in Cambodia in a province known as the 'rice bowl' of the country as it produces the best? or the most? pr both? rice in the nation. And ... Cambodians cannot go without rice ... The boat trip was good - firstly because I was on it! Secondly because it was scenic - at times on a large expanse of water - Tonle Sap lake, at others in narrow passageways through water bushes. Floating villages along the way were houses on floating platforms, many of them painted in pretty colours - principally blues. Some dwellings were rather ramshackle, others more ornate. There was a very important building (concrete) on very high stilts (about twice the height of your average queenslander (house)) built in ... read more