After our island living we actually spent 2 nights in Siem Reap, but then went to Battambang for 2 nights and then came back to Siem Reap for 3 nights. I’m going to write a post about Siem Reap, so shall start with Battambang. Most people visit Battambang for one reason, to ride the Bamboo train, but we were hoping to get a little more out of our time there so booked a countryside tour (these are becoming a bit of a tradition). Our bus there was easy and smooth, for a change and we made it to Battambang before lunch. The first task of the day was to get some laundry done something I haven’t really spoken about on these blogs. It’s been very strange to not have to do laundry for a few months now. It’s much cheaper here to have laundry done for you, which is a bit of a win win.

In the afternoon we decided to do a bit of a walking tour around Battambang, as it is known for its french colonial architecture. I have to say we were quite disappointed by the town itself, but it was 36 degrees and 80% humidity so I can’t blame us for getting a little bit fed up whilst walking around. Our first stop was to a cafe called The Lonely Tree cafe. The cafe is linked to a NGO and aims to ‘support cover a wide range of humanitarian aid including education, support for the disabled, healthcare and preservation of Cambodian cultural heritage. At the Lonely Tree Café we give employment to underprivileged and disabled people: the staff consist of vulnerable youth and most of the products sold in the Lonely Tree Store are crafted by people with physical disabilities who are in permanent need.’ We had a lovely meal and felt good for supporting such a great cause.

After lunch we walked around town, looked at some of the French colonial buildings, stopped at Wat Tham Raisaw (elephant pagoda), The old Governors residence and just had a general mooch around. As I said before, to us there was nothing awe inspiring about the city itself, but the countryside really did impress us the next day.

Just a stegosaurus 

That evening we relaxed in the hotel jacuzzi, which was too cool for my liking, but we saw a beautiful sunset and just chilled out, which was great.

The next morning we were picked up by our tuk tuk driver for the day, Bun. Bun and Savet work together to deliver countryside tours that really showcase Battambang at its best. There were 8 of us in total on this day (4 in each tuk tuk) and our first start was the infamous Bamboo train. We feel really lucky that we were able to ride the train as it will be closing in the next couple months to make way for a new trainline opening. The railroad tracks were originally used for this purpose, but after the railway closed down the 7km of track has been used to transport goods and also tourists. Norrys (or bamboo trains) run up and down the line all day, moving tourists at speeds of up to 30mph. The bamboo trains are in fact bamboo platforms driven by a lawn mower engine and some wheels. It’s all very primitive, but excellent fun. At the end of the line, you have about 15 minutes to look at some of the local peoples stalls. With the line closing, these people are losing their entire livelihood. We bought some bracelets and Simon got a tshirt (pretty poor quality, but we didn’t care, we just wanted to give a couple of dollars to the community). As there is only one line, when you meet another norry, the entire set up is dismantled to allow the other train to pass. Pretty funny to watch.

After the bamboo train we headed to Savet’s family village and went for a bike ride. He showed us his family home, his Mum and his Aunt, their orchards, his neighbours and a local pagoda. It was a lovely way to see and hear about ‘real’ life in rural Cambodia. We tried lots of exotic fruits that were growing in their orchards and he showed us a fruit that has a cotton like material inside it. I have googled it for a while and can’t find out what it’s called. Please let us know if you do. Photo down below. His Aunt showed us how she rolled Betel nut. Betel nut is chewed with tobacco by women in Cambodia. It has been found to be linked to oral cancer and loss of teeth, Savet’s Aunt didn’t have any teeth either. She told us, through Savet, that she would choose Betel nut over food any day. Interesting.

Next we visited a few local trades. The first one was to see how they make Battambang sticky bamboo rice. In a little hut on the side of the road, the woman wakes up at 4am and prepares the rice, which is a mix of rice, coconut milk, salt, sugar and black beans. She then stuffs the rice into the bamboo that her husband prepared the day before. This is then cooked for 20 minutes to soak up all the coconut milk. She then flips the bamboo stick and cooks it for another 2 hours. People travel to her to buy the bamboo sticky rice and she sells it for any price between 25c and 75c. The roof of their hut is layered with soot from the fire and her husband was constantly trimming off the burnt pieces of bamboo while we were there. Let’s just say, it’s a lot of work!

Our next stop was to the fish paste market. Wow this smelt bad! There were people on the floor cutting up the fish that had just been delivered. These fish would then be dried and fermented for a few weeks to make the paste. Not the most pleasant looking thing.

Next was rice paper making and weaving. Both we had seen before, but still interesting.

Dried bananas were next on the agenda. We watched the lady slice the bananas really thin and then put them onto bamboo trays to dry for the whole day. The rest was a very delicious crunch banana snack, which is mostly bought locally by the schools to sell to the students. On site we spotted a suspicious looking plant. Apparently, it’s quite normal for people in Cambodia to grow 1 or 2 plants for their own medicinal use.

Our last stop before lunch was to try some rice wine. We have tried this stuff 4 times now and it doesn’t get any better. It burns, and not in a good way. This time though, we tried a few different percentages and also 2 ‘different’ variations. The first one was fruit infused and I could have imagined that being OK mixed with some lemonade and the second was rice wine that had been infused with cobra. This had a very strong kick to it and for the next 15 minutes or so I was worried I was going to go into anaphylactic shock. Luckily, this didn’t happen.

We ate lunch, which was prepared by Savet’s new wife of 3 weeks. It was absolutely delicious and very authentic Cambodian food. We then spent about an hour relaxing in hammocks and chatting to Bun about his life in Cambodia. He made a very good point that even if you achieve well in Cambodia, you still never have enough money put back and live day to day. He said how lucky we all were to have been born in a country that provides healthcare, pensions and benefits, therefore allowing us to save money to travel and have some security. He is absolutely right. We are very very fortunate.

On the way to our next stop, our tuk tuk drivers stopped and bought us a rat to share. It’s quite a common meat to eat here and we hadn’t tried it, so why not? It tasted a lot like duck to be honest. A very gamey chicken. Not awful and we weren’t sick after so WIN!

We headed up Phnom Sampeou for our next couple of stops. This ‘mountain’ has a few places of interest to visit, the first being a temple which used to be a prison during the Khmer Rogue regime. Bun told us that his generation, which is also our generation, knew little about the regime until internet became common in Cambodia about 6 years ago. He said that the people around at that time don’t want to talk about it and therefore he said it felt like a myth. Since then, his generation has done a lot of research through books and online leading to a much deeper understanding of what happened. Savet told us that his Aunt, who we met earlier, was a cook for the Khmer Rogue during this time (not her choice). Her husband used to be a member of the opposing Army. Eventually it was found out about this and he was executed. She knew that he was going to be executed, but couldn’t do anything about it as they threatened to kill her entire family. The whole thing is just heartbreaking. This temple, held prisoners before they were taken to the killing cave to be executed, which was our next stop.

A depiction of hell

The killing cave is a very sombre place. At this cave thousands of people were bludgeoned to death and then thrown through the natural skylight in the top of the cave. Remains are still found here, just like at the Killing Fields, and a lot of them are now stored in a memorial at the base. Even more so than at the Killing Fields, this place had an air of sadness. You could imagine the atrocities that happened here and the suffering of the people who were not killed by the first hit. Joy is the best way to move past tragedy and that is exactly what we feel from the Cambodian people. They are moving forward with their lives, smiling and hopeful for the future.

We viewed the sunset from the top of the mountain before heading down for the main event.

Every night for about 1 hour, millions of bats fly out of a cave at the base of Phnom Sampeou. It was such a beautiful and magical site. Unfortunately, the photos do not do it justice. Please ask to see our videos when we get home.

The countryside tour had absolutely made our time in Battambang and we were so glad we chose to spend our day with Savet and Bun.

Monks collecting Alms at breakfast time.