7/9/10 – 7/10/10 (siem reap)

Siem Reap – Battambang

We were a little sad to leave Matt and the River Village. It was one of our longest stays in a single location. We headed to Battambang, a 4-hour bus ride west of Siem Reap. When we arrived we hadn’t heard from our hotel on whether our reservation was confirmed and of course that meant that we didn’t have a tuk tuk driver lined up. We were the only foreigners on the bus so when we stepped off the bus we were prime targets. There were about twenty drivers surrounding us each of them vying for our attention. We ducked into the bus company’s store for some reprieve since they weren’t allowed inside. We contacted the hotel to confirm our reservation and they contacted a driver to meet us at the bus stop. Coincidentally one of the drivers clamoring over us earlier was the hotel’s designated driver. We were a bit skeptical since we have heard of stories where the driver will take you to another hotel saying that the reserved hotel is very dirty or full. After confirming with the hotel again that we had the correct driver we hopped into his tuk tuk. We quickly checked into our hotel and were relieved to be away from all the chaos. The power had gone out in the city so we decided to stay in.

This is when the addiction started. For the next twelve hours straight Jon and I laid in bed watching our pirated DVDs. If it wasn’t bad enough we were watching different TV shows on our individual laptops with headphones. While Jon was watching Breaking Bad I was getting caught up on Dexter since he had seen season one and two already. Every so often he would update me on Breaking Bad so I didn’t fall behind on another show. We only had one computer charger so we had to take turns charging our computers. Luckily, the hotel had room service so we ordered in for lunch and dinner. I can only imagine what the hotel staff must have thought of us. Here is a couple who checks into the room at 11am, doesn’t leave the room all day, and orders room service for both lunch and dinner. Oh wait. We did take a five-minute break to go downstairs to coordinate a tour for the next day. I take it back we did exercise some control over our addiction.

The next day after a marathon day of TV shows, we cleaned ourselves up for a day of sightseeing. Battambang is a sleepy town with not a lot of tourists. What drew me to Battambang was the bamboo train. The train is a simple device comprised of a four-wheel rig with a 4’ x 6’ bamboo slate on top of it and a small motor in the back. There are no walls and doors, you simply sit on the bamboo slate as it rolls down the railway. The locals use it to transport things from one town to another. We got on the train and were told to hang out to our things. We must have been speeding down the tracks at about 25-30km/hour with wind blowing in our hair. Our driver seemed to have only one speed and that was to go fast. The best part is that there is only one track so if there’s another train coming down the opposite direction one of the trains has to disassemble to let the other pass. The train with the most people/things has the right of way. As we were rolling along the track we came across opposing traffic but luckily there were two other trains with tourists behind us so we had the right of way. Everyone came to a halt and the opposing train’s driver took off the motor first, then the bamboo slate, and finally the wheel rig off the track. There isn’t much room on either side of the track so sometimes you have to crowd around the bushes to let the other train pass you by. It was a hilarious scene to witness but it was just another typical day for the locals.

After the bamboo train our tuk tuk driver took us to the only winery in Cambodia where they make rose, brandy, and some reds. They only had reds for us to try, which wasn’t bad but a bit expensive to purchase at $15/bottle. Wine in Cambodia is extremely cheap and you can get pretty good imported wine at $10/bottle. As we were heading to a dragon fruit farm we passed by a tree full of fruit bats. There must have been hundreds of them hanging upside down on the tree. It was in the middle of the day so they were all sleeping but flapping their wings to keep themselves cool. It made me itchy just looking at them.

While in Asia we’ve had the chance to try many tropical fruits and one of our favorites is the dragon fruit. It’s about the size of a mango and there are two types of dragon fruit. One is white on the inside while the other one is the color of pomegranates, which is the sweeter of the two. For some reason they use a rubber tire to guide the growth of the plant.  The plant looks like a big cactus flower growing out of the rubber tire with the dragon fruit at the tip of each leaf.

Our last stop was the Phnom Banan, a temple the locals claim to have served as the inspiration for Angkor Wat. To get to the temple you have to climb 358 steps and let me just say that it wasn’t easy. The humidity makes any type of exercise almost unbearable but I’m happy to report that we made it to the top. The temple is a lot smaller than the Angkor temples but it does provide a nice view of Battambang. After the strenuous climb we were ready to head back into town for a late lunch at Gecko Café.

We resumed our DVD addiction for a few hours before heading out to dinner. The hotel staff recommended White Rose, which seemed to be the most popular restaurant in town. Jon ordered his go-to dish…vegetables with cashew and rice while I had a delicious bowl of noodle soup.

Cambodia Bamboo Train from Annie Lin on Vimeo.