Battambang is the provincial capital of Battambang province in northwest Cambodia close to the Thai border. My fellow MCCer, Grace, and I decided to spend two nights there because we were already headed in that direction for a MCC staff retreat last weekend. The retreat was in Siem Riep and was good but no new interesting stories since it was my fourth trip there. (except for maybe a beautiful, handmade silk scarf for 20 bucks)
So last Monday, Grace and I hopped a bus to Battambang, checked into an $8 a night guesthouse, and had good khmer food and delicious smoothies (or fruit shakes as they are known here) for dinner. Battambang is the third largest city in Cambodia, maybe about 100,000 people, but I would still categorize it as a sleepy little town. We quickly realized that there were more foreigners in Battambang than we expected- but they were all hardcore backpackers. Battambang is a little off the beaten trail for regular tourists. Along with this realization, we acknowledged that we are in fact, not cool enough, or dirty enough, to be backpackers. But we can speak some Khmer, which ups our cool factor by like 10. So, we composed this haiku in honor of the Battambang backpackers:
Hardcore backpackers
always scuzzy, always cheap
is this really fun?
always scuzzy, always cheap
is this really fun?
We spent our one full day in Battambang on a countryside tour with Mr. Tin Tin, a guide recommended by another MCCer. Tin Tin is a french children's book character that you see around Cambodia on T-shirts. (Which ofcourse Mr. Tin Tin was wearing to complete his look) First stop, the bamboo train. There's a rail line from Phnom Penh, through Battambang, to the Thai border made by the French in the 1930s. However, a lot of it is damaged now, so the line isn't in use. This situation gave birth to bamboo trains- carts made out of bamboo on train wheels that can be removed the tracks simply by lifting them- ie a cheap mode of transportation and a tourist attraction simultaneously. So after paying 5 bucks, we hopped on the bamboo train for a quick jaunt to the next station. It feels something like flying and something like you are about to derail at any moment. So fun. On our return trip however, the heavens opened up and it poured. I mean poured. There is no roof in a flat cart. Now, rainy season in Cambodia is from July-ish to November. It is not suppose to rain at all for another 4 months! So we were surprised, and soaked, and laughing hysterically. Very memorable.
The rest of the morning was spent touring through villages. We saw people making rice noodles, rice paper, fish paste, and sticky rice desserts. (umm, you can do a lot of stuff with rice) We saw a pre-French Buddhist temple (a wat) that was used as a prison under the Khmer Rouge and is now a site of mass graves. (the Khmer Rouge attempted to stop all religious practice in Cambodia and many wats were desecrated) Also, while we were driving we passed a group of boys on bikes. They all called out hello to us- the English word every Cambodian learns at birth. But, one boy yells out "hello! you won the world cup!" Now, Grace just happened to be wearing a World Cup T-shirt so we just cracked up. Was this the only English he knew or did he see the shirt? Who knows! Then, we had lunch at a very not-touristy restaurant in our own little hut overlooking the river.
In the afternoon we headed to Wat Banan- a temple dating back about 1000 years. Cambodia has more ancient temples than any other country. We climbed 380 steps to get to the top of the 'mountain' where the temple was. I say 'mountain' because Cambodia is very, very flat and any hill qualifies as a mountain here. In fact, Phnom, as in Phnom Penh, means mountain. If you know me at all , you know it was a feat for me to make it up and down those stairs without giving into vertigo. Grace was very patient with my progress! The temple was lovely and the view was nice.
We headed back to PP on an early bus the next morning. All in all, a very wonderful trip.
Oh yes, one last haiku written by Grace and I on the first day of our trip:
The rest of the morning was spent touring through villages. We saw people making rice noodles, rice paper, fish paste, and sticky rice desserts. (umm, you can do a lot of stuff with rice) We saw a pre-French Buddhist temple (a wat) that was used as a prison under the Khmer Rouge and is now a site of mass graves. (the Khmer Rouge attempted to stop all religious practice in Cambodia and many wats were desecrated) Also, while we were driving we passed a group of boys on bikes. They all called out hello to us- the English word every Cambodian learns at birth. But, one boy yells out "hello! you won the world cup!" Now, Grace just happened to be wearing a World Cup T-shirt so we just cracked up. Was this the only English he knew or did he see the shirt? Who knows! Then, we had lunch at a very not-touristy restaurant in our own little hut overlooking the river.
In the afternoon we headed to Wat Banan- a temple dating back about 1000 years. Cambodia has more ancient temples than any other country. We climbed 380 steps to get to the top of the 'mountain' where the temple was. I say 'mountain' because Cambodia is very, very flat and any hill qualifies as a mountain here. In fact, Phnom, as in Phnom Penh, means mountain. If you know me at all , you know it was a feat for me to make it up and down those stairs without giving into vertigo. Grace was very patient with my progress! The temple was lovely and the view was nice.
We headed back to PP on an early bus the next morning. All in all, a very wonderful trip.
Oh yes, one last haiku written by Grace and I on the first day of our trip:
Battambang haiku
we want to see bamboo trains
tin tin tin tin TIN
we want to see bamboo trains
tin tin tin tin TIN
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