Cambodia, Chapter 4: Battambang

Like I said last time, it was a short visit to the nearby town of Battambang as we only had the weekend off. BUT, we definitely made use of our time there! Unlike Pursat it was a bit more westernised which was very refreshing!

As we had very early starts for our orphanage work, we decided to have a little lie in the Saturday, so hopped on a coach around noon – it only being a one and a half hour journey. When we got off the coach, the tuk tuk drivers came at us like nobody’s business! A little overwhelmed, we pushed our way out of the crowds and tried to find a hostel or cheap hotel to stay at, and boy did we! Using my companion’s guidebook, we found Chhaya Hotel and we booked a twin room for 2 nights at $5 a night! Bargain! The next step was to hire a tuk tuk driver for the 2 days we were there, as we figured it’d allow us to see the majority of Battambang’s sights with relative ease. We found Phil Lay, a friendly, English-speaking older driver who promised to show us all Battambang had to offer – and we paid $20 between us for the weekend. Anyway, on our first day we wanted to head to the Killing Caves which were about a 45 minute drive out of town. The hike up there was HORRIBLE. The photo below doesn’t do it justice, but it was worth getting to the top of course - although we actually went up the wrong way and got a little lost, but luckily there was a Cambodian couple about who showed us the way to the cave itself.

As with the Killing Fields I visited outside of Phnom Penh, the caves here were pretty grim. Under the Khmer Rouge, a nearby temple was used as a prison and the prisoners held here were bludgeoned to death then dropped down into the cave. When we visited, there was a monk inside (or at least I think he was a monk) who cleaned and kept the place, and after we donated money, gave us red wristbands. After the cave, we headed up to the temple on the top of the mountain which gave great views of Battambang. When we had finished, Phil Lay then met us at the bottom of the mountain and took us to the Bat Cave (not actual name). He told us that everyday at sunrise and sunset, hundreds of thousands (maybe even millions) of bats flew out of the cave mouth in search of food. He then showed us a really cool photo one of his past passengers had taken and we were super keen to witness this Flight of the Bats (and we weren’t the only ones with other foreign tourists gathering at the base of the cave when we arrived). And it was amazing to behold! Quite hypnotic actually. SO many bats. Then after we’d seen all the bats leave, we headed to the Night Market for dinner, then later to the Riverside Balcony Bar for a drink (really cute place!).

On the Sunday, we began the day with a FANTASTIC breakfast at the Gecko Café (which we returned to a few times because it was so good – best iced coffees ever). Today’s aim was to see what the bamboo train was as we really didn’t know what to expect from it! It was about 20 minute tuk tuk drive out of town, and cost $5 apiece. You get on what looks like a bed frame made of bamboo which then hurtles down train tracks in the jungle. Pretty good fun! You go down the one-way track for about half an hour with a 10-15 minute break at a little pit-stop where we were hounded by children selling bracelets, and once you gave in to one, three more kids popped up in their place trying to sell their wares. I bought 3.

Post-bamboo train, we headed back to town and Phil Lay gave us a whistle stop tour of Battambang which was interesting. He was also full of really interesting stories and facts about Battambang, Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge regime (as he was 19 at the time so remembered it well). One thing he did tell us that I found really bad was the fact that in Cambodian schools, the children aren’t taught about the Khmer Rouge regime so his grandchildren and even his children don’t believe the stories he tells them about the conditions at the time. Apparently this is because the current Cambodian PM is a former Khmer Rouge party member. Phil Lay also told us about his experiences when the Khmer Rouge came to power. At the time, his family was very wealthy as his father was (I think) a party member, however, when everyone was turned out of their city homes his family had to pretend to be from a labour, working-class background in order to avoid execution and be taken to the agricultural working camps. He said that he lost his father, brother and mother in the camps.

The weekend in pictures:

View of the temple on the mountain from afar

Glimpse of Battambang

The long, steep road up

From the temple on the top of the mountain

Battambang from on high - the areas that look like puddles from afar are the flooded bits
(luckily this didn't interfere with our trip at all!)

Some Buddhist monks

The descent to the cave

The cave
On the right seemed to be pictures of the zodiac with money bowls beside them

The area of the temple used as a prison 

Flight of the Bats - so weird how they flew in the same line out of the cave

A short clip of the bats in flight!

Natassia and I on the bamboo train before embarking

The tracks!

The right of way problem: as it was only a one-way
track, if you came across anyone coming the other way
one group would have to de-rail and let the others pass

Our driver - a very smiley guy

A short clip on the train - 

looks a lot faster than it felt in real life!

(Also, sorry for the poor camera skills)

Left: bracelet selling kids swamping Natassia; Right: the pit stop town

In the middle is a little leaf/grass bracelet one of the
girls made me, she said it was free, so then I obviously
had to buy a few. They'll get ya every time.

Natassia and Phil Lay in his tuk tuk!

From our little Battambang tour: a Chinese cemetery

A roundabout's centrepiece

Drivin' through the floods

Temple building

Temple

The old French Govenor's House (built in 1907)

Well that’s it on the travel front I’m afraid! I’ve been home 3 months now, which is longer than I’d initially planned, but delays with my visa application in China couldn’t be helped. But it looks like I’ll be heading back to China next month for an exciting new adventure!

Until next time!

xoxo