Off we go to Battambang!

This weekend, Isabel and Owen and I headed to Battambang, a city in the west of Siem Reap. It was one big adventure!

Early in the morning we were meeting our tuk-tuk driver for a tour in Battanbang, but first we started our day with a delicious pancake with bananas (the small, sweet Cambodian bananas) and Nutella. This dish can also be found on the streets of Siem Reap. A fresh fruit shake was also part of our breakfast off course! We were ready to go! :D On our way, we stopped to see a group of monks. They stood in a line, one by one, to receive food from the people. The monks only eat this food during the day and for the inhabitants it's an honor to give a meal to them.

For 30 years, Battambang was a property of the French government, which explains the architectural influence in the streets. It's kind of strange to see French houses in Cambodia :) In the center, we went to see a statue built from melted metal from the guns used during the Khmer rouge regime (see my blog about Phnom Penh). He explained that this monument is very important for the inhabitants. They cried tears of joy when they collected the guns to melt. Next, we saw this statue of a Buddha with a stick. A weird story, about a man with a magical stick but he lost it in Battambang. The local people were so honored that the magical stick is somewhere here, so they called this city Battambang which literally means 'city of the lost stick'.

Enough history for the morning shift, so we headed to the popular Bamboo train. Finally, this was one of the main reason why I wanted to travel to this place! Years ago, there was a train railway but nowadays they don't use the train anymore. So, the Cambodian people were creative and used these rails to transport supplies from the fields to their village. They installed bamboo platforms with a boat engine, I just love the concept! :D At the end of this year, they are planning to use the rails again for a train, so it was now or never to explore this unique transport!

Carola, Owen and Isabel and myself ready for the take off!

Enjoying the ride :D

We took off for a ride, but after a few minutes an other bamboo train approached us from the opposite direction. What now? Well, in just one minute they take the platform from the rail and let the other one pass. I just love their down-to earth way of approaching things or problems! After a break and a first sun burn moment, we finished our ride for the day.

Just taking the platform of the rail, no problemo!

During lunchtime we saw the country side including fruit and vegetable fields. We even stopped at a local mushroom farm and we learned about the whole process of growing big white mushrooms. Later, we also stopped at a rice field. This was interesting because in Europe we eat our rice without knowing how they grow it!

Our bumpy ride in the Tuk-Tuk took us to the other side of town, to a mountain which is well-known for its killing cave and bat cave. Once you are at the top, you get to see a cave (10 meters deep) where people were pushed into during the Khmer rouge regime. You could see the bones lying at the bottom of the cave, very sad to see these things.... At the top of the mountain, you can also wander around and enjoy the beautiful view and the charming golden temples. Once we were finished we took a scooter to go down, this was one hell of a ride! A steep way down and 2 girls together with 1 driver on an old scooter: one may wonder if the brakes were still working properly!

We ended our day trip waiting at the foot of the mountain at the bat cave. Between 5 and 6 pm, millions of bats fly out of the cave to search for food. During a whole hour, you can witness thousands of black spots flying in a snake wave. So cool! It was a beautiful natural phenomena to watch!

Beautiful interiors in the temples!

The Killing Cave

Isabel and myself at the top of the mountain

The bat cave

Millions of bats, so cool to see!

The typical snake move

We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant with good Dim sums and had a delicious piece of cake in a local bar called Choco L'Art, owned by a French girl and her Cambodian boyfriend.

The next day was memorable! We returned to Siem Reap by boat. The Tonlé Sap Lake (well-known for the floating villages) is situated between Battanbang and Siem Reap so it seemed like a perfect ending of our week-end. It takes 7 to 8 hours, which is long compared to a 2,5 hour taxi drive, but it was worth the adventure! It started off well, but after 3 hours we got stuck in the middle of nowhere! Our boat engine broke down... After half an hour we could continue our way. The funniest part was the fact that before we reached the big lake, we first had to float through a very narrow river. The tree branches came into our boat and hit us (see the pictures), haha! :D

Great ending of a nice week-end with my room mate Isabel (Portugese girl), floor mate Owen (Taiwanese boy) and Carola (Swiss girl)!!