13th – 15th October 2011
Arriving in pretty little Battambang we promptly checked into the Royal Hotel, the place to stay in this town. Unlike most hotels with Royal in the name, it actually lived up to its reputation – we had a 7 dollar room for 5 dollars a night because we were staying longer than just one day and it was lovely. Big, clean, en suite bathroom (we usually do get a room with an attached bathroom but occasionally we get a shared bathroom, so it always makes me appreciate it when we do have attached amenities) a decent fan, a full length mirror! (this is very rare) and a writing desk and a couple of chairs. We had a quick rest and then dragged our weary bodies outside for a walk round the town.
Battambang was covered with rubbish. Wonderful. As we walked along one side of the river we saw several Ferris wheels (of the old, rusty and horrifyingly rickety variety) being dismantled and further on a team of street cleaners working their way through the festivals mess. We followed the river, crossing over it to see a temple with some impressive churning of the Sea of Milk going on outside.
Inside the walls it was peaceful and so we sat and tried to regain some energy for seeing the rest of the town. Impossible, we dragged our feet round a bit further ad then decided to call it a day. After a mammoth day of cycling around Angkor Wat we were absolutely shattered. Back in our room we watched a good but at times horrifying film, Blindness. It needed a little humour to follow it so we watched an episode of QI and then went to sleep.
The next day we did nothing. We slept late and lazed about like a couple of lazies, it was great. Towards the evening we headed up to the rooftop restaurant and I started writing my blog and Djalma finished writing his postcards. While we sat the weather closed in and a couple who were sitting near the balcony moved further in and we got talking. An English girl and an anglicized Canadian had just started their travels. We ended up having a couple of beers and dinner together across the road, it was a nice way to spend a lazy day.
Resolved to actual do something before we left Battambang we got in a remorque moto and headed off to Phnom Sampeau, the killing caves. The half hour ride out of town was slow and beautiful, we made our way to the limestone cliffs where the caves where based. We left the moto behind and walked the easy way, up the road and not the steps, to the top. The views over the countryside were beautiful, Battambang is famous for the best rice in Cambodia, we were told that the region actually produces enough rice to feed the whole country, and also for exceptionally sweet coconuts.
By now, hooked on noodles, I didn’t taste any of the famous rice instead we ate fried grey, white and pink mystery meat dipped in a mixture of sauces and helped down the snipped up baguette and soapy salad leaves. Reaching the path to the caves we wandered down along with a local family and descended into an open faced cave which was home to a large reclining Buddha and a memorial chamber filled with the skulls and bones of a tiny portion of people who were murdered here. It was surreal and a little upsetting. We left a small donation with the man who turned the lights on and off and got out of the cave and back into proper sunlight.
We continued up the hill and came to a small Wat which was in the process of being decorated.
The road was lined with signs on the way up, listing the benefactors who had donated money to help build the temple. I almost forgot to mention, on the way up we stopped at a certain level and then walked into some overgrown brush to find these two old soviet machine guns, left over from the war.
Surreal when monks were wandering by on their way up to the temple. The views from the top were the best, green rice fields dotted with trees stretched out as far as the eye could see, small hills started and ended abruptly amidst the flatness. I circled the different buildings and took pictures until it was time to leave.
We walked back down the hard way, steps and plenty of them. The view was hidden from all the trees so I didn’t feel all that bad about coming up the easy way. Back in our reined little tuk-tuk we headed back to town just as slowly as we came, our very sweet guide dropping us off outside our hotel. We packed and left, getting the bus to Cambodia’s Capital, Phnom Penh.
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