We are here in Cambodia, currently in Battambang. A funny name, pronounced "bottom-bong". Anyways, it's been quite an adventure in this country. I could sum up our time here so far with just one word - hot. I can safely say I have never been this hot in my life. It is accentuated by the dirt roads, lack of water (or at least water you could feel ok about jumping into to cool down), and absence of air conditioning in most places. And fans just don't cut it most of the time. Re-circulated hot air is pretty gross.
Anyways, we are not quitters who let a bit of hot air get us down, so we've tried to get out and see what Cambodia has to offer. We started out in Phnom Penh after a full day traveling up the Mekong in a the previously mentioned hot box, a.k.a. the slow boat. We found a great hostel with an adorable old lady owner and a 12 year old pregnant dog named Cheyna. We have yet to see the dog move or stop looking exhausted with life.
While in Phnom Penh, I walked around (starting at 7.30am to avoid the heat) and headed down to the Tuol Sleng Museum - the location for where they tortured and killed thousands of Khmer people during the Khmer Rouge period in the 70's. Needless to say, it was extremely depressing and difficult to see, but fascinating. It is an old high school that the leaders took over, so you see these empty classrooms where you can imagine the brutality that took place, and they documented each person who entered in a photograph, so they have up on the walls thousands of photographs of each person, and you know that everyone you are seeing was eventually killed. Brutally.
To lighten my mood after that, I went down to the market and bought a lot. The market was indoors and like an oven, and I had ladies approaching me swinging fans in my face because I looked like I was on death's door, covered in sweat.
Anyways, nothing much more too exciting to report from there. A few days after arriving, we took a bus to Siem Reap, the town that acts as a home base for visiting the Angkor temples. The town itself was quite cute, you can tell they have pretty much westernized the place for the tourists that come, as there are thousands and mainly from other countries. We arrived after a flawless bus ride (gotta love the Mekong Express) and checked into our guesthouse. First impression of the place - even hotter than Phnom Penh. It's like a desert. We passed the time eating our way around the town from one air conditioned restaurant to the next, because just walking around drained all of our energy.
The next day we headed to the temples at 5am. Repeat - 5am. We had heard that the sunrise at the main temple, Angkor Wat, is amazing, so we sucked it up and it was fascinating. We hired a tuk-tuk (a guy on a motorbike pulling a little carriage type thing where we sit) and he brought us around the temples. There are SO many. We had decided to do it in a day, due to time constrictions, and also we assumed (correctly) that one day of looking at temple ruins would be just fine. By 8am we had seen three already, so off to a great start. By around 11am the sun was coming out and we were lagging on in the heat, a layer of sweat had formed, and we figured it was time to wrap things up. We got to see a good amount of stuff, including the temple Ta Prohm, which you cinema buffs will know from Tomb Raider the movie. I haven't seen it but apparently it's an important spot in the movie. The photo is the one at the beginning of the post and also in this paragraph. It was amazing to see the gigantic roots becoming one with the temple.
Ok, so next comes the good part - transport from Siem Reap to Battambang. We had heard (thanks a lot, Lonely Planet) that it was one of the most scenic boat rides going between the two towns. It could take about 7 hours in the dry season, which is now, but we figured it would be a great way to see the country. We get on the boat and we found a seat under cover in the back, which we were relieved about as we had heard people had to sit on the uncovered roof of the boat in the blaring sun because of lack of seats. About a half hour into the ride, the driver turns the motor off and the Cambodian guys start to look at the engine suspiciously. Which in turn makes us suspicious. They are jumping in the water going under the boat, opening up pipes in the engine, cutting drains, etc. At one point I see a fire ignite, a small one of course, but no less troubling. They calmly put the fire out by throwing some river water onto it and move on. To solve this problem for some reason, they tell those of us who are sitting in the back to go up to the roof. Yes, we are put outside to cook in the sun.
Now a few hours pass and we stop at a floating village where we grab some food, and next thing we know we are lead out with our bags to two pickup trucks. Small pickup trucks. There are about 50 people with us, including about ten local Cambodians who have somehow found there way into our group, I'm sure not by paying $15 like we tourists all did. So they start loading all 50 people's bags on the back (huge backpacking bags) and then they tell us to jump in. I sat back, thinking that there was no way we would all fit so surely they would send another truck. Oh no. Of course not. Leaving me with the worst seat of all, in the way back in the corner, leaving me just enough room to fall off and not feel stable. The Cambodians all took the front seats, so generous of them. A reminder - it's mid-day heat at this point.
Here is the photo I was able to capture between sweaty arms and twisted legs. Absolutely ridiculous, right?! So we head off, and the road is terrible. And I don't think you know what I may mean by terrible, because I had no idea before I came here and didn't believe people's stories about the maddening roads, but I saw it first hand - muddy dirt roads with pot holes deep enough to cause a truck to tip over. So we drive along flying in the air at certain points, tipping drastically to each side, getting scraped and whacked by overgrown bushes that are flying at our faces as we all duck to avoid decapitation. It was amazing. I laughed a lot at first, I think from delirium, but after about an hour and a half it definitely wasn't funny. I had about four people's sweat sharing mine, and we were all covered in dirt by the end. And today I am sore as hell from gripping onto the rope and Geri's backpack to save my life so I wouldn't fall off. I had to rip my fingers off at the end to detach them, I was holding on so tight.
So anyways, good story, no? I wish I could have had a video camera because words really can't describe it.
So, here in Battambang, I took a cooking class this morning which was amazing. I love the food here, lots of coconut and curries. The teacher, a chef at a restaurant here, took us to the market to buy the ingredients (where I witnessed lots of bloody fish killed live, spiders, skinned frogs, etc. for sale), and then he took us back to cook up some fantastic dishes. I ate so much I am still full. And it was delicious, if I do say so myself.
So that's about it. Sorry for the long length of this entry but lots to tell. We're heading back to Phnom Penh tomorrow then off to the beach in the south which should be a nice break.
I'm sadly writing this from a town NOT on Koh Chang, where we've been for the past 5 days. We've finished our time there and have reached a state of depression due to the fact that we didn't want to leave and are already suffering from withdrawals. Only five hours after leaving. It is one of, if not THE, most beautiful places I've been to, and we had one of the best trips ever. And a lot of our wonderful time was due to fate. I will explain...
The weather was perfect, there were dogs running around on the beach hanging out with all the vacationers, it felt like living a dream. And unfortunately now it is done. BUT, we have two more islands to go to before heading out of Asia, so hopefully they will not disappoint, but it will be tough to top Koh Chang.
