Siem Reap to Battambang

BAfter a delicious breakfast at our hotel in Siem Reap, Petit Villa Boutique and Sap we left by taxi to travel to Battambang. We had loved out time in Siem Reap, visiting the old maket and dinner at the Villa. The hotel was rustic with a great pool and the staff couldn't have been more delightful, would recommend it to friends. The taxi that we took was an uncle of one of the staff at the hotel and spoke NO English. After a false start, Jim left the credit card at the hotel, so the staff rang the taxi and wewent  back again, we headed out of the city, excited at the prospect of meeting up with Clare.

The trip was quite bumpy and in places the road was washed away, but it was made bearable by the amazing sights along the way.

Big hay covered carts,

Water buffalo,

Cars with boot loads

Pigs on bikes

Tractors and floods and so much more.

We had a little trouble finding our hotel, the Vimean Sovannaphaphoum Resort in Rattanak Commune but as we spoke no Khymer and our driver neither spoke nor read English, I think we all did remarkable well!

Our hotel is lovely although the futon bed is a bit close to the floor for my liking, still it is amusing to see me get out of it!

We stashed our luggage and headed for the pool. It is monsson weather so mornings start hot and then get hotter and the humidity is about 200%. Just when you think you can no long breathe the wet air the clouds burst and pour cold refreshing torrents onto the earth and every thing is crisply cool for alittle  while until the cycle begins again.

We were in this pool when Clare arrived after she finished work and joined us in the pool. It was so good to see her.

We couldn't get enough of her, wanting to hear all the stories and learn about her life here. We went out for dinner at Clare's most favourite noodle place and understood why she loved it.

Temples

Babysitting

While in Siem Reap we joined a tour company called Beyond tours for a trip out to some of the more remote temples of th angkor wat complex. Our driver was Saree and our guide was Ratana, a delightful man with a great sense of humour.

 We travelled about 60 Kim's to near Hari Hali, the old city. He told us that the temples were often built near lakes as the Hindu Gods like water, and on hills as the Hindu gods like to be close to the heavens.

We learned that before 800 was there Angkor period, 800 to 1500 was the Angkor period, and after 1500 was the post Angkor period.

The lake that these temples are near is the amazing Tonle Sap lake. Prior to 1970 the fisherman would catch one ton of fish in every square kilometer. The lake covers 2000 kilometers in May but spreads to12000 in September after the monsoons. The rains have been late this year and the locals complain that there is now too much water. We certainly saw a lot of flooding later in the week as we travelled to Battambong.

The first temple we visited was Pre Rup at Bantreay Samre

There were dark caverns.

And well preserved courtyards

And tumbled down areas

Where nature has taken hold

Extensive carvings

Quite exquisite

Amazing and intricate

And some very big bugs.

It was an amazing day. The people on our little tour, seven of us were lovely. A Malasian couple, Danny and Johhny, a discrete couple from Gatewick, Jason from England via New Zealand and Jim and I.  We stooped on the way at a road side stall for sticky coconut rice and red bean cooked in bamboo climbed which was ...interesting! 

It was a memorable day, we saw and learnt so much and the friendliness of the Khymer people was reinforced. On our way home we stopped at the Mine museum. It is hard to comprehend the extent of the mines laid in this country and the damage that they have done. That and the fact that under the Khymer Rouge between 1975 -1979  1.7 million people died, a quarter of the population. Estimates suggest that there are still between 4 and 6 million unexplored ordinance. Such a sobering statistic in such a gentle land.

Artisans Angkor

Second day in Seam Reap and discussions over a leisurely breakfast stimulated us to find a friendly tuk tuk and head out of Siem Reap to the Artisans Angkor silk farm. As we didn't go at either of the two tour times we were met by a gentle guide who took us through the educational aspect of the silk farm. After travelling through acres of various mulberry trees we went into the nursery where there were  baskets of newly hatched silk worms

Then we saw the silk work cocoons being boiled to remove the spider web fine silk threads

We saw the dying process and learnt how they had given up traditional dyes with alum mordants for the new improved Bayer dyes!!!!

Saw the silk being wound onto spools

And then the weaving process

and finally into the museum to see the silk made into ancient and modern garments

and then to the amazing shop were we bought some lovely gifts. An educative and memorable day

Return to Cambodia

We arrived at the Siem Reap airport in the early afternoon and were greeted by our Tuk Tuk driver Mice.  The drive in from the airport filled me with joy. The beauty of the countryside, the shabby shanties, the dust and heat and shiny brown naked children jumping in the brown muddy puddles beside the endless lime green rice fields, the lotus lakes, the dodgy dodgy wiring, the smell of roadside fires, the smiles of the people. It made me feel I had returned to somewhere loved.

We booked into our hotel. It has about 8 garden units around a swimming pool and everywhere lotus, palms, bamboo and banana palms. It is lush and green, beautiful pots everywhere filled with water, fish and floating lotus.

It is hot and humid and I could almost  hear the mozzies clapping their legs together as they saw me coming, what they didn't know was that I came with Bushman's tropical strength DEET which I wear as my new perfume!

After settling in we walked up the back streets toward the town, over the bridge across the fast flowing smooth brown Siem Reap river and into the chaos that is Siem Reap town.

Everywhere there are motor bikes purring along, Tuk Tuks touting for business, a string of flash imported cars,  which are new to the scene since our last visit amble along and weaving between this are a plethora of people of all ages on push bikes, people pushing wheel chairs and people missing limbs and using crutches sharing a road as there are no pavements as we know them. 

We sat outside for a beer and spring rolls and watched the world go by. Small brown big eyed children, some with missing arms come sullenly to our 

table to beg before they are shooed away by proprietors. It is a hard world for these young people and your heart bleeds for them. You have to confront your own humanity as you look away and vow to make a large donation to a Cambodian children's charity when you get home, knowing that any money you give these begging children is likely to be commandeered for alcohol or drugs by their desperate parents. We make a mental note to take some dried fruit to give to these kids next time we see them.

We wander down the road and find a restaurant for dinner, sitting at the side and enjoying the the mix of accents as the tourists of many nations congregate at this amazing place full of history and pain.

Replete after dinner we find a Tuk Tuk driver to take us home. We give him the name of our hotel and he asks if we know the way, Fortified by wine and beer we feel it can't be all that difficult to find our hotel. Siem Reap is not a big place and we know we have to cross the river.

We drive for a few minutes and a police man steps out in front of our Tuk Tuk. There is a short conversation and the policeman stands with his arms folded, his expression and the gun in his holster make him look very fierce. A few minutes later our Tuk Tuk driver opens his wallet and passes some bank notes to the grumpy cop. He then returns to the Tuk Tuk and apologises to us. I ask him if he got a receipt for the money he paid and he laughs and says "No, madame, this is Cambodia".  It was a quick reminder of the corruption that exists that exists within the ranks of those that hold the power. 

Suddenly we are quite sober and Jim is pouring cold water on my desire to go back and photograph the policeman.

We proceed in the direction of what we think is our hotel, the Petit Villa Boutique and Spa, Wat Damnak, Salakomrouk Commune, Siem Reap. Unfortunately with no side works, dirt roads and  no electric street lighting, everything looks so different. Our Tuk Tuk driver has no idea and neither do we. Rattling down dark shrub shrouded alley ways in a strange  country with no idea of the direction you're travelling is quite an exhilarating experience. Eventually boredom set in for the tuk driver and he stopped to ask several people who were eating at road side stall, all seemed to point in different directions, so our driver acted on the consensus and eventually delivered us back to our hotel, 

Well its happened again!

Now, as those of you that know me realize I'm one that is all for a quiet life! I'm content to sit in the sun and ruminate on how good life is, but every now and then I think that perhaps I am missing something. And I am! I'm missing my son Tim and his wife Jen and I'm missing my youngest daughter Clare.

So Jim and I did a quick calculation and thought that if we were sensible (!) we could eek out the money for another visit to Singapore and from there it is a quick jump to Cambodia and Clare. So we're off! We've had our shots, bought our tickets and are now counting down to next Thursday when we fly out. For those of you that are interested you will be able to follow out travel adventures here.