After leaving Siem Reap, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Other than Phnom Penh, Siem Reap is the only city in Cambodia that I had visited before and I wasn't sure if other parts of Cambodia would pull at me the same way.
Batambang was very different from Siem Reap. The first thing we noticed was the absence of the bombardment of "Hey Lady want Tuk Tuk?? LadySir want foot massage??". It was quiet and peaceful. The locals acknowledge your presence without begging for you business, mostly because they aren't nearly as dependent on tourism as Siem Reap is. The place we stayed was literally under construction (which they fail to explain prior to check in), so there was no chance of ever sleeping in or taking a mid day nap. Luckily, we found a wonderful English speaking tourguide named Saro who kept us busy all day long with fun activities.
The first day he took us to see a few temples - one which was built in the 60's and one that was built in the 11th century. We also saw some "killing caves" which were used during the control of the Khmer Rouge as a way to get rid of over 10,000 innocent people. Like in Phnom Penh, the skulls and bones of the victims have been enshrined in a small temple structure inside the caves. Haunting and heartbreaking. We had lunch near Saro's village and talked with him about his family and background. His parents lived through the horror of Pol Pot, were forcefully seperated and managed to each escape to a refugee camp in Thailand where they miraculously found each other again. Saro was born while they were living in the refugee camp and he told us that to this day his father is weak and frail due to his malnutrition and mistreatment during the Khmer Rouge. It was so incredible to hear a persoanl account from such a dark time in Khmer "history".
We spent the rest of the day driving around in his tuk tuk stopping at random gardens, rice fields and river banks and we arrived back almost 9 hours after we started. It was a very fun and full day. We decided to take advantage of having such a great tourguide and booked him again for day two.
We started the next day on the infamous "bamboo train" - which basically consists of a rectangular bamboo plank to sit on (with no sides), a small motor similar to a lawn mower controlled by your "driver" and a one way track with gaps and splits in it. Incredibly, it was able to reach pretty high speeds considering it was so simple that it would literally be taken apart when another cart would be coming from the opposite direction. I've decided it's the closest I'll ever come to a magic carpet ride, so now I can check that off my list. :) After that adventure, we stopped to try bamboo sticky rice (which was delicious) and fried mouse. Yes, you heard that right. I, the pickiest eater on the planet, ate fried mouse that was caught in the rice fields...and I liked it. It really did taste like chicken. Who woulda thought. After two full days of sight seeing, I was wiped out and was staring to feel a bit under the weather, so we just vegged out the rest of the time.
Our next stop was Sihanoukville, aka the wannabe Cancun of Cambodia. It's a beach town that has literally shot up in the last year or so as a big tourist destination so there are tons of restaurants, tourists and westernized establishments and not so much of the Cambodian atmosphere. We did find a couple nice beaches and I managed to fry my pale self on day one. We also found a legit Mexican restaurant owned by an American called "Maybe Later" that boasted chips, cheese and beans direct from California. Heaven for a burrito-lovin Californian and a Tex-mex obsessed Texan. Sihanoukville as a whole didn't feel like Cambodia to me which made me a bit sad, but I did love being by the ocean again. Julian and I both had some stomach issues while we were there so we didn't do much besides lay on the beach and chill out. No complaints here.
So overall, Batambang and Sihanoukville were great, but they weren't Siem Reap. I'm not sure if anywhere else will get into my heart the same way as that city did. I think it's more about the experiences I had there than the actual city itself, but regardless, it is still my favorite. I am pleased that we were able to experience more of the country that I love so much, and after three weeks it was time to officially say goodbye to Cambodia.
After 6/7 hours of riding a hot bus to the Thai border, sweating my face off waiting to get my passport stamped and sitting on the front middle seat of a mini van with a numb butt for another 5 hours, we are back in Bangkok to stopover on the way to Krabi/Phi Phi/Phuket. The official 2 week beach binge begins now! (Well, after another 12 hour night bus.)
Batambang was very different from Siem Reap. The first thing we noticed was the absence of the bombardment of "Hey Lady want Tuk Tuk?? LadySir want foot massage??". It was quiet and peaceful. The locals acknowledge your presence without begging for you business, mostly because they aren't nearly as dependent on tourism as Siem Reap is. The place we stayed was literally under construction (which they fail to explain prior to check in), so there was no chance of ever sleeping in or taking a mid day nap. Luckily, we found a wonderful English speaking tourguide named Saro who kept us busy all day long with fun activities.
The first day he took us to see a few temples - one which was built in the 60's and one that was built in the 11th century. We also saw some "killing caves" which were used during the control of the Khmer Rouge as a way to get rid of over 10,000 innocent people. Like in Phnom Penh, the skulls and bones of the victims have been enshrined in a small temple structure inside the caves. Haunting and heartbreaking. We had lunch near Saro's village and talked with him about his family and background. His parents lived through the horror of Pol Pot, were forcefully seperated and managed to each escape to a refugee camp in Thailand where they miraculously found each other again. Saro was born while they were living in the refugee camp and he told us that to this day his father is weak and frail due to his malnutrition and mistreatment during the Khmer Rouge. It was so incredible to hear a persoanl account from such a dark time in Khmer "history".
We spent the rest of the day driving around in his tuk tuk stopping at random gardens, rice fields and river banks and we arrived back almost 9 hours after we started. It was a very fun and full day. We decided to take advantage of having such a great tourguide and booked him again for day two.
We started the next day on the infamous "bamboo train" - which basically consists of a rectangular bamboo plank to sit on (with no sides), a small motor similar to a lawn mower controlled by your "driver" and a one way track with gaps and splits in it. Incredibly, it was able to reach pretty high speeds considering it was so simple that it would literally be taken apart when another cart would be coming from the opposite direction. I've decided it's the closest I'll ever come to a magic carpet ride, so now I can check that off my list. :) After that adventure, we stopped to try bamboo sticky rice (which was delicious) and fried mouse. Yes, you heard that right. I, the pickiest eater on the planet, ate fried mouse that was caught in the rice fields...and I liked it. It really did taste like chicken. Who woulda thought. After two full days of sight seeing, I was wiped out and was staring to feel a bit under the weather, so we just vegged out the rest of the time.
Our next stop was Sihanoukville, aka the wannabe Cancun of Cambodia. It's a beach town that has literally shot up in the last year or so as a big tourist destination so there are tons of restaurants, tourists and westernized establishments and not so much of the Cambodian atmosphere. We did find a couple nice beaches and I managed to fry my pale self on day one. We also found a legit Mexican restaurant owned by an American called "Maybe Later" that boasted chips, cheese and beans direct from California. Heaven for a burrito-lovin Californian and a Tex-mex obsessed Texan. Sihanoukville as a whole didn't feel like Cambodia to me which made me a bit sad, but I did love being by the ocean again. Julian and I both had some stomach issues while we were there so we didn't do much besides lay on the beach and chill out. No complaints here.
So overall, Batambang and Sihanoukville were great, but they weren't Siem Reap. I'm not sure if anywhere else will get into my heart the same way as that city did. I think it's more about the experiences I had there than the actual city itself, but regardless, it is still my favorite. I am pleased that we were able to experience more of the country that I love so much, and after three weeks it was time to officially say goodbye to Cambodia.
After 6/7 hours of riding a hot bus to the Thai border, sweating my face off waiting to get my passport stamped and sitting on the front middle seat of a mini van with a numb butt for another 5 hours, we are back in Bangkok to stopover on the way to Krabi/Phi Phi/Phuket. The official 2 week beach binge begins now! (Well, after another 12 hour night bus.)
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