Actually, the worst bit of travel mishap we've had so far was a night bus from Battambang to Shianoukville where the driver insisted on playing local music at full blast the whole way there, but we're getting ahead of ourselves a bit.
Let's rewind back to the end of our last post. We left Siem Reap making our way down to the water and stopped over in a river town called Battambang that is labeled as "laid back" (not much going on) and "charming" (a bit dull) by our Lonely Planet guidebook. Though we only spent one night in town, we did take in a bit of the surrounding country side by riding a local innovation - the bamboo train - that consists of a raft-like bamboo mat placed atop two train-track axles and motored by what looks like a converted lawn-mower engine and a tension belt connecting it to the wheels (rear wheel drive we guess). Although the ride is very much a tourist trap, it is not without its charms, especially when two bamboo trains come headfirst at each other on the track and one needs to be disassembled to let the other pass. We also managed to get soaked on our climb up a hill to see some Khmer Rouge killing caves (as ominous as the name implies) and a hill-top temple that affords a nice view - albeit a bit obscured by the weather - of the surrounding villages. That's about as much as Avi can tolerate discussing our time here without getting frustrated so we'll let the pictures/video elaborate:
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| Bamboo Train Being Assembled |
And Here is a first-person view of the ride:
Shelter From the Rain Storm - Covered in Buddha Murals
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| Temple Atop Phnom Sampeuv Near Battambang |
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| View from Phnom Sampeuv |
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| Stairs Down from Hilltop Temple |
From Battambang, we took the aforementioned night trip to Shianoukville, Cambodia's premier beach-side resort town. We've really enjoyed it here, extending our stay by 2 or 3 more days than we had originally planned. The standard beach day means getting some breakfast, taking a morning dip, reading on the sand (there are plenty of lounge chairs and sun umbrellas to be had for the low price of a $1 coconut), taking a midday break when the sun is at its peak, then a nighttime soak and walk along the shore, and finally dinner at one of the many stalls by the side of the main turnabout in town - rinse and repeat. However, we have been lucky to interact with the locals on a level deeper than "You want some massage? No? OK, maybe later?" We hooked up with a Cambodian family on a day trip from Siem Reap. The husband, Sampat, was travelling with his wife, sister, and who we think was his nephew. Since he, like 85% of the Siem Reap populace, works in the tourist industry, he spoke English very well. Avi talked with him a bit about his life story and then he invited us to take a trip to bamboo island with his family, for free! Beyond this being our first interaction with a local where we weren't being solicited for anything, it was really nice to tag along with the family as the got to enjoy an all too rare vacation. It was actually refreshing to ask Sampat a question about where we were going only to have him reply "I don't know, this is first time for me also." Unfortunately, since this whole trip was spur-of-the-moment (they literally plucked us from the ocean and on to the boat), we do not have pictures to document this lovely afternoon. There's a bit more to our ocean-front story, but you'll have to wait till the next post to find out. For now here is just one teaser shot:
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