Adventures in Battambang

After Phnom Penh (fun post, serious post), we headed north to Siem Reap, with a quick stop along the way at Battambang (if you've lost track, I'm currently in Cambodia). After being absolutely mobbed coming out of the bus by tuk-tuk drivers wanting our business, we picked the least pushy of the drivers, and found a good guesthouse. Since we only had one full day in Battambang, we hit the ground running, and after an hour to settle in took off to catch some sites before dark.

We ended up at a series of caves / temples on a hilltop, where we were given a tour by a friendly cell-phone-wielding monk. we made it down the mountain just before sunset to catch the nightly bat exodus from a cave in the hillside. It was cool to see them flying out in a snaking line, staying very close together. When a large noise was made (such as scraping a can on the ground), they would scatter in every direction. I guess it disrupted their echo-location. Pretty neat.

The next day we hit everything else on Battambangs "must-see" list (it was a pretty short list). First stop was the bamboo railway. Basically it was a large bamboo board that they'd put on top of two railroad axles, attach a motor, and drive down the railway. There was only one track, so if you encountered a car heading in the opposite direction, one car would have to dismantle to let the other pass. Very cool. We also saw a few temples, saw how they make bamboo sticky rice (a delicious snack) and rice paper (used to wrap spring rolls), and toured an old Pepsi bottling plant. Definitely a good day. I ended it with dinner on the roof of our hotel, while catching up on emails thanks to the hotel's free wireless (not too many places we stayed have had that, so it's a welcome luxury when it's there).

Battambang: check. On to Siem Reap!!

Monk and Monkey! The monk gestured for us to pose with the monkey as well, but I preferred not to risk a monkey attack. . .

Mie and I snack on crickets. Yummmm!

bats streaming out of the cave

assembling our bamboo railway car

me, Sanne, and Mie on the bamboo railway

making bamboo sticky rice, which I found to be a pretty good snack for bus rides

making rice paper (which is used for spring rolls). 100 pieces sell for $1. That's a lot of work for a buck!

an abandoned Pepsi bottling plant. Not sure what was so special about this, but everyone who visits Battambang goes there. And who were we to go against tradition?

group photo at the hilltop temple ruins