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| Fallen in love with the charms of Battambang |
I was glad MOH made the choice though, for I fell in love with this little "lost" province of Cambodia. The 5 hour journey in torrential rains and floods was well worth it for when I arrived, I was totally caught by the 'old world charms' the city oozes. Of course, first of all, the hotel in which MOH booked us in was super beautiful. Bambu Hotel is a boutique hotel nestled in a colonial-style mansion. After checking-in (and oohing-ah-ing about the size of the bathroom), we immediately set out for town to satisfy our hunger.
The town was small and easily managed on foot. Braving the rains, we made our way to Khmer Delight for lunch. The food was good, and after lunch, we explored the town. The town reminded me of so many of the places that I love - Luang Prabang, Hoi An, Seremban, Melaka, Tanjung Tualang..... and I love all the colonial architecture of the buildings here. The best part was - the entire place was clean! No urine smell permeating the air. In fact, throughout the trip, I saw not a single soul peeing on the streets. No rubbish and muck everywhere. Even though it rained and flooded, rubbish wasn't floating about. The roads were wide and the parks were simply gorgeous. I was beginning to wonder - what happened to Phnom Penh? MOH theorized it to be the fact that in PP, all the people came from the provinces such as Battambang and they don't call it their home. As such, they have no qualms dirtying the place and peeing all over. Over time, PP is one huge pile of.... dirt. Truly very sad. I remember 10 years ago in PP, it still had its charms.
Anyway, with the map from the hotel, we walked and walked and explored the markets as well. I told myself, I wasn't living in Cambodia. I am a tourist in Battambang :) There were lots of interesting discoveries - one being the fact that Chinese roots seem to be prevalent here in Battambang. On the map, there was this "San Long Sugarless Bread Bakery" and I was so curious about it that we went on a hunt for it. With the rain stopped, the weather was perfect for a 'treasure hunt' in town on foot :) When we finally found the place, I couldn't stop laughing at the really interesting POP they used at the front. Well, I was all too happy to have found the place because they have old-fashioned carrot cake and the Chinese Kong Sou Peng that were to-die-for. I went back the next day to stock up. Haha!
Not only was I taken in by the sights and the buildings, I was taken in by the Khmer warmth too. The Battambang folks seem to exude a sincerity about them - which one may be hard pressed to find in da Penh. I'm not saying PP is so bad and I meet kind people everyday here too. But I guess the lifestyle in Battambang was different and laid-back. In fact, I think everyone knows everyone here in town simply because there were no name of streets. The streets were identified as Street 1, 2, 3.... I wonder how the postman looked for addresses!
As we walked, I began to notice again - that Khmer trait of staring..... I guess, it isn't often that they see a girl in shorts and singlet with tattoos all over her. The folks in da Penh are used to me by now (hahaha) but here in Battambang, I am strange to them. We seemed to be the only Asian tourists in town. I think that whilst they find the gwai los strange, it is a given. But they find us Asians stranger still, especially when we gawk at chickens being grilled on the roadside same as what the gwai los are doing and snap photos of outdoor cooking - because to them, it's strange that as an Asian - you are still getting excited about these things! I bet in their minds, they are saying "Never see before is it?!" But of course, this is just my theory to the staring *smile*.
We had a really enjoyable walk in town and along the riverside and later in the evening, we went over to the food stalls market to see if we can score some local delights. Weather was gloomy again and right after I bought my "Grilled Special Eggs", (I really like this snack and have had it before in Sihanoukville but never got around to it when in PP...) it poured cats and dogs. We made our way in the rain to Gecko Cafe for dinner. This is one of those community service joint to create a self-sustaining environment for the locals to fend for themselves. MOH and I make it a point to support these type of outfits whenever and wherever we travel. Dinner was really good too and after dinner, we called it a night since it was a long journey today and MOH said his legs were cramping up due to too much walking (it was the start of him harrassing me about getting massages!).
I was already falling in love with Battambang on day one itself. I would so hate to leave when the time comes!
The next day, I woke up bright and early to a perfectly sunny day! Super awesome indeed for we planned to go for the Norry ride - the Bamboo Trains of Cambodia. We heard that they may ban these trains soon and thus, I was adamant to catch it while it was still around - rain, shine or snow. But luckily, it was shine :) It was a grand experience. I say grand because it was a totally new experience and a very interesting one indeed. If you read the link above about these bamboo trains, you will know why the experience was bloody interesting. Especially when the problem of on-coming traffic was easily solved via disassembling the trains off the rails. LOL! We tipped the driver extra for this because on the way back, he had to do this disassembling thing about 5 times. Back-breaking, I assumed. I had a great time at the countryside too, chatting with the locals - who spoke great English, by the way. I was truly impressed. Sure, perhaps, some of these stalls were tourist traps as they try to sell you straw hats and the Khmer kromas..... but at 3,000 riels per hat, I wasn't keen on bargaining, I didn't think it was a trap in any way and we bought two of those straw hats. Not because we needed them, but.... you know, they were just trying to make a living after all. (Some say my kindness will backfire on me one day, but I'd like to think otherwise!)
The Norry was so fun, I wanted to go on it again. But then again, at USD10 per ride and with the driver having to do the arduous task (as it got busier, I can only assume that per journey, the driver possibly does maybe 10 times of the carry-up-carry-down of the train job), we thought going into town for our fruit shakes would be a better idea.
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| On board the Norry :) |
White Rose Restaurant was well-known for its myriad of fruit shakes - any flavour you can conjure - as long as the fruit was in season, you'd get your shake. This was so typically Vietnamese, though. I am reminded of my favourite fruit shakes while living in Vietnam. Anyway, we had lunch here too before heading back to the hotel for the pool there beckoned.
Later in the evening, we walked to Nary's Kitchen for dinner. She was known to serve the best Fish Amok in Cambodia and for us - this is a call to "must-try". It was good, doubtless. And because there was not much else to do except mini-market shopping (the shops here stock up on a lot of Thai products due to the close proximity to the Thai border) it was back to the hotel early for another good night's rest.
The next day was the start of the Pchum Ben (Cambodian Cheng Beng)... and I thought it was apt to make today a day we visited temples and prayed. There were a few temples in town, each with its own history and Angkor Wat resemblance. The temples were crowded but not overly and we finally settled to pray at Wat Sangker just off the Hen Sen bridge. It was another really hot day but inside the temples, it was cooling. I was in awe of the wall and ceiling murals of Wat Sangker. They were done really well. There was a monk and a caretaker in one of the buildings who invited us in to pray. He even gestured for us to kneel down to say our prayers. And so, I did. And as always, I prayed for all good things for all my family, loved ones and friends. The key being - to have unwavering faith :)
Oh, did I mention that MOH rented bikes for us today? Not mountain bikes. But the grandpapa-type bikes with no gear, a basket and a bell that goes ring-ring-ring! It was hilarious but I had actually loved the bike. No, I was actually very taken in by the bell. I couldn't stop playing with it! LOL! After the temples, we cycled around town before relaxing back at the pool. And then we cycled out into town again for our lunch at the Smokin' Pot. The menu was a riot indeed. The place is totally worth checking out, if not for the food, for a good laugh reading the menu. :) We had one order of the Pork Lok Lak here - finally, I could try the Lok Lak in a non-beef way..... and then we found this Chinese shop opposite the Smokin' Pot and went over there for our second lunch. The Chinese noodles were the best ever, really. And I am a noodle person, ok! I wish there was room in my stomach for more because one bowl just wan't enough! (And the next day, everyone was officially closed for the real Pchum Ben ceremonies).
After lunch, MOH went for his massage while I relaxed back at the pool. I was already excited about the night's programme - we were going to go to the circus! Yay! I haven't been to a circus in ages and eversince Enid Blyton's Mr. Galliano's Circus and the entire circus collection, I had always loved a good circus show - with the big top and the popcorns and candy floss. Oh, and the trapeze artists and elephants and lions that roar. So, I was rightfully excited about the Phare Ponleu Selpak troupe. I had seen them perform before in da Penh but that was just like a five minute performance and on another occassion - a street parade. But here - here was in the big top and all! Ok, admittedly, it wasn't a real, real circus. A big top, yes. But no animal shows, no trapeze, no popcorn and no candy floss. BUT - I still gave a bloody big round of applause because PPS is yet another NGO outfit that helps children and youth self-sustain in the community through education and arts. I'd say any outfit that helps children and youth help themselves is high on my "To Support" list. Maybe I could move to Battambang and volunteer with PPS :) In actual fact, it made me reflect on my voluntary work with the orphanage. On how little I am doing and how small my effort was as compared to these people who are truly helping in such a big way too. ........ (pondering what can I do to improve the lives of the children at Happy Tree.....)
After the show and all, we made our way to town for dinner. Town was deserted and quiet since everyone's closed for the Pchum Ben - or getting ready to close for the official ceremonies the next day. We had not much choice but to settle for White Rose again for dinner. Still, not a bad choice. Great food :)
On our final day...... the skies were crying on my behalf too. It started raining again. We had 2 great weather days and just before we leave, it rains again. Oh, that certainly didn't stop us from donning our raincoats and cycling into town for one last time. I just wanted to play with the bell :) Not much was happening in town because most everything was closed, except for some fruit stalls and sundry shops. We did stop at an old Chinese temple to have a quick look and a quick prayer too. Again, the caretaker was very kind and spoke to us in Mandarin. But alas, I could hardly pick out what he said because he was mumbling. With the rain not letting up, we made our way back to the hotel.........
And then it was time to say bye-bye........ to a piece of Cambodia that I had fallen in love with.
