| | We left Phnom Penh and headed off to Battambang. We weren't sure what
to expect, but the LP was pretty gracious in its description of
Battambang. I believe the word "elegant" is even used. If I had to
choose one word to describe our three days in Battambang and make a
list of the top 300 words I could pick up, "elegant" would not be on
that list of 300 words. Now don't get me wrong, Battambang wasn't bad,
it just wasn't elegant.
We pulled into Battambang after another 6 hours on the bus, passing
countryside fields, trees, and the skinniest cows I've ever seen in my
life. Let's just say if cows could be fashion models, they'd come from
Cambodia. We pulled into the bus station and walked around looking for
a hostel, trying to orient ourselves in a place without streelights and
paved roads. Both BFF and I had the same imression of Battambang, "Hey
it kinda feels like Songpan." Songpan was the place in Sichuan province
where for 3 days, we rode horses for 6 hours by day and froze in a
tibetan guesthouse by night. Ominous, indeed. We awoke the next day and
took it easy, waking up late and lounging around.
We weren't further impressed at all when hearing news of BFF's solitary
breakfast. Hint: If when describing what you just ate, the colour
"yellow" is followed by the words "gelatinous jelly-like thing in a
jar", and then "unwashed communal drinking cup" also follows, its
probably not a place warranting a repeat visit. Lunch was better, but
the yellow gelatinous-like thing moved through BFF pretty quickly and
in his own words "I'm gonna start walking quickly back to the hostel."
America has Los Angeles, named the City of Angels. Cambodia has
Battambang, named for "Disappearing Stick." Seriously. It's named after
a stick.
Battambang managed to be a laid-back chill place for us (the only way
you can describe a place with no paved roads and stores that close at
4pm) where we took some time to decompress after visiting the Tuol
Sleng Museum. In other words, this meant sitting in our room watching
such gripping movies as The Patriot and Charlie's Angels, and then
listening to BFF sing "Independent Woman" along with Destiny's Child at
the end credits of the latter movie. We (µ and I) were entertained. It
was fun.
The saving grace of Battambang? White Rose Restaurant. It is here where
we "discovered" their $1 vegetable curry and $.75 butterscotch sundae.
That's right, butterscotch sundaes. Might be ho-hum for you (North)
Americans, but for us Tianjiner's, it was liquid gold. Our biggest
complaint that day was the difference in butterscotch between our two
orders of butterscotch sundaes. BFF actually called over one of the
staff to point out the difference in the void in his glass and the
liquid goodness in mine. The staff worked went back, brought out the
butterscotch and poured some more onto the top of BFF's sundae. If he
hadn't, I imagine some 'bows would have been thrown by BFF.
Monday we watched the Super Bowl and as a Bears fan, it sucked. In a
way I'm glad for the Colts that they finally won, but the Bears handed
it to them. Well, mostly Rex Grossman handed it to them. We rented some
moped drivers to take us around some sights, and afterwards I thought
to find out whoever invented asphalt and send them a nice email. When
you're on a moped/bicyle/motorcycle on dry dusty unpaved roads, its not
a pleasant thing. We came back covered in red dust. It was messy.
The highlight of the day was the last thing we did. We found out that
there was an american-run orphanage nearby, and so we ditched the $5
"have the foreigners sit on a rickety cart stuck on the train tracks
for an hour" ride and went to visit the orphanage. It wasn't what we
expected, but eventually we took them outside and taught them games
that they uh, already knew. We had a great time playing with them. It
was remarkable to see how such a large group of kids could take such
enjoyment and pleasure from a simple game of tag. It was such a change
from the utter horror of the S-21 prison, it nearly broke my heart when
after only being there about an hour and a half and communicating in
halting english, kids would cling to us and ask if we were gonna come
back the next day. We had to tell them that we were leaving the next
day to go to Siem Reap. We left them after they all grabbed our hands
goodbye and said "God Bless You" to each of us.
Our boat trip to Siem Reap was a mess. We met a girl who came to
Battambang via Siem Reap who told us the 6hour ride actually took 10
hours, so we went out and bought water and food to last us. The next
morning, we were brought to the dock, but then herded onto 2 trucks and
told we would drive for 40 minutes to a different spot where the water
level was higher. The truck ride was the most enjoyable part for me.
Imagine 16 people and their packs crammed into the back of the cab. We
were all sitting, with BFF and another man standing, facing backwards.
We took back roads, bumping and jostling every which way. Every once in
awhile I'd have to yell "duck" so BFF and the other man wouldn't get
smacked in their head by a low-hanging branch. Eventually BFF decided
he didn't like facing backward so he turned around to face front, which
was difficult consdering how tightly packed we were. This meant that
whilst in the process of turning around, BFF was rubbing his butt in
the face of a Cambodian woman, who let's just say was not displeased in
the slightest. Unbeknownst to BFF, as his butt did its best impression
of the Macarena in this woman's face, she smiled and laughed. I'm sure
if she could have reached into her pocket for some money, BFF would
have later found a 1000Riel note tucked into his shorts. At the end of
the "show", when BFF finlly managed to get himself facing the correct
way, she patted his butt. For some reason he doesn't seem to have
noticed any of this.
We on the sides of the truck also had to do our share of ducking
inwards as the branches along the side of the road began to have
thorns. Long sharp ones. Soon the sight of upcoming branches had
everyone pushing towards the middle of the truck to avoid getting
pricked. BFF and the other man aldo ducked, shoving their butts into
the fray.
Call it karma, call it whatever you want, but soon the left cheek of my
face was (COMPLETELY UNINTENTIONALLY) rubbing against the left cheek of
BFF's butt. It was weird.
After an hour and a half of this, we made it to our boats, and enjoyed
a 5 and a half hour boat ride to Siem Reap, much of it spent on the
roof of the boat catching some more sun. We eventually made it to Siem
Reap and met up with Rob, he of no nickname. Yet.
I seem to have unestimated BFF's paleness. Compared to µ and I, BFF
looks like the hairest albino in the world. When standing besides Rob
though, BFF looks like a guy who's tanned a bit. Yes, the difference
between Rob and BFF is quite stunning, for Rob, who spent the better
part of the last month and a half listening to a googleplex of chinese
doctorate student presentations (in english, nonetheless), has a
paleness of skin that Korean female drama stars dream of having.
After some time and miscommunication, we met up with our contact Nikki
and her fiance Ben, as well as Scarfgirl. We've now spent a day and a
half enjoying Siem Reap, and we'll get started this afternoon to Angkor
Wat. This entry is (much) shorter than the previous entries, as I
really want to go check out this McDermott Gallery, which looks
stunning. Speaking of stunning, our first night in Siem Reap, µ and I
went to a bakery to get some 50% pastries for the group, when we ran
into the beautiful Swedish twins again. We chatted with them for a bit,
and then I turned around and somehow µ had gotten over Long and found
another (older) male admirer, this one by the name of Steven. He's a
beekeeper from Alaska. The people you meet when you travel.
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| | Posted 2/8/2007 12:29 PM - 26 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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