Around Battambang

Still in the company of Marcin and Rose, we hired a Tuk-Tuk for the day and our friendly driver Ola (aka Oh-la-la) took us to all the sights and monuments in the area.

We visited a couple temples, as well as some caves which became the site of atrocities committed under the Khmer Rouge regime. Marcin nearly got bitten by a very ferocious monkey and I had an amazingly frank and open conversation with a young buddhist monk on the benefits of living together before getting married... Most other monks won't even look at a woman so that was quite a surprise. The photo above is of the friendly monk and our local guide overlooking the dry Cambodian landscape towards the border with Thailand.

We ended the day with a delicious Khmer dinner and a couple beers, celebrating our last night together before we meet again, in a few days in Thailand.

Early the next morning, Marcin and Rose rode onto a very long and dusty road to the Thai Border and we headed down to Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, on the bus.

The boat to Battambang

"The boat to Battambang" could have inspired a country song in the same great tradition as "the Dog on the Tuckerbox" and "the Cookaburah in the old gum tree".

the journey from Siem Reap to Battambang was an epic one indeed and although exciting, it was also excruciatingly slow for a good portion of it.

Aware that the trip could take between 3 and 8 hours based on water levels in the river bed, we did not expect it to take 10 hours or that for about 4 hours, the men working for the boat company would have to litteraly push the boat out at every turn, whenever it got stuck on one bank. At times,the water was about mid-calf deep and the sight of our boatload of westerners navigating a creek was an endless source of amusement to the locals.

The people living on the river were the definite highlight of the trip. Along the way, we were able to observe the way they live, all their daily activities centrered around the river. We passed entire floating villages where houses, schools, shops and churches are built on bamboo rafts following the level of the river bed, which would be at least 3 meters higher in the wet season. Later, the floating villages gave way to villages on stilts, perched high above the ground on the banks.

Every single moment, groups of children would wave and shout "hello"and "bye bye"with such excitement that it seemed hard to believe the same boat goes by every day of the year.

The contrast between these peoples lives and ours was very extreme. As well as playing and bathing in the river, it is also their main source of sewer, a thick muddy looking stream with an unmistakable stench. The banks of the river are covered in rubbish and kids start helping with the various chores from a very young age.

Still, experiences like those challenge our western notions of happiness very strongly. Despite living conditions reminiscent of the middle ages, the laughs and smiles of these children when they caught the waves made by our boat were heartwarming and unforgettable.

The temples of Angkor

It was at sunrise that our group of four (Chris, Laure, Marcin and Rose) set out on our bikes to go visit the temples of Angkor. Only 10 km from Siem Reap, the famous Angkor Wat sits as the jewel crowning a complex of smaller temples spread over several kilometers.

Angkor Wat is, predictably, a magnificient example of Architecture. It is grand, refined and, thanks to some restauration along the way, has certainly stood the test of time. The notion of stumbling accross it, lost into the deep jungle, is amazing and I suspect the lucky french explorer who did must have rubbed his eyes in shock for quite a while.

A few kilometers further is the complex of Angkor Tom which was actually a city housing a million people inside its walls. One of the temples we visited there is called Bayon and although it bears similarities to Angkor Wat, it is also very unique and different.

From a distance, the distinctive conical towers, meant to resemble closed lotus flowers, might give the false impression of trying to copy it's famous counterpart. On approach, the crude mounds of stacked rocks start to reveal carved faces of buddha on all four sides of each tower which there are many of in this small but somewhat complicated temple. The calm portraits symbolise Charity, Calm, Balance and Compassion. In an unusual situation, the temple is both dedicated to Buddhism and Hinduism.

Finally, on the edge of Angkor Tom is Ta Phrom which, mostly left in an untouched state, could be symbolic of the slow but possible symbiosis of architecture and nature. The enormous root systems of trees projecting straight into the skies drip like melted lava around and through the partially collapsed stone walls of the temple. the trees are supported by the walls and the walls by the trees.

There are many other temples to visit but, in one hot day, it was a pretty reasonnable effort. We rode back to Siem Reap in the sunset and enjoyed a delicious Khmer dinner in the company of friends.

Andaman Coast, Thailand in photos