We spent our first night there cruising through the park saying "hello" to Cambodian children (I am sure we have mentioned elsewhere that one of the top fun things to do in Cambodia is to greet white people) and we almost hopped in on some aerobics. I chickened out though, mainly because the only people doing the aerobics were 40 year old women and I would really have stuck out, which I don't like to do. Also though, I really didn't think it looked like a solid work out.
The next day was spent calling family to wish them a merry Christmas (Boxing Day morning for us was Christmas Day back home) and catch up a bit, followed by a laid back cycle through the town checking out temples that were only a few years or decades old rather than centuries old as we had been seeing the few days before. They weren't as good, I can't lie, but it was nice to see a few colors that weren't gray. It was also interesting actually as the Cambodian Buddhist Temples are quite different from those in Thailand and they certainly are not as open. It seems for the most part they are closed for the use of Monks only.
Me, loitering in front of a Cambodian Buddhist Temple (Note the lack of a big inviting front door)Anyway, that other stuff was pretty low on the scale of interesting things. I just put it in there so people don't accuse me of skipping days. Our last day in Battambang is when we had our most fun and also how this post got it's name.
On our last day in Battambang we rented a motorbike. Not a real motorbike, I think we would call it a scooter, but everyone here calls it a motorbike. Anyway, I was a little nervous to drive this thing, especially after my initial efforts to get the hang of shifting, braking and signaling didn't go that smoothly. After my second loop around the block though things were going a little better and Meg hopped on and we were on the road. Now I realized that people don't look very bad-ass when they are driving a scooter (see examples below), but honestly Meg and I felt pretty good out there, cruising down dirt roads approximately three times faster, and with alot less effort, than on our bikes.
This is how we felt on the scooter!
We weren't just riding aimlessly though, during the day we checked out a few major sites in the Battambang region. Our first event of the day was an Angkor era temple at the end of a long flight of stairs. It was quiet a nice site and we were enjoying the stairs to the top until Meg almost stepped on a snake. I was a step ahead of Meg but a few feet over so I guess I am not very attentive. Meg had just about put her foot down on the little character when she noticed it moving around and stepped back. We have no idea if it was poisonous or not, though I am going to err on the side of extremely deadly (for the drama), but it was certainly an ill tempered beast. Back home it seems most snakes will slither off given the opportunity, this thing just stood there, sort of crooking up his head and body to give us the evil eye. Then a small kid came to save Meg (I was busy staring at the snake to ensure it wasn't about to turn around and jump in my direction) by throwing various things at it (rocks, branches) until, a little put-out looking, the snake crept over the edge of the stairs. We were a little on edge after this near death experience so a little while later, while we were exploring a pitch black cave around the corner from the temple, when a frog jumped on Megs foot she really freaked out. I guess I should mention that Meg was wearing sandals that day.
Snake that almost killed Meg.
Our next site was a modern temple on a mountain filled it turns out with Macaques (some kind of monkey which Meg wouldn't let us go near for fear of the rabies. Honestly, every fifth word out of Megs mouth is rabies.). The temple on the mountain had a really nice view of the surrounding countryside. While we were looking around we were cornered by a smooth talking monk who managed to very subtly corner us into donating money to his school building cause. A good cause and a pretty effective spokesperson we both agreed after we had donated and started our way down the mountain.
At the same site as the mountain temple is what is called locally the Killing Cave. As with other things in Cambodia whose names begin with "Killing" (see the Phnom Penh entry when we get to it) this cave was related to the Khmer Rouge. At the cave mouth people would be bludgeoned to death (or almost to death) and then they would be thrown into the cave below. The site currently has a buddha and a glass case with bones from the victims piled inside.
Our last site of the day was chosen mainly for it's distance from the mountain temple (we were keen to do some cruising) and was another Angkor era ruin.
Finally after a long day of riding about we settled into the rooftop bar of our hotel and watched the dusty sunset.
Dusty Sunset
On our last day in Battambang we rented a motorbike. Not a real motorbike, I think we would call it a scooter, but everyone here calls it a motorbike. Anyway, I was a little nervous to drive this thing, especially after my initial efforts to get the hang of shifting, braking and signaling didn't go that smoothly. After my second loop around the block though things were going a little better and Meg hopped on and we were on the road. Now I realized that people don't look very bad-ass when they are driving a scooter (see examples below), but honestly Meg and I felt pretty good out there, cruising down dirt roads approximately three times faster, and with alot less effort, than on our bikes.
 |  This is how we looked on the scooter |
This is how we felt on the scooter!We weren't just riding aimlessly though, during the day we checked out a few major sites in the Battambang region. Our first event of the day was an Angkor era temple at the end of a long flight of stairs. It was quiet a nice site and we were enjoying the stairs to the top until Meg almost stepped on a snake. I was a step ahead of Meg but a few feet over so I guess I am not very attentive. Meg had just about put her foot down on the little character when she noticed it moving around and stepped back. We have no idea if it was poisonous or not, though I am going to err on the side of extremely deadly (for the drama), but it was certainly an ill tempered beast. Back home it seems most snakes will slither off given the opportunity, this thing just stood there, sort of crooking up his head and body to give us the evil eye. Then a small kid came to save Meg (I was busy staring at the snake to ensure it wasn't about to turn around and jump in my direction) by throwing various things at it (rocks, branches) until, a little put-out looking, the snake crept over the edge of the stairs. We were a little on edge after this near death experience so a little while later, while we were exploring a pitch black cave around the corner from the temple, when a frog jumped on Megs foot she really freaked out. I guess I should mention that Meg was wearing sandals that day.
Snake that almost killed Meg.Our next site was a modern temple on a mountain filled it turns out with Macaques (some kind of monkey which Meg wouldn't let us go near for fear of the rabies. Honestly, every fifth word out of Megs mouth is rabies.). The temple on the mountain had a really nice view of the surrounding countryside. While we were looking around we were cornered by a smooth talking monk who managed to very subtly corner us into donating money to his school building cause. A good cause and a pretty effective spokesperson we both agreed after we had donated and started our way down the mountain.
 Monkeys Hanging out at the Temple |  Countryside from the top of the mountain |
Things we saw from the top of Phnom Sampeau
At the same site as the mountain temple is what is called locally the Killing Cave. As with other things in Cambodia whose names begin with "Killing" (see the Phnom Penh entry when we get to it) this cave was related to the Khmer Rouge. At the cave mouth people would be bludgeoned to death (or almost to death) and then they would be thrown into the cave below. The site currently has a buddha and a glass case with bones from the victims piled inside.
Our last site of the day was chosen mainly for it's distance from the mountain temple (we were keen to do some cruising) and was another Angkor era ruin.
Finally after a long day of riding about we settled into the rooftop bar of our hotel and watched the dusty sunset.
Dusty Sunset
No comments:
Post a Comment