The day started by getting to the boat ferry terminal some kilometres outside of Siem Reap. The trip took about 7.5 hours from Siem Reap to Battangbang, the second largest city of Cambodia and just the ride over was worth going to Battambang. The boat was about 25 meters long, 4 meters wide and packed with tourists and locals.
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| our boat for the trip |
First we had to cross a small part of the Tonlé Sap Lake, before we went upstream on the Sangker River to Battambang. Although there are much more inexpensive options to get to this destination, none of them has this flair and atmosphere. The landscape changes rapidly from small vegetation to endless lilly areas to open water where you could see neither a plant nor land to villages on the lake, to swamp-like areas where you could hardly get thru, to fishing settlements on the banks of Sangker. At times it felt like a morning on the calm sea, cruising on the Shannon in Ireland, fighting thru the Everglades in Florida or like gliding thru a lily pond. All at once.
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| Kids in one of the stilted villages |
After we passed the villages on the lake, we came into a flooded bush-land with lots of vegetation. My guess is that the entire area is not a part of the lake during dry season. We have been told that during the wet season the lake grows from 3000 km² to 13000km². So we drove thru some narrow waterways, not even wide enough for two boats to pass each others.
Sometimes the corners were so sharp that the boat hit the bushes pretty hard and we had to defend ourselves from the oncoming twigs and leaves. If you get hit by a branch you instantly have 5 spiders on your clothes and another five you would find within the next couple of minutes. There were shades available to keep the bushes at bay but then you would sit on a dark and moving chair. But at some points it got so worse that we had to put the shades down, otherwise we would have been sliced by the trees. In the villages the children are more than happy to see the boat and wave enthusiastically. Also the cruise up on the Sangker River thru the fishing villages was amazing.
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| fisher checking his net |
On the boat I met Jonas from Sweden and the two of us teamed up for some days. We shared a tuk-tuk from the ferry terminal into town and the driver suggest a hotel that we passed by. Initially we wanted to stay at a cheaper establishment, but when I heard they would just charge $25 for the room I figured I should treat myself with a luxury room for a change. Usually $25 is way above my budget but it was only for two nights and probably the best value I have come across ever in my life. With the Dollar down to just 0.70 Euro (making it 17.50€ for the night) I got a bigger room than Sofitel standard but not as well equipped and it was cleaner than any other room I had stayed in since I started travelling.
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| Stung Sangker Hotel |
In the evening we went for dinner and I had the most famous food in Cambodia, Amoc
Next day we strolled around town and looked at some temples. In the afternoon I decided to go for a special train ride. The bamboo train (called Nori) is a wooden frame of 2x2 meters powered by a 6HP gas engines. There is only one track and if two trains meet the less loaded train will quickly be disassembled. A ride consists of going 25 minutes to a remote brick-producing village with a 10 minute break and then the same way back. Great fun.
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| Bamboo Train Track |
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| my dissasembled nori |
Had beef lok lak for dinner. Another Khmer favourite and excellent meal.
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| Beef Lok Lak |
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