BAT ambang! celebrating our third New Years!

Some people didn't receive this so I am publishing it again. Sorry for the repeat if you have already read it. Siem Reap is coming soon!

Battambang was one of those places where we really felt like we were "travelling" There weren't many tourists around and there most certainly weren't any Canadians. The whole town was pretty quiet as we arrived a day before their biggest holiday of the year, Khmer New Year. All the shops closed down for a few days and we were left with not much to do other than hang out and soak up the warm Cambodian culture which was really starting to get a hold on us. Remy and I even took a cooking class which didn't even compare to the one I took in Phnom Penh but we met a cool guy from Ohio who was staying in one of the $2 hostel rooms below the cooking class. And we thought we were living on the cheap at $20 night!

We loved our breakfast at the market just down the street from our hotel. The dish consisted of a bed of rice topped with grilled pork, mildly pickled vegetables and a side bowl of clear broth soup. The flavours were mildly addicting for us especially if served with an iced coffee. Total bill for breakie? $3.75 for both of us including coffee.

Photogenic fish! Who knew? This smoked fish was delicious shredded in a salad.

More dried fish and meat. I thought it was quite pretty.

The French architecture was beautiful if a little shabby.

These wee snails are sold as a snack and are smothered in chill sauce. They also bake in the super hot sun all day so we took a pass.

Decorations for Khmer New Year had a certain homemade quality to them. When you are poor you make do.

We had a great view of the 3 days of fireworks from our terrace! The locals gathered in the town square just a block or so away and danced around the fruit-filled ox cart.

The skyline from our hotel's terrace. I thought the multi- coloured roofs were quite unique.

Our roof-top pool! Not bad for $20/ night huh?

The streets are starting to come alive again after the holiday. 

Getting ready for our trip to the next village on the bamboo railway! These carts were created by the locals after the Khmer Rouge came into power as there weren't any train cars but the rail bed was still there. The carts could be easily disassembled and taken off the tracks to make way for an oncoming cart. They are powered by a simple lawn mower type engine. More pictures to follow.

Ta Dambong- the founder of Battambang. This is my favourite roundabout sculpture of them all.

A very cool bar/cafe in the middle of town. It's run by a gay couple from the USA who have brought a great sense of style and modernity to an otherwise archaic looking town. The drinks were too expensive for us but it was nice to know a proper  gin and tonic could be had if we really wanted one! 

Bowen and Remy help out turning the carts around to head back to the start point. It's about 38 degrees and we are melting.

You can see the wheels and the rubber bands that attach to the engine to make the whole cart move. It's very simple and very effective!

We had a little tour of the village before we got back on the cart. See what I mean about the garbage? 

Just like in India, the cows here look like they could use a good meal.

We visited the now defunct brick factory. The young girl shows us how the bricks come down the conveyor belt to be cut and then dried in the giant beehive shaped kilns.

We loved the look of these kilns. All the sandy looking stuff in the foreground is husks from rice that they use for fuel.

She was just hanging out watching tourists come and go. What a beautiful little face. 

Bowen helps to lower the cart back onto the wheels and we are off.

The next part of our adventure was to see the Killing Caves, the Winery and then watch the spectacle of about 4 million bats leaving their cave to feed for the night. On the way we noticed that every house had a decoration of some sort at the front door. I loved that no matter how poor these people were they had made the effort to create a welcoming decoration. We were exploring on New Years Day so were lucky to see the Khmer people relaxing at home and visiting with their families.

One of the many styles of front door decorations.

A very typical sight all over South East Asia. It's a good thing the people are so small. 

One of the more elaborate front door decorations was found was at the Winery. We had heard the wine was horrible in Cambodia and we believed it.

The grapes were beautiful but just loaded with pesticides. We found huge tanks right at the end of the aisles.

A very friendly local woman we met at the fair grounds. She served us bbq'd eggs. 

Heading to the Killing Caves via tuk tuk. The countryside is really beautiful.

A very poor village home but still they have a front door decoration.

and another!

When I snapped the photo of his daughter this guy was eager to get into the action himself and show off his bicycle.

We waited by the side of the road. all eyes on the cave and just like that, the bats all started coming out of the cave! All 4 million of them! WOW

It takes about 40 minutes for the cave to empty. You can see the waves of bats in the distance swirling in the sky. We have never seen anything like it.

This is Cambodia! We think it is just beautiful.

Monks in a photo are always a beautiful thing.

Finally! We are attacked with water guns! The New Year tradition is to celebrate with water so the locals use a mixture of water and powder. We were ambushed in our tuk tuk on the way back from seeing the bats. Now we feel like we have had the full experience.

Hundreds of paper lanterns are released to the sky. Many are released in crowds of people. It's a wonder the whole town doesn't go up in flames.  I can't hep but wonder about the poor farmers that have to keep cleaning these things up when they finally run out of fuel and land. Oh, hang on a minute... no one cleans up garbage in Cambodia. 

The morning routine- hand make about 1000 wontons before lunch!

Downtown Battambang. It's pretty cool here and feels like we have stepped back in time.

It's still a work in progress.  Because of unexploded land mines, Battambang was not a safe place for tourists to visit as early as 1996.

The artsy part of town.

Kitchen prep for the lunch rush at White Rose Restaurant is done right on the sidewalk. It just never ceases to amaze us how resilient and industrious the Khmer people are. Yes, we ate here and yes, it was delicious. No, we didn't get sick.

These prices are in American dollars. 50c beer or a .50c milkshake? decisions, decisions.

It's interesting that the most western thing on the menu, Fruit salad, Muesli and Yogurt is also the most expensive.


We are leaving Battambang just as the town is starting to come alive again after the New Year holiday. We are keen to get to Siem Reap to visit Angkor Wat, the Grandaddy of all the temples. I can see us coming back here some day.

~ Liz