24 May - 26 May 2010 Battambang

Southeast Asia
Kingdom of Cambodia
Battambang
Royal Hotel +85553952522 royalasiahotelbb@yahoo.com
Modern and clean double room with wifi for only US 5.50 per night.
Friendly and professional staff.


Click below for an interactive road map of the Royal Hotel in Battambang, which we would recommend, and for directions:
N 13° 06.15' E 103° 11.83'
 




Exploring Battambang’s distinctive early-20th-century CE French architecture, the town's colourful markets and well-maintained Buddhist temples (our favourites: Wat Phiphetaram, Wat Damrey Sar and Wat Kandal), which survived the Khmer Rouge period relatively unscathed, thanks to a local commander who ignored orders, and meeting quite a number of agents of virtue, often obese, with their characteristic obscene attributes: (i) an expensive, mostly pristine-white 4x4 car with fancy, mostly sky-blue logos attached to both front doors, (ii) a fixed salary with expense allowances which is 5 - 20 times higher than the Cambodian average remuneration, and (iii) the irresistible urge to save the planet smack bang in Battambang by “empowering the disadvantaged youth”, “developing the underprivileged women” and “motivating the local entrepreneurs” (but, according to a Cambodian friend, "...in reality they have only brought to Cambodia two main things, inflation and AIDS...").

  “Oh the sisters of mercy they are not
Departed or gone,
They were waiting for me when I thought
That I just can't go on,
And they brought me their comfort
And later they brought me this song.
Oh I hope you run into them
You who've been traveling so long...”
Teaming up with French fellow traveller Christine, hiring Bat’s chauffeur-driven canopied remorque-moto, paying him US$ 12.- for an extended half-day tour and exploring together the tourist sites in the surroundings of Battambang: (i) Phnom Sampeau, a complex of temples on a fabled limestone outcrop, c. 12 km southwest of Battambang, (ii) Phnom Banan whose five towers are reminiscent of the layout of Angkor Wat, (iii) the Khmer heritage houses in the village Wat Kor, (iv) Cambodia’s only winery, Chan Thai Chhoeng, and (v) the inevitable “bamboo train”, basically a 3m-long timber frame, covered lengthwise with slats made of ultra-light bamboo, that rests on two barbell-like bogies with the aft one connected by fan belt to a small petrol engine.



Taking the wooden Sok Chamroen Express boat (US$ 17.- per foreigner, one way), a floating shack, from Battambang to Siem Reap, the convenient base camp for the assault on Angkor Wat, thus (i) following downriver the scenic Sangker River, a brownish life-support system where villagers brush their teeth, fish for their daily catch and defecate into the river’s not-so-holy water, (ii) getting stuck for hours in the mud shallows of the river mouth (with a crew that had an inverse Midas touch: everything they touched turned to shit), and (iii) crossing finally the Tonlé Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia, to the floating village of Chong Khneas and on to the Siem Reap pier in Phnom Krom (about 10 km south of Siem Reap) - altogether a Cambodian odyssey of over 16 hours.



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Destination:

22 May - 24 May 2010 Kg. Chhnang

Kingdom of Cambodia
Kompong Chhnang
Sokha Guest House +85526988632
Adequate twin room for only KHR 21,000.- or US$ 4.95 per night.
Friendly staff.


Click below for an interactive road map of Sokha's Guest House in Kompong Chhnang, which we would recommend, and for directions:
N 12° 14.98' E 104° 39.99'









Exploring the leafy town centre of Kompong Chhnang with its Buddhist Wat Yeay Tep temple and the town's two busy signature markets, (i) the bustling central market aka Psar Leu and (ii) the low-key lower market aka Psar Krom, and having quite a number of pleasant encounters with incredibly open-minded, friendly and curious Khmer people: from true-hearted market women (lekker Khmer rice-noodle soup aka num pachok for only KHR 1,000.- per bowl) to a clever start-up beer importer (ice-cold Vietnamese beer for KHR 2,000.- or US$ -.48 per can) on to gangs of friendly school children who politely wanted to practise their language skills on us.
"Whereas the tourist generally hurries back home at the end of a few weeks or months, the traveler belonging no more to one place than to the next, moves slowly over periods of years, from one part of the earth to another. Indeed, he would have found it difficult to tell, among the many places he had lived, precisely where it was he had felt most at home..."

Teaming up with French fellow traveller Christine, chartering together a narrow wooden skiff (US$ 10.- for the 2-hour long tour) and cruising at a leisurely pace the maze of moored rafts and anchored house-boats at two different floating water villages (the ethnic Vietnamese, Buddhist village of Phoum Kandal, and the ethnic Cham, Muslim village of Chong Kos) on the Tonlé Sap River, an aquapolis where everything floats: (i) the dwelling houses with their verandas, (ii) the veggie and fruit vendors, (iii) the primitive workshops, (iv) a fuelling station and (v) even the village mosque is kept from sinking by old boat hulls, plastic barrels and bunches of bamboo.


"All water is holy water."


Taking the air-con Sorya Transport Company bus from Kompong Chhnang to Battambang (c. 210 km, 5 1/4 hours, KHR 20,000.- or US$ 4.70 per person), Cambodia’s second largest city.



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Konni & Matt Travel Photos


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Destination:

21 May - 22 May 2010 Kampot

Magic Sponge Guest House +85519746428 magicspongekampot@gmail.com
Clean and comfortable double room with wifi for only US$ 8.- per night.


Click below for an interactive road map of the Magic Sponge Guest House in Kampot, which we would highly recommend, and for directions:
N 10° 36.43' E 104° 11.02'









Overnighting uneventfully and relaxing at the tried and tested Magic Sponge Guest House +85519746428, taking a convenient air-con Sorya Transport Company bus from Kampot to Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, the next morning (c. 150 km, 4 hours, US$ 4.- per person), and thereafter another Sorya Transport Company bus from Phnom Penh to untouristy Kompong Chhnang aka Clay Pot Port (92 km, 2 3/4 hours, KHR 10,000.- or US$ 2.50 per person), situated on the banks of the Tonlé Sap River and famous for its floating villages.

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Facing Cambodia
© Konni & Matt


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Destination:

19 May - 21 May 2010 Koh Tonsay

Southeast Asia
Kingdom of Cambodia
Kep
Koh Tonsay aka Rabbit Island
Yeay Meng Bungalows
Rustic thatched beach bungalow for US$ 6.- per night.
Relaxed and friendly local staff.


Click below for an interactive road map of the Yeay Meng Bungalows on Koh Tonsay, which we would recommend, and for directions:
N 10° 26.36' E 104° 19.28'









Unwinding on the island's 250m-long, palm-tree lined main beach, enjoying the laid-back atmosphere of this unspoilt tropical island paradise, lounging around on raised bamboo platforms, dining on spicy and delicious squid curry and sucking sweet red wine out of green coconuts - life's a beach!
“Everyone knew that all islands were worlds unto themselves, that to come to an island was to come to another world.”





Hiking together with our French friend and fellow traveller Christine all the way around the island and exploring its secluded sandy beaches and isolated fishing hamlets.



Taking boat no. 7 back to Kep, feasting there on fresh-from-the-ocean seafood at the Kep Crab Market and thereafter sharing a remorque-moto back to Kampot for just US$ 2.- per person, one way.
2010 Map Konni & Matt

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Destination:
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