Motorcycle day

We had breakfast at Olly's (tomato and onion omlette with baguette and muesli with fruit and yogurt) and left on our motorbikes around 9:30 - Brenda and Fiona on one, Andy and I on the other.  We planned to drive to Kep but stop along the way at Phnom Chhnork, a cave with a temple.  The cave was down a long dirt road which was more like mud because of the rain.  Some kids on bikes tried to get us to stop at a cave but it was not what we were looking for.  Right before we arrived at Phnom Chhnork Andy and I ended up slipping on a big patch of mud and the bike slid out from under us.  I scraped my knee and foot, Andy scraped his hand and both of us were covered in mud.  Luckily we crashed right in front of someone's home and they helped us clean up with some water and balm to keep infection out.

We ended up walking across some rice fields to the caves with four kids who wanted to be our guides.  There were 203 steps to walk up to the cave.  At the top of the stairs was Phnom Chnnork cave with a stalactite "elephant" at the entrance.  In the cave was an old wat from the 7th century with a giant stalactite growing through the roof.  Andy and Fiona went to the rice fields through the cave (spelunking!) while Brenda and I went back the way of the stairs.

Andy and I went back to the hostel to clean and bandage our wounds while Brenda and Fiona went on to Kep.  Lunch at Olly's; banana chocolate pancake for Katie (comfort food), fried khmer noodles with vegetables for Andy.  Andy went back out to meet them.

Andy: Passed Fiona and Brenda on the road to Kep about halfway there, stopped and chatted and turned around and came back to Kampot (I was really more interested in cruising around on the motorbike than seeing Kep). Brenda and Fiona said Kep was pretty but small - they had crab at a seafood restaurant by the sea. On the way back to Kampot the three of us stopped at the market and I picked up a gift for some family members (but don't tell them!). We headed back to Olly's and just lazied around the rest of the afternoon (Brenda and Fiona napped).

For dinner we all took the scooters out into town but didn't know how to work the headlights so we wore headlamps on the way there. We ate at Little Garden Restaurant and a guy that worked there showed us the switch underneath the handlebars that turned the lights on. I had a toasted tomato and cheese (they had one curry dish and Brenda ordered it), Andy had a chicken burger with potato salad. Contemplated dessert but ended up going back to Olly's for the night.

Kampot

Caught the 1130 bus from S-ville with Fiona and Brenda, a tiny minibus stuffed with 16 people and arrived in Kampot a couple hours later.  We were dropped off along the river and walked to Olly's which was full for the night but available the next night so we paid a deposit for a room the next night. Ate lunch up the road at Bodhi (split a fish sandwich and a hummus plate with Brenda, both of which were excellent). In town we checked out a couple of backpacker places but none were good value for the money.  Found Long Villa, where the bus first tried to drop us off and $5 for a night we took it.  Not terribly clean (had a water fight with a cockroach later in the night and a worm in the drain) but it was only for one night (no pictures).

Went to dinner at the Rusty Keyhole which was suggested by a friend of Fiona's.  I had delicious khmer curry and Andy had pork bbq tacos. We all sat around and chatted and just had a lovely evening.  In the morning we ate breakfast at the villa (banana pancakes which were more like crepes, and muesli).  Once checked into Olly's, we hung out by the river and relaxed, planning on renting motorbikes the next day.

Andy and Fiona ordered dinner from Olly's around 5 (Andy had chicken lemongrass) and around 730 we went over to Bodhi for Brenda and I to eat.  We all ordered more food.  I had pasta (just okay), Andy had spring rolls, Brenda had a huge burger, and Fiona had "bruschetta" which was actually a baguette with sliced tomato, cheese and spices on top.  We all split chocolate rum balls which I thought were fantastic.

Brenda and her burger (breaking six months of vegetarianism)

Biking in a Monsoon

Our third day in Sihanoukville was similar to our first two in that we were relatively lazy and woke up pretty late. We had breakfast for lunch and hung around the hostel for a few hours. At 3 o'clock the four of us all rented bikes even though it was raining on and off. We cycled our way to Ochete's Beach, about 4km away and continued biking down the road along the beach. A steady rain started so we stopped at a group of bungalows that may have been closed for the season, but the folks that ran it let us sit and served us some tea while it rained and they played pool.  We sat and chatted.

After about an hour we realized the rain had let up and we got back on our bikes and started heading back into town. It was around 5:15 when we started heading back.  Not far in the distance we could see some menacing/ominous/foreboding looking clouds but decided to press on because we didn't want to cycle back in the dark. Towards the beginning of Orchete's beach it started "pissing down rain" as our irish companion would say. The further we went the harder it rained, and we finally took refuge in a small room/shop on the other side of a bridge we crossed. The Cambodians very graciously invited us in, and even offered us some of what they were drinking (probably rice liquor), but we politely refused... however one does without speaking the same language.

We waited in this shelter for about 20 or 30 minutes before deciding to venture out into the rain again. It was still raining hard and very windy, so much so that it sometimes felt like hail. The streets were mostly flooded (as they tend to be when it rains a lot in Cambodia), but we made it home safely around 6:15. It was sometimes scary but mostly fun and unforgettable.

Fotodump Friday

Somehow it's already Friday again. It's hard to believe in less than two weeks we'll be back in the USA!

Andy's picks:

Our Bangkok Airways turboprop plane from Bangkok to Siem Reap.

This was in the "Tomb Raider" temple at Angkor.

It took me quite a few tries at different exposure times to get this right. I think this picture gives a pretty good idea of how dark it was this day.

One of the many huge spiders we encountered on the walk into one of the temples.

The view from near the top of the walk at the killing caves near Battambang.

Katie's picks:

In the temples of Angkor, there was usually a person who wanted you to pray at a Buddha, light some incense, get a red string tied around your wrist and donate a dollar.

Outside of Angkor Wat was a lone white horse walking along the grounds.  I could almost believe it to be a unicorn.

Some of the incredible carvings at Banteay Srei.  Click the image to enlarge to see better.

Brenda and one of the little girls when we stopped at the end of the bamboo train in Battambang, playing a rock counting game.

And Brenda being posh at the wine tasting.

Sihanoukville

We caught the overnight bus from Battambang to Phnom Penh, got to Phnom Penh around 4 AM and had to wait until 8 AM for a bus to Sihanoukville. Fiona and Brenda slept at the bus station. Tons of Cambodians around starting at about 7am. People selling snacks and bread and what not.  Not as crazy getting off the bus as it was in Battambang, only a few people trying to get our business in Sihanoukville. We took a $6 cab to Monkey Republic and both us and Brenda and Fiona got rooms with a double and single bed. Ate lunch at Monkey Republic, showered and got ready to go to the beach but just as we were walking out of our room it started pouring rain. We hung out at the guesthouse instead.

The Navy guys and a tower of beer

When we checked in we each got a token for a free beer so we started to drink there. Some guys from the US navy showed up and hung out with us. We all chatted and shared their tower of beer, played kings, they kept buying towers of beer, and we didn't pay for any drinks except for a couple of rounds. The navy guys had to leave at 11:30 to get back to their ship, so we went out to the bars on the beach.  It was craziness. Free shots, neon paint that Brenda got everywhere, dancing.

Brenda

The next day we spent recovering.  Met Jamie, a guy Brenda had met while in Laos.  We all went to the beach to chill out but were immediately surrounded by tons of kids all trying to sell us bracelets or give pedicures or tweeze our leg hair.  The beach had wooden sun beds set up and was lined with restaurants so if you ordered food or drinks from a restaurant, they let you use the wooden sun beds for free.  We walked all the way to the end of the beach, sat down in a circle and all the kids we were trying to avoid came and sat around us and wouldn't leave us alone.  Finally everyone except Katie went in the water so they left.  Stayed at the beach for a while but kind of drizzly.

Ate lunch at just a little restaurant back from the beach.  Walked into town to see if there was anything to see but we were too early for the night market and there weren't any real shopping places other than that.

Had dinner around 10 and then headed to Utopia, a terrible backpacker bar that was filled with Cambodian prostitutes and obnoxious backpackers, but good people watching.  Saw a couple ladyboys - weren't sure if that was a Thailand only thing.  Went to the beach bars again and sat at a different one.  Talked with the two bartenders, both Isreali and working just for the night for free drinks. Went to the next bar when the first one stopped playing music, around 2.  Chatted more and met some Irish/British guys.  When they shut the lights off at 3, Fiona and Brenda went to Utopia with the Irish guys and Andy and I went to bed.  There really isn't too much to do in S-ville except party.

Battambang

We caught the 8:30 bus from Siem Reap to Battambang and one of our roommates at Siem Reap hostel, Fiona, decided at the last minute to come along as well. We then met Brenda at the end of the bus ride and we all decided to stick together.  It was a crazy mob scene outside the bus even before we got our bags.  People with signs for hotels and tuk tuks.  Finally all four of us got a tuk tuk and just started driving to look at hotels and guesthouses.  We ended up choosing Lux guesthouse, with rooms on the fourth floor, no elevator.  We all went out to eat lunch and walked around until we found a place that looked good, The Smokin Pot, where we met an awesome Cambodian who was an ex-tuk-tuk driver.
Chatted with him about Cambodian life (will probably post a separate post about it).

For dinner Andy and I walked to a vegetarian restaurant only to find out it closed early in the day.  Walked around and found a great coffee shop with western and khmer food.  Had Khmer noodles with vegetables, springs rolls, 2 beers, and a brownie all for $3.75. Told Fiona and Brenda about it when we got back and they ended up going there for dinner as well.  We all bought overnight bus tickets to Phnom Penh for the following evening and planned to get another bus to Sihanoukville when we arrived in Phnom Penh.

In the morning we all got ready by nine, checked out of hotel but stored our bags there. The owner gave us each a scarf to keep and a straw hat to borrow.  Went out to breakfast around the corner, "toast" (baguette) with nutella for me and fruit with yogurt and muesli for Andy. Everyone else fruit and yogurt and museli.  Found tuk tuk driver from day before, told him what we wanted to see and he took us on a tour of the countryside.

1st: bamboo railway.  On the way we stopped at a peace memorial made of machine guns and a huge statue of this guy holding a stick which had to do with the origin of Battambang city.

Bamboo railway was crazy, really fast, like a rollercoaster.  If we met someone going the other way one of the trains would disassmble, let the other one pass, then reassemble.

Stopped at the other end at a village where we stayed in one shop and bought drinks from the owner.  3 little girls, probably 4-7 years old made us palm bracelets, played a counting game with rocks with us and took us to see the brick factory.  We played in a big circular room, spun the girls around and generally had fun playing.  But then at the end the woman told the girls to ask for money (we didn't see this part because our little girl kept wanting to play around the bricks but Fiona and Brenda saw it).  Oh well.

Next up: the winery.  Cambodia's only winery.  Bought 2 "tastes" of red wine and 2 of brandy and we all shared. The brandy was really strong and hard to drink.  The wine was very unusual, didn't really taste like wine at all but none of us could place what it tasted like.  Sat around and chatted with our tuk tuk driver.

On the way to some mountain (our final destination) we stopped at a peanut farm and saw how peanuts grow then went across the street to where they were sorting the peanuts from the husks and we each got a handful of raw fresh peanuts each.  Tasted like peas a little bit.  Went to mountain and walked up to see the killing caves and various buddhist temples.  The memorial in the killing cave was an ornate glass box full of skulls and human bones from victims of the Khmer Rouge who had been bludgeoned to death and thrown down the cave.

The tuk tuk driver set us up with a boy to be our guide but he didn't speak any english, just showed us where to walk.  We didn't make it to top where another pagoda stands because we didn't want to miss the bats coming out of a cave (the main reason for coming to this mountain). So we walked down tons of steps to bottom where cave with the bats was located (also known as the bat cave).  Several other small groups of tourists showed up as well.  Millions of bats flew out of the cave for a long time.  We stayed for only 10 or 20 minutes but they were still leaving when we left.

Went back to the hotel to hang out until our overnight bus left for Sihanoukville.

Angkor day 3

We purchased a three day pass to Angkor Archaeological Park and we had one final day with Socheat exploring the area. We decided to head a bit further out of Siem Reap (about 25 km) and check out Kbal Spean and Banteay Srei. Kbal Spean was said to have a nice waterfall and is also known as the river of a thousand lingas.

It took just under an hour to get out to Kbal Speen via tuk-tuk, but the drive through the countryside was nice. Once we arrived there was a 1.5km walk up to the river and waterfall. Compared to other walks we've done it wasn't bad, but it was still mostly uphill and pretty hot and humid.

Lingas are a hindu phallic symbol (for more accurate info: here).  Really there were just round half spheres carved in the rock.  A guy with an official looking uniform (could have been a park ranger) pointed out some more carvings and took us on a little tour of the river.  He pointed out some carvings we wouldn't have noticed without his help.

The waterfall wasn't anything spectacular, but there were quite a few Cambodians at the river and waterfall picnicking and cooling off. Just as I was about to take a few photos of the waterfall a guy walked up to the waterfall to cool off. I motioned to him asking if it was ok to take his photo and he very enthusiastically nodded and then posed several different ways. When I was done I thanked him and he once again, very enthusiastically, thanked me back.

After the river we headed to Banteay Srei. It was surprisingly crowded for being so far away from the main Angkor temples (a lot of organized tours go to this temple). It was a cool small temple that was the most intricately carved of any of the Angkor temples and is made of red sandstone. The thing that strikes me the most when seeing all of these enormous temples and intricate carvings is that all of these things were built and carved by actual, real life, people.

On the way home we stopped at Angkor Wat to see it in the daytime.  Even though it was raining, we spent an hour walking around the temple to see things we had missed last time. Back at the hostel we invited Fiona, an irish girl staying in our room, to dinner with us.  She invited another girl, and the four of us headed to "downtown" to eat.  We sat at a food stall on pub street and ate and chatted.  Afterwards we headed to the Angkor night market, which was much better than the night market we went to the night before.

Us with Socheat, our trusty tuk-tuk driver for three days

Angkor Wat sunrise

We knew before arriving in Cambodia that Angkor Wat is a must see, but we didn't realize that it is a popular sunrise location.  Everyone we met said that sunrise is amazing, you must see it at Angkor Wat.  And so we did.

We woke up at 4:15 AM, met Socheat downstairs at 4:30 and were off. The only time you may be cold in Cambodia is riding in a tuk-tuk at 4:30 in the morning.  We arrived at Angkor Wat in complete darkness and realized we should have brought a flashlight. We followed a couple people who were smarter than us in that regard to a little pond in front of Angkor Wat.  Over the hour and a half we stood there before sunrise, the number of people increased from around 10 to over a hundred all standing in the dark awaiting sunrise.

Sunrise was very pretty and had the added benefit of hiding the huge green tarps of construction in the shadow of Angkor Wat.  Before the sun was fully up we went into Angkor Wat and had it mostly to ourselves.  We explored until about 6:30 then Socheat took us to Preah Khan.

Still Angkor Wat

Since it was only 7:15 by the time we reached Preah Khan, we were the only tourists visiting and only one hawker was getting set up for the day.  There is a decent walk from the gates to the main temple through the woods.  It was peaceful and cool and lovely to walk through.  This temple hasn't been as restored as some of the others which was awesome.

A huge spider the size of Andy's hand

We left the second temple around 8:30 to go back to our hostel and have breakfast and a nap. Lunch was at the Singing Tree Cafe which supports local charities in Cambodia (Lonely Planet suggested it).  We wandered through Siem Reap for a bit.  The town is small and all the stores and restaurants are geared towards tourists, so it didn't have a very authentic feel to it.  Headed back to our hostel where we lazied around the hostel until bed time.