Battambang and not finding the killing caves

From Siem Reap I moved onto Battambang.  I successfully bought a bus ticket and undertook the 3 1/2 hour journey through villages, small towns and past many farms.  I arrived arrived around middday and running the gauntlet of touts and drivers found the Seng Hout Hotel a recommendation from the forums.  A bit featureless but for $12 a night with AC and cable TV I wasn't about to argue.  So I did my usual thing after getting settled and went for a walk.  Unfortunately my first reaction was "what a hole".  Everything looks grey and run down - not what I expected for Cambodia's fourth most visited city, not many tourists seem to make it here, from what I saw there were only a couple of dozen so if you want that frontier feeling check it out.  

But Battambang had two saving graces.  The first was the only gin palace in Cambodia, Juniper run by an English expat.  A double shot of Tanquery and tonic cost $3.  Its definetly the place to get the local lowdown.  The owner also gave me a guide to Kep that he'd written as I said I would eventually head that way after Phnom Penh.  The second saving grace 

was a couple from Perth that I met on my first night there.  I think without them I would have got the hell out the next day.  With only a few more hours experience of the town than them (they'd 

arrived on the boat from Siem Reap that took 9 hours - my bus took 3 1/2!) we headed out for mystery meat rolls at the night food stalls next to the river and drinks at Juniper.  Apparently the countryside around the city is very nice with some temples and also has some "killing caves" used by the Khmer Rouge.  I wasn't big on the idea of the caves but I liked the idea of the temples (it appeared that Angkor had not completely templed me out!).  It was nice to have some good company so we planned to head out the next afternoon.  

What an afternoon it turned out to be!  I thought it was going to be a nice chilled afternoon in the countryside but I ended up doing more climbing of hills and mountains than I think I've done in my life.  Phnom Banan (below left) is a ruined temple up 300+ stairs with great views from the top.  The temples looked like they'd collapse at any moment - I'm not sure if it was natural subsidence or if they'd been rebuilt in a vague approximation of a structure.  We then sped along some dusty roads to Phnom Sampeu which has a collection of wats on the top of a small-ish mountain.  I naively thought we'd be driven to the top but  it's so steep the tuk tuk wouldn't have made it.  We could have paid to go up on a motorbike but I don't trust myself on those things so we elected to climb.  And climb.  And climb.  And this is where the fun really started.  

There was no signage at all, just a labyrinth of stairs, paths and roadways.  There are active wats dotted all over the mountain of which we saw many, but the killing caves elluded us.  There was a lot of misdirection on the part of the local kids and between false starts and dead ends it felt like we climbed the mountain twice over.  What made it more confusing was our party got seperated so there was a lot of backtracking and searching.  Long story short, I didn't find the caves but the other of the party did.  We found a very eerie, deserted grotto with caves but with no evidence of human remains (she says casually).  The real caves turned out to be half way down the bit of the mountain we didn't explore.  The guide book had the right directions but I hadn't bought it with me. All in all, it was a grand adventure as well as an exercise in frustration!  Completely exhausted we returned to the hotel for some farewell drinks on the rooftop -  I was off to Phnom Penh and they back to Siem Reap.  So that my friends was Battambang!

Tips for travellers

Handwashed socks and undies +

Mosquito net +

Fan =

dry by morning

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while

I do owe you quite a few but I need to find a decent internet cafe so I can add pictures etc.
In brief, after leaving Siem Reap I went to Battambang for a couple of days the highlight of which was drinking gin and tonic in perhaps the only gin palace in Cambodia called appropriately enough Juniper. Then two nights in Phnom Penh where I basically arrived and staight away wanted to leave. I'm now at the beach chilling in a hammock. More to follow.

Blackouts and temple fatigue

Happy New Year everyone!
Its been a busy couple of days since I last blogged. At that time I was finding my feet on this new adventure that is South East Asia. But I'm running now! So far I've done the temples (well, some of them), eaten $1 noodles, watched the new years fireworks over the temples from my hotel balcony, experienced dodgy Cambodian power, been a tourist attraction myself and drunk a fair amount of the local beer.
First, the Angkor temples - Siem Reap's reason for being. I won't bore you with too many details but I've done what is called the small circuit around Angkor Wat and have been further afield to Banteay Srei and the like. Angkor Wat - the grandaddy of them all is quite something - from a distance it looks like a postcard. (Left: temple fatigue) Inside it is meticulously maintained and swarming with tourists - its everyone's (including my) first stop. But I discovered my own favourites. Bayon - the one with the faces - is nuts, not just for the carvings and the jumbles of stone that have not been restored but also for the human circus that surrounds it. And it wouldn't be a circus without elephants which plod dispiritedly around the outside. Ta Prom - the famous "Tomb Raider" temple (the touts sell bootlegged copies of the DVD as well as water and pineapple on a stick) has platforms in front of the best tree roots which are never free of snap happy visitors. It is also the most (for me) claustrophobic place, it felt a bit like Picnic at Hanging Rock, a person could disappear and never be found. Miranda? Mirandaaaaaaa! But my absolute favourite is Banteay Samre (at left), off the main circut and when I visited there was only a handful of tourists so it was peaceful and still. What really made it and the temples in general make sense was when I found the grand causeway with its lines of Nagas sweeping up to to temple. I can imagine the grand processions of people walking the same route as I am doing many centuries later (Sarah K correct me if I'm wrong!). It was a real "I get it" moment. My description may be brief but the slide night will be epic - I probably took 200 photos at the temples along not to mention the other 150 or so since I got here! But they're so photogenic!
Equally photogenic but in another league entirely is the Cambodian Cultural Village an over priced tourist trap on Airport Road that felt like an abandoned amusement park (image at left: your guess is as good and mine!). It is supposed to show Cambodia in minature with waxworks, model village and "cultural" performances as well as a restaurant and foot massage centre (!). I was the only western tourist there but there were plenty of package tourists from Asia whooping it up. As the only white skinned, blond haired person about some of the young guys decided they wanted my photo. More fool them - all they got was me with mad hair, sweat stains and my hand up to my face in a "no pictures, no comment" pose. I went there with low expectations and they were well met but sometimes you've got to try these things!
I've also experienced my first blackout. The power to the whole block went out early new years eve and didn't come back on until late the next day. I've learnt how not to deal with it (complain) and how to build a bridge and get over it. For godsakes woman, you're in a country where most of the population don't have running water, let alone electricity, so just go with the flow - mainly of sweat. (left: blackout supplies provided by the hotel)
I've been trying the local food. I've found a good place around the corner where I can get a stir fry and rice for $2. The local green of choice, morning glory tastes like a cross between spinach, mustard cress and cinnamon - quite interesting. My drinking hole of choice is a hotel down the way where I can sit on a day bed type arrangement and drink the local brew with an industrial fan blowing welcome cool air in my general direction. A couple of beers costs anything from $2-4 depending on whether its happy hour or not. (left: fried fish with ginger, soy beans and morning glory)
I'm loving my time in Siem Reap. Its such a diverse interesting place. I'll be moving on in a couple of days. Tomorrow's challenge? Buying a bus ticket.
Until next time...

In Siem Reap with mad hair

Bloody hell, I'm in Cambodia! As the plane came in to land (an hour late) crusing over the fields and houses (and the sense that somewhere down there are amazing ancient temples) I finally found the excitement for this trip that was so lacking in the days leading up to it. I disembarked and walked across the tramac (I LOVE doing that!) and sailed through immigration. Props to me for getting my visa in Australia as the lines for the visa on arrival we pretty long. Found my driver and headed along Airport Road. Fields and shantys gave way to massive hotels and then the town proper. My first response it that it is very much like India - the dust, the smell and the small shops selling everything from phone cards to bike parts. ( This feeling has not changed a day later having explored further.) In the street outside my hotel (left: view from the balcony) a young woman on a bike with a platform attached was selling eggs and advertising her wares via a small, tinny tannoy attached to the handlebars. My hotel is more basic than I anticipated but perfectly fine. I showered away 15 hours of travel and hit the streets. Constantly declining tuk tuks and motos I headed into tourist central - Pub Street where I sat for a while with an Angkor beer and spring rolls. I will be more culinarily adventurous soon, I'm pacing myself! I was surprised Siem Reap is not what I thought it would be but guidebooks and maps can be deceiving. It would be quite a culture shock if I'd not been to India.

Today I started early and after breakfast wandered in the direction of the Angkor National Museum (which opens at 8.30am - imagine that my museum friends!). On the way I walked around the gardens in front of the Royal Residence which are lovely. It is at this end of the town that you see what is left of the grand city that existed before the destruction. The museum is quite new and well designed. I won't bore you with a review but a couple of highlights were the Gallery of 1000 Buddas and one small but amazing object a boundry marker with hundreds of images of Vishnu carved into all four sides. (Multimedia guys - there was an interesting use of a peppers ghost layed over a plasma screen (!) projecting khmer script and images over a documentary.) So, leaving the museum around 10am (!!!!) I went on one of my patented "lets just wander" walks. Well, I did have a destination but it was quite a walk. Turning towards the river from the museum I happened upon a bustling local market, the kind that isn't in the guidebook ( I went to that one - Old Market- and it is full of tourist tat from Thailand). Towards the end of my walk I stumbled across a temple complex (I think it was Wat Damnak) - it was beautiful and peaceful with pagodas, stupas and a central temple. Then a rest at a cafe with a fruit shake and to call mum and dad on my mobile now that I have bought a sim card. I'm really enjoying my time here so far - I will get to the Angkor temples soon enough, I like getting a sense of the place (as well as my bearings). Left: a random sight from my wanderings.

Oh, and the mad hair - well, between not having a power converter for the hairdryer and what humidity does to hair wax I'm looking, well, unkempt in the hair department.

The Plan

Ok - so here's the plan. 3 months, 3 countries, and a very loose itinerary. I fly into Siem Reap, Cambodia at the end of December - I've got my first six nights accommodation booked. The only other commitment I have is two weeks in Vietnam with a friend in mid February. We're hanging out in Hoi An for Tet (Vietnamese New Year) and then off too Phu Quoc island for sun, sand and little drinks with umbrellas in them consumed while lying prone in a hammock. Other than that, its all up to me.

Obviously starting in Siem Reap I will be spending some time at the Angkor temples. But having time on my side I'm determined to spend the first day or so wandering around the town itself and getting into the swing of things. My mantra is "take it slow and calm" - lets see how long that lasts! So after nearly a week in SR I'll head anti-clockwise around Tonle Sap the large (make that bloody huge) lake in the middle of the country to Battambang, around to Phnom Penh, down to the coast (Sihanoukville, Kep, Kampot) and back up to Phnom Penh. I'll then head up to to Laos border via Kratie to the 4000 islands. After that its Paske/Champasak to see the Angkorian era ruins. Then to Savannaket for the dinosaur museum (seriously! http://www.culturalprofiles.net/Laos/Units/519.html). After that I will cross over into Vietnam for Tet. After my friend leaves at the end if Feb I still have a month. This is where the plan gets a bit hazy. As I will be in HCMC at this point I do want to see a bit of the Mekong Delta. Then I'm thinking of heading up through the central highlands. But I do want to get back and see the north of Laos (Vientiene, Luang Prabang).

Conversely I could head to Vietnam from Cambodia into the Mekong Delta, then up the coast and inland a bit for Dalat and then up to Hoi An to meet David. After we part in HCMC I could head up through the highlands and across to Pakse in Laos and do south to north ending up in Luang Prabang. Then fly to Hanoi and do Halong Bay, Sapa, Ninh Binh and whatever else I have time for.

Then at the end of March I fly home. Then Easter with family and friends. Then its back to work mid April. I'm exhausted just thinking about it!

While in SEA I'll be participating long distance with my book group - hi girls! We're deciding on our first book of the year soon so I will have fun finding whatever it is in Cambodia. So I warn you there will be a book report or two posted here - hell, I may even review what I'm reading along the way just to bore you all senseless!

Stay tuned.

On the subject of backpacks

Ah, backpacks. Like guidebooks they spell freedom, the open road, the search for the perfect one…

My first backpack was some purple and blue monstrosity. I didn't take it on my first trip (to Europe) so why I bought it I don't know - probably just in case that first long dreamed of trip miraculously materialised. It was as least 60 litres and had a detachable day pack. It hung around for years mouldering up the place. Because I'd been obsessed by travel and the mechanics of travel (backpacks, guide books, packing lists) for years by my first trip I was determined to travel light. (Just an aside, I distinctly remember sitting in the library at high school pouring over Lonely Planet India - I would be a few trips and many years before I got there but eventually I did.) To this day my determination to travel light is in direct opposition with my normal life where I carry everything but the kitchen sink for a trip to the supermarket.

I received sage advice from the most intrepid traveller I know, my friend Rachel. The list of where she hasn't been is shorter than that of where she has (hi Rachel!). The advice was something to the effect of travel light and take a lot of zip lock bags. Zip lock bags are vital - the biggest ones can keep smelly clothes from clean, the smallest can keep that open packet of washing powder you bought at some general store in the back blocks of India from ending up in every crevice of your pack. (I also carry gaffer tape and cable ties but tend to get strange looks from people when I tell them.)

So, on my first big trip - nearly 4 months of constant travel around Europe with stopovers in the US (hi Anthony!) - I vowed to "pack light". I wish I had a list of what I took on that trip, it would be fascinating to see what I then thought indispensable. What I do know is it was all packed in a Berghaus Freeflow 35 + 8 top loader. I loved that pack - you could stuff it to bursting and it was still comfortable to carry. 4 months, 43 litres - hells bells! That is not to say I didn't come back with a crapload more than when I started - who doesn't? I do remember strapping another backpack full of paper (mainly museum floor plans and brochures) to to front. The other beauty of this pack was it didn't have a zip off daypack which I've always felt makes you look like a day glo turtle when attached to the main pack. In that I prefer satchels to backpacks generally the zip off pack is a bit redundant. My Berghuas lasted a good 6 years - it also did me for 6 weeks in India in 2006. I still have it but bits of it are broken - it sits in my cupboard as a reminder of trips past.

So with a new trip in the planning the search was on for a new pack. While I loved my top loader they do become a bit tedious after a while, no matter how smart you pack invariably what you want is at the bottom. Also, they're not very streamlined with straps and holders hanging everywhere with no way of hiding the straps away. So what I wanted was a hybrid travel pack with a single zipped compartment with zip away straps and no day pack. However my choices in this are were quite limited as there isn't much (in Australia) between a 35lt day pack and 60+lt packs with zip of day packs that convert into a yurt etc. But I found one made by an Australian company - One Planet. Their Mini Freddy is perfect for me, 45 litres, single compartment and zip away straps. Its an odd shape, slightly bulbous at the bottom but I figure its better for weight distribution with most of it resting on your hips (and my child bearing hips can take quite a bit!). Its red and blue - I don't know why packs are such garish colours, really there is no way to disguise the fact you are carrying everything you own in one bag. The locals have seen backpackers before be you in Phuket or Tajikistan, you're not fooling anyone. So, new pack, the usual obsessive packing list, passport, tickets, money - I'm ready to go!