Seeing the real Cambodia

We have only booked two nights in Battambang so today was our real full day of doing things in this city and province. We arranged with the tuktuk driver who brought us to the hotel yesterday to take us on a day tour around many different places we wanted to see and then with a few extra stops added in. It was so worth it! We were able to see so many places and experience many things we wouldn't of been able to on our own. We started our day with a ride on the bamboo train. It's a large light platform made from bamboo that sits on two wheel arches and has a motor attached. It's used by the locals to transport goods between two villages roughly 4km apart. It was so much fun! Like being on a vintage roller coaster. The cart went surprisingly fast down the tree lined wonky track and we had to dodge many crickets, flies and other insects hitting into us. It's a single track so when a cart is coming the other way the solution is for one cart to get off and dismantle the carriage off the track while the other passes and then reassemble. It was a very memorable ride. After the train we went to another prison and killing field used during 1976. Before we entered we visited a bamboo place where they make what they call 'sticky rice' inside of bamboo. They cut up the bamboo into segments and fill it with the rice mixture and pack the ends with banana leaves. It's then cooked and the outside of the bamboo removed so when you eat it you can peel it like a banana to get to the rice inside. It was very tasty and something we wouldn't of seen or tried if we'd been on our own. The killing field site was very unnerving. The building used as a prison is completely boarded up now and laid to rest as it is. They've built a large monument to acknowledge what happened here and to honour those who died on this site. The road to our next stop lead us to a small bridge down a steep bank so Nick and I had to get off and help support the tuktuk carriage from just rolling down the hill. We visited a fishing village where we saw, and smelt, the locals cutting (hacking) up the fish, they even make fish cheese here! We also went to see how rice paper is made and tried some of the spring rolls they make from the paper. Our last stop of the morning was an amazing ruined temple. We climbed in and out of the crumbling archways that are now only reinforced with wooden planks. They've built a more modern grand temple on this site now as well. We also went inside a very weathered looking Buddha to see a small shrine inside. We had a break back at the hotel for lunch for a couple of hours before heading to the bat caves. We opted to pay for the jeep to take us up the steep 1000 step hill where we saw a golden temple and progoda at the top surrounded by monkeys. The views from the top were also spectacular. We also visited the 'killing cave', a very chilling site where victims were hit or pushed down into a skylight of the cave below, a drop of at least 6 storeys high. It was very eerie being inside the cave where they have now put in place a golden Buddha and a glass cabinet containing the bones found there. After taking our time to take in what we were seeing we headed back down the hill to watch the bats fly out the cave and what an amazing sight that was. They poured out in flowing waves in a stream that even after half an hour was not dwindling in numbers. After enjoying the spectacle we headed back for a much need swim and to deal with our bed bug friends in our bed! A very packed but brilliant day indeed.Les mer