Day 11 - Go, go - Cambodia!

17:00
I wake up at 05:45, fully an hour ahead of my alarm. I think because I know I’ve got to be up early today, I can’t get back to sleep. I make a coffee, and start packing, which takes me approximately 7 minutes. I realise Vicki’s probably still up, and she is! I think it’s the first time on this trip that I’ve caught the end of her day, whilst mine is just beginning.

07:45 comes around, and I head to reception. I’m very happy (and slightly stunned) to see that Mr Lift Man is already waiting for me in the lobby. Now all we need is a Felix. He emerges just a couple of minutes late, which I’ll allow. Our new best friend sets off for Prachin Buri, about 15km down the road, at quite a clip. About halfway there, he hands over a small pot, which rather reminds me of a jar of poppers. He encourages us to open it, and we’re just stupid enough to do so. It transpires to be some decongestant in pad form, smelling of Olbas oil, and maybe a touch of Tiger balm. Quite pleasant really. At the station, we buy two tickets. Now - the journey to the border is about 2.5 hours, and 120 miles. Our fares are 28 Baht each, so maybe 75p. Bargain. The platform is pretty busy, but we’re hoping that the train will gradually empty out as we get towards the border.

Onboard, it’s also pretty crowded. There’s no A/C, but the windows are open, bringing a lovely, natural feel to our cooling. There are some ceiling fans as well, but we’re apparently in the wrong seats for those to be effective. Countless hawkers march up and down the train offering their food and drinks wares, which range from the pretty bog-standard (cans of soft drinks, water) via the strange (weird sticks of ‘meat’, bags of fish) to the utterly unidentifiable. The heat’s just about bearable, and watching the world go by is a wonderfully distracting pastime.

We arrive into Ban Kong Luk a couple of minutes late, around 11:20. We need to get over the border to pick up a bus to take us to Battambang. There’s a bus at 12:30, and one at 14:30. We’ll aim for the 12:30, but we’re not gonna break our necks to get there. We’re quickly through the Thai border control, and into no man’s land between the two countries. We join the queue in the immigration office for Cambodia. As we reach the front, a fairly officious little prick asks to see our passports. He points out that we do not have an immigration card. We were unaware there was even such a thing. We have printed copies of our visas, but no - these will not suffice. We scoot to one side, quickly complete our forms, and are directed by the forms dude to go back to the front of the queue. Our officious little prick objects, and sends us to the back of the now several times the size queue. Still, at least the air is conditioned. The queue moves glacially, and the 12:30 bus is looking a touch tight…

Out on the Cambodia side, we set off at a march to the bus company’s office. We arrive, and are told we’re JUST in time. I v v quickly nip to the bathroom, and pay for our tickets. The US Dollar is the primary street currency in Cambodia, so we’ve brought some cash with us. I’ve also got a little leftover from my trip to the US in May. When I hand these over, I’m told they’re not ‘new’ enough. Apparently, anything but the newest and crispest bills will not do. This little snafu negotiated, we board the bus. It looks pretty comfy. This company is likely to be our chariot for most of the next couple of weeks, so it’s heartening to see that we’ll be comfortable for the journeys we need to make. None are as long as the train ride from Chiang Mai down to Ayutthaya, but there’s a couple of 4-5 hour trips in there.

I’ve not been quite sure what to expect from Cambodia. Reviews have varied. The most recent of these, from Vicki Rish is that it shares a lot of DNA with Thailand - but will feel more basic, more raw, certainly poorer, and with less well developed infrastructure. Gazing out of the window, this tracks with what I’m seeing. The buildings are a little more dilapidated, the roads are less smooth, the cars and mopeds are a little older and in more of a state of disrepair. Even the greenery looks a little duller - though this may have more to do with the deep grey clouds gathering at the horizon, that promise squally showers later this evening.

The bus arrives on time into Battambang, and we grab a tuk-tuk to our hotel, the other side of the river. Felix heads out to look for trousers, while I have the briefest of naps, followed by a beer on my balcony. Laid back is working for me…

23:10
We meet at 19:15 and head out into that there Battambang. We’re aiming for a restaurant called Jaan Bai, about which I’ve heard good things. The rain is persistent, but not heavy. It’s umbrella worthy though. We arrive at Jaan Bai a mixture of hot and wet. The food is sublime. Felix has some salt and pepper calamari to start, which is a great example of the genre. I have a pork belly and cucumber salad - sensational. Felix definitely wins the mains - a huge chunk of beef short-rib, slowly braised in herbs, spices and a coconut broth. It’s meaty, wobbly, aromatic, delicious. My fish amok is also excellent. A mild and fragrant fish curry, through which beaten eggs are mixed, before the whole lot is stuffed into a banana leaf cup for steaming. I’ve had it before, but this one is particularly great. We both agree that the food tastes even better as we discover that the restaurant gives half its profits to a local orphanage. Felix has room for a dessert, but I do not. I can just about fit in a small flight of flavoured Cambodian rice wines. The ginger and red chilli variant is amazing - properly hot. The lemon and lemongrass version is fresh and zingy. The coconut and pineapple offering is tropical. The last is, well - not to my taste. Anise and coffee. It tastes a little like Covonia cough linctus. Best avoided.

We wander back along the river, and find ourselves in Street Art Bar, a kind of hipster homage. The drinks are warm, the owner insane, the décor a little reductive - what’s not to like? The music is actually pretty good. a trio of local yoofs doing some really cool stuff. We decide to move on after one drink though. We walk past a bar, the name of which we have yet to discover, that is banging out ultra-fast electro house type shiz. We walk on by. We stop in at Rainbow, where another trio of local yoofs is doing similarly good stuff. We (I) befriend a couple of street cats. They’re terribly cute. Time is cracking on though. It’s nearly 23:00, so we head back to our hotel, through the continuing drizzle. We're both looking to a lie-in tomorrow, as our tour doesn't start till 13:00. 10:00 alarm I reckon...Weiterlesen