Battambang

On 5 January, we left Phnom Penh for Battambang. Along the way we saw water buffalo and cows traipsing through hay fields and rice fields teeming with all types of egrets.

We stopped at a small restaurant along the way for lunch. The food was already prepared, so we chose what dish we wanted to eat (I picked a fish curry) and we got some rice to go with it. Candid shots are the best ;)

Yet again in a tuk tuk on an afternoon excursion with our awesome group. First stop rice noodle factory!

This rice noodle factory is owned by this hardworking, merry man and his family. They sell the rice noodles to local restaurants and families within Battambang. Though it is a small operation they make a large quantity of rice noodles over the course of a week. The heavy white mound that this man is holding is essentially the rice dough that will be molded into the rice noodles. 

The contraption that this lady is sitting on pushes the rice dough through a mesh into hot water where the rice noodles then cook. So depending on the weight of the person sitting on the lever, the work can be completed faster or slower.

Cooking noodles :)

This is just outside of the small factory.

The view of the river from our tuk tuk as we headed to our next stop. In a couple of days, we took a boat along this river to Siem Reap.

We stopped at a temple and walked around the grounds. The temple is only open on holy days, which is determined by the lunar calendar, so we could not walk into the temple this particular day.

A little statue reminiscent of the Angkor Wat style... Just wait for those photos in the next post!

This is a simplified model of the traditional Cambodian style house that we visited. It is built on stilts to prevent flooding during the monsoon season, to keep the house cool during the hot months and to stop migrating elephants from stampeding through it. Nowadays the stilts are still used for just the former two reasons because wild elephant herds live almost solely in northern Cambodia. 

Here is the front of the house. As you can see, during the dry season, the space beneath the house is used as a work and relaxation area.

During the reign of the Khmer Rouge, many valueables were taken out of this 1920s built house, with the exception of a few ornate and heavy pieces of hardwood furniture. When this house was built, wood was plentiful, therefore most everyone could afford to build with it and concrete houses were built by the wealthy. Now the opposite is true because of the massive deforestation that took place over the past 40 years.

Here we are with our new friends Gary and Tom aboard the Bamboo train. There is a small engine behind Gary and Tom, which is about the size of a lawnmotor engine. These trains were used for decades to transport goods from Battambang to the sea before an engine was added to the mix in the '80s, which drastically shortened the transport time. This train is cool because it can be dismantled within minutes to allow for another train coming in the opposite direction to pass. You just have to remove the bamboo top and then take both of the wheelsets off of the tracks.

After traveling only a few hundred feet, we got to test the ease with which the bamboo train can be dismantled. There was a group of about 7 bamboo trains heading our way.

Just waiting...

...and waiting...

And we are finally off!

We stopped along the way at a bridge to watch the sunset.

We ate at the home of a family that made all 16 of us to a tempura like meal. The silver pan has slits in the center to cook meat and if you look closely, you can see carrots and lettuce floating around the raised center portion. The veggies are sitting in a hot soup and being cooked simultaneously along with the meat. The pan with the handles is sitting on top a container with hot coals. It is such a great setup!

Caitlin is busy cooking her tofu and all of us are thoroughly enjoying ourselves :)

The next morning we went on a bicycle tour of Battambang. We kept a nice pace and it was great to see the town from a bike. It is one of my favorite ways to explore a new place :)

Our first stop on the biking tour was a rice paper factory. The rice paper is made from basically a doughy rice water that is poured over a hot plate for a few seconds, then removed and placed on the rack shown above to dry in the sun. This is the prime time for rice paper production because it is warm and mostly dry. During the monsoon season, only a fraction of what is made in a day this time of year is created. For about 8-10 hours of work, the family that runs this factory only makes about a $5 profit a day. Luckily, by stopping by on the cycling tour, the family gets some more money to support themselves and their small business.

Rice paper drying in the sun.

Biking to our next stop.

Our second stop was a factory that makes banana products. Above is essentially an all natural banana fruit roll-up. So yummy :)

There were also sweet banana chips, a combination of rice, banana and guava wrapped in a banana leaf and a doughy banana treat.

Dangerously, our third stop was to a place that makes rice wine. No joke this stuff is quite strong and is much more akin to liquor. Thankfully most of us only had one shot, though some had a few more than that...

Next stop was a fish market, which had the distinct, overpowering aroma of seafood. It was so pungent that many people in our group opted out of walking through it. Here is some fillets drying in the sun.

This man is moving some unknown fish bits to the smellier part of the market, which the few of us that looked around the market walked speedily through.

Our fifth and final stop was a stand alongside the road that cooks sticky rice with black beans inside bamboo. It was surprisingly tasty. I shared one with Sue and I could not resist snapping a photo of her :)

Heading back to the bike shop.

Later on that day, we headed on an afternoon of excursion. We stopped to try some barbecued rat and roasted beetles and crickets. Before you guys get completely grossed out, the rats were caught within the rice fields of the countryside; though gamey, it was quite tasty. The crickets were actually good. Just salty and crunchy. Basically much better for you than potato chips because they actually have protein in them. Once you get past the idea that you are eating a bug, they are quite enjoyable.

When I first snapped this, I did not realize how upset these kids look. It must have been a long day for them.

A couple of us decided to forgo hopping on the back of a motorbike and instead hiked up to a temple and cave that sits on top of a big hill, on the outskirts of Battambang.

I refrained for taking photos within the temple and just took these two of a monument of Buddha next to the temple. Much of the temple was destroyed and ransacked when the Khmer Ruge was in power. Religion was not seen as necessary and was therefore forbidden. People that continued to practice a religion had to do so in secret. Buddhist monks had to join the rest of the Cambodian people by working in the fields and for the newly established agrarian society if they wanted to live.

There is an old temple that was built within this cave that we walked into. This is another site where people were killed during the Khmer Rouge reign. People were thrown down into the cave and off of the cliff side of this hill. No where was safe.

Buddha sitting serenely as the sun sets behind him.

Looking down on Battambang.

Here is a group shot of most of us. We are missing Jenna, Karey and Steve.

We scrambled behind a temple and sat beside monkeys in trees to watch the sun go down.

Walking back down to see the bats descend from the caves to hunt.

Unfortunately I could not get any good photos of the bats flying. I decided to climb up some ladders to get a better view of the Buddha head that was carved into the rock face, when the bats started flying. It was worth getting the good shot of the bats to get close to this bautiful carving of Buddha.