South East Asia Summer 2009: Battambang

After Phnom Penh we headed five hours west to Battambang, yet another dusty town full of crumbling old buildings. The town itself didn't have much to offer,but the area surrounding it was nice for a day. We hired a tuk-tuk and went out into the countryside to do some exploring. Our first stop was a Buddhist monastary on top of a mountain, complete with a cave temple and a troupe of monkeys. The climb up was tough. It was hot and we were racing to beat a storm that seemed to be bearing down on us. As it turned out, it rained all around us, but never on us. The views from the top were great.

After a good lunch we traveled to another area and climbed yet another mountain, this time to visit the ruins of Phnom Benan, an ancient Khmer temple dating back to the 11th century. The ruins consisted of five towers on top of the mountain. It served as a mini-preview of Angkor Watt. Even through the clouds, the views from the top of the hill were awesome.

The following day we boarded a slow boat for a six hour trip down the Tonle Sap river to Siem Reap. I spent most of the time on the boats roof and ended up with a nice sunburn. It was worth it though. The scenery was awesome.

Battambang:

Many Cambodian people were murdered by the Khmer Rouge here. . . . there bodies were tossed several hundred feet down into this cave Buddhist temple. All religion was outlawed by the Khmer Rouge.

Victims:

These guys were collecting fish to sell:

I am a ninja:

Typical South East Asian toilette. . . . the things we take for granted at home are unlimited. I'm not going to miss these:

The last of a very long set of stairs climbing the mountain:

Phnom Banan:

All of the following pictures were taken from the rof of a boat on the way to Siem Reap. . . . The countryside loked and felt like Florida. . . . very flat, wet, hot, and humid. The houses, of course, bore no resemblance to any back home: