exploring Battambang

The bamboo train carriages

Exploring Battambang first required a 6 hour bus ride. Luckily we managed to get into a minivan, so not a giant bus and we managed to get the seats up the front. Although, when we asked the travel agent lady if we can sit in the front she got this confused and scared and appalled look on her face. Then said... "you can sit in the back, not the front.... driver sits in the front". People are so literal! It is like, everyone has autism and takes everything totally literally all the time.

This kid hitched a ride with our train.
He got let off halfway along the track
at what I assume was his house

We found a friendly enough tuk tuk driver to take us from the bus to the hotel and so decided to got on a tour with him the next day.



First up the bamboo train. These train carriages are flat boards with a little motor and two sets of wheels that hook onto the very dodgy train track. Turn out, real trains don't run on this track because the lines are so dodgy and wavy and terrible. For $5 each we got to ride out to the end of the line and back.  It was actually a lot more fun than I had expected. We got to look at the countryside scenery, wave at kids, and the train went quite fast - now I see why people referred to it like a horizontal roller coaster! Especially as some parts the train tracks were noticeably uneven.

Unfortunately at the end of the line you are made to get off and spend 10 minutes standing awkwardly in the centre of a group of market stalls selling scarves and "bamboo train tshirts". At least, awkward if you don't want to buy - or even look at the products in the shop (not look at was because I didn't want the harassing. total indifference is the way to go).

The wibbly tracks

Also a collection of children trying to give us free little things (grasshoppers, stars etc) made from palm leaves. "For you" "no thank you" "Free, free for you" "no thankyou" "TAKE IT it free take it". For a "free" item the kids were incredibly rude and pushy. No doubt because once you take the free thing you are guilted into buying a selection of crap woven bracelets. Or something. I refuse to buy anything, accept tours for money, or give money to kids. My theory is if they are earning cash having fun talking with tourists or by handing out bracelets what is their motivation to go to school? Many kids I have met in Vietnam are so excited to see tourists and talk to them to practice English. And if these kids wanted to talk to us that would have been great fun for everyone - and I would have happily hosted an impromptu English lesson. But no, just forcefully yelling TAKE IT FREE does not make me inclined to interact with them at all.

Anywho, The bamboo train then got loaded back onto the platform for our return journey. we obviously got here before the rest of the tourists because on the return journey we had to disembark and dismantle our train to let other people go on the one way track. The rule is..... the least loaded train has to make way for the other train. It was fun to have to jump off and wave to people going past.... or be the victorious ones who didn't have to jump off!

This is how the dismantle the train to let others pass

The end was also a bit of a let down.... the money taking person started telling us to tip the driver. Personally I hate this. We payed $15 for this short ride on a basic train thing. Our tuk tuk for the whole day of driving around various bumpy country roads, talking to us and telling us stories and Cambodian fables and all his petrol/tuktuk/bike repairs was $20. We actually told the guy that $15 seems like enough money. I think tips are for specially good service. The driver didn't talk with us (I know he probably didn't speak English.... but I have had amazing and hilarious conversations / interactions with people with no actual language being understood on either side). It also wasn't the driver who asked for / looked annoyed when we didn't tip - It was the money taking guy who just sits around in the shade all day. So I wonder if when people tip, he pays the driver less and keeps more for himself. But maybe I am being too sceptical.

Much stairs at Ba Nan

Next we went to Ba Nan temples. These were surprising far away, but a really nice drive down little country roads and past villages. Lots of kids waving and shouting hi! We then had to tackle to formidable 356 steps to the top. The first section seemed like a cruel punishment (not sure why it was so bad.... in Phnom Penh we were staying on the 4th floor of an elevator-less hotel). I actually expected once we reached the top we would have another set as big as the first.... but it was nice and small.
The view over some forests and bamboo groves as well as the old, crumbling temples at the top made the climb well worth it.
Back down for lunch. We were pretty glad that we ate lunch AFTER the climb, we saw a few of the people who were at the bamboo train arriving and lunching - I pity them climbing those stairs on a full stomach!

More stairs. they seemed never ending!

There were 5 temples like this as the reward
at the top of all those stairs!

We were also pretty impressed that people
must have carried all these stones all
the way up this hill!

Some seem a little.... lean-y

Next we loaded back into the tuk-tuk, this time it was a little bit mystery tour like because we forgot to ask where we were going. It was also down a road that had suffered the beginnings of the wet season. But it was interesting because this road is obviously a short cut that gets a lot less tourist actions. People were staring and waving a lot more!

Monkeys hanging on the stairs

Turns out we were headed for a mountain with more steps (yey). The tuk tuk driver did give us the option of paying $3 each to get driven up the mountain. We opted to be cheapscates and get some extra exercise on the stairs. I am so glad we did. The views at each different height were really interesting. Plas I found a random little cave to explore, but I didn't have a light... and no one else came in with me so I had to turn back before it got too dark.We also turned a corner to discover..... treacherous path of monkeys.... Yes, last week I let monkeys crawl all over my head. and that was fun - but I was fairly certain that those monkeys wouldn't bite me (although, one did bite Nancye a little bit) and I was totally sure that those monkeys wouldn't have rabies. These monkeys seemed much less predictable.
We opted to follow the rules of the wildlife path - don't show your teeth, don't threaten and don't look them in the eyes, and slowly walk past the monkeys.
The strategy worked and no one got attacked. Our guide did later tell us that sometimes the monkeys bite people (thanks for the warning buddy!) but I believe those people had fruit / tried to touch or pet the monkeys.

monkeys hanging in trees above the stairs (just waiting
to drop down on someone)

At the top was a pagoda, a series of people guarding the pagoda from monkeys (with slingshots) and a few people trying to sell drinks to thirsty tourists. We found some stairs leading through a cave/valley and back up the other side. We then heading off down the road to find the killing caves (a place where the Khmer Rouge would kill people and use the cave as disposal for bodies). Here we had a 13-ish year old boy come running up and inform us that the killing caves are that way (up a side path that looked to us like it went to a statue of a buddha and nothing much else. We thanked him, and tried to work out how we can walk up there without him being our "guide". Eventually telling him that we don't need a guide. I felt a bit like he did help us, and maybe I should tip him a tiny amount. But he kept harassing us. Telling us that he needs money for school and going and going and going. We also quickly realised that actually, where we were walking towards would have taken us directly to the cave, and his directions were a detour designed to make us feel like we need to pay him.

The view from the top. 

the random cave we found to walk through.

The caves here didn't really have any information or much to look at. But, we also didn't have to pay to get in. I was glad that we walked up the stairs though - that was definitely the highlight of that part of the trip.

The amazing incredible fairly lame bat cave

Once back down the driver asked if we want to stay to watch the bats come out. He said it would be at about 5pm (in an hour). I have seen plenty of fruit bats at Tolga.... but I didn't mind sitting and having a cool drink to wait if the other people wanted to watch. 5 turned into 6.... and we were fairly ready to leave - but just as we asked to go the bats started. I guess if you watched the bats for an hour, the shear number might be amazing. but I expected more to be pouring out like some amazing column of batty goodness.







The next morning we were up bright and early to have breakfast. We thought it would be easiest to get breakfast at our hotel....  the sign said we had to order 30minutes before - but that way we could finish getting ready for our morning cooking class while we wait and still have time to walk into town for the class.

Market tour with the cooking class

Over an hour later I started to hunger rage a little bit.... particularly when we saw 3 takeaway boxes that had to be our breakfasts disappear into the hotel... and 10 minutes later no food was visible. I found a back room with our food, two people wandering around (as far as I could see neither were preparing our food or putting it on plates) they didn't speak English so I went to find the reception woman. She was wandering around cleaning a table and chairs (admittedly, this was where they served us breakfast - so she was making it nice.... but she had an hour and a half to do this earlier). After I got a bit short with her about where the damn cooked breakfast that surely must be cold is, she did go inside, and 5 minutes later our breakfast arrived.

live fish (well, some live)

less live bugs mmmm bugs

We devoured it before they returned with butter and jam for the toast. Not sure if that meant we ate way too fast.... or shows how much longer they took to bring some butter for the eggs and toast.

The cooking class was much more fun! and much more delicious! We learnt to make 3 dishes and ate them..... and I will be hosting some Asian dinner parties when I return! I miss cooking for myself!

We got a market tour, bought some of the ingredients for the food and then learnt to make Beef Lok Lak, Fish Amok and spring rolls.

That night we headed off the see the Cambodian Circus. This was originally set up as an arts school for refugees in camps on the Thai border who did art therapy to help them after the Khmer Rouge. It was hugely successful and evolved to include dance, music and circus. The aim was partly to help people but also to prevent the arts from being lost because many artists were killed during the khmer rouge regime.

Now the school is set up in a very poor community which has a lot of problems with drugs / gambling / etc. They aim to get all the kids to school, and also teach them skills that they can use at the circus and to get jobs other places.

Me with the performers :) 

The skills of the guys were amazing! I loved it! I mean, I love most circuses.... but this was extra awesome! I actually plan to go again in the next few days in Siem Reap (they have a second school there!).

A trip to the zoo

We went on an adventure to the zoo / wildlife centre. And I was with two other people, so actually have photos of me for once!

Basically this place is owned by the government, but has wildlife alliance hanging out, fund raising and making the lives of animals better than in most zoos! Also running breeding and release programs. we paid the extra "donation" to do the behind the scenes tour with wildlife alliance instead of just turning up and wandering around ourselves. And we saw lions and tigers and bears.... oh my! (and elephants, and monkeys, and otters and snakes!)

First up we met Lucky the friendly elephant who was found as a 6 month old and raised by people. So she is very comfortable hanging around with people and being trained with food rewards. It was really interesting because they were talking about the bull hooks that the trainers have to carry (just in case she suddenly rampages and starts killing people) but you can see that she isn't phased at all by the hook. Not scared, or watching it... she just didn't really care one bit. So the take home message was that if you go to place with elephants.... check out how they react to the hook, even if they claim it is never used - if the elephants are watching it, or shy away, it is a bad sign. But also, everywhere will carry hooks just in case. Good to know I think.

 These two elephants both have a history of being violent with people. Neither were raised around people and so they are not able to be people-ised, or released.
The boy (with tusks) had most of his feeding ground cleared and turned into sugarcane. Which he thought was pretty swell, but the farmers were much less happy about an elephant sized hole in their cane each day so tried to scare and chase him away. This made Mr elephant pretty mad... and he started stomping down houses and people who got too close. So the wildlife guys came and rescued him!
The lady elephant was near a village and for a while the people enjoyed feeding her.... then it got expensive so they stopped. She liked the free food option better and started just taking whatever she wanted. Again, people tried to scare her off and chase her away. Even throwing acid on the poor girl. Eventually these guys found out and came to collect her.
Because of their amazing memories the elephants can't be released or they will just go on back to their original homes. but at least now they get to live their lives in safety :)

The last elephant lost one of his legs as a baby. most likely in a snare trap. He was raised around Lucky and people, but as he hit puberty started getting rough and so now they have to keep him behind a barrier while training and changing his prosthetic.










We also visited these tigers and their keeper. This zoo has 7 tigers that are some sort of cross-breed. The seized 6 (three pairs) as cub in a raid. One pair breed early on, but they are all on birth control as they don't really want to breed the strange mix breed tigers.
Apparently they also have one purebred indochina tiger and are hoping to get a mate for it to start a breeding program. The problem is the government can't understand why they want to import a purebred tiger when they already have 6 or 7 that are more or less the same.

The keeper obviously has a pretty amazing relationship with them, petting them, and making them lie down near the bars so we can pet them!

I think that a rule of buying an big camera should be that you at least understand how to not use your flash. some tigers would see a camera and immediately bare their teeth and growl. I couldn't really understand why until I noticed a couple of people using flash on the poor things even though it is really quite light and sunny. No wonder animals hate it when they see cameras! rant over!








I do particularly love gibbons! they have such giant long arms and beautiful eyes! Technically gibbons are apes... but i'm going to use the term monkeys for all primate like animals from here on in. So sue me!

mmmmm back scratches!

 This lovely lady is presumed to have been raised as a pet, then abandoned when she got too big and playful.unlike other monkeys she apparently doesn't mind eye contact (the others see this as a challenge and will attack) and she sometimes smiles at people she likes (other monkeys perceive teeth baring as a threat and will attack). Her last strange behaviour is climbing down to the bars and then turning her back on people. Most gibbons turn their backs as signs that they want nothing to do with you. This sweetheart likes to have her back scratched. When one person stopped she would climb as close as possible to someone else and turn around for a back scratching! So adorable! I just wanted to give her a big old cuddle!

getting my face painted

Lucky the friendly and rewards-based trained elephant painted shirts for everyone. She looked quite proud of her handiwork.... and I think she had a cheeky smile when her painting skills would get a bit enthusiastic and she would paint all over someone's face. With every brush full of paint she used she get a treat of some potatoes.

 Then it was time to visit the baby monkey cage! Part of our backstage tour included hand feeding these guys. It was a lot of fun! the hard part was the fact that looking them in the eyes, sudden noises (like laughter) and showing you teeth is not recommended as they might get scared and attack. So trying not to smile or laugh was a bit of a hard task!

We also have to remove anything the monkeys can grab, hair clips, glasses, jewelry. Poor Nancye had to keep a hand on glasses at all times to prevent them being stolen, and be able to see! the monkey on my arm got a bit sad when he dropped his fruit though.....

And launched himself at Nancye for a fierce tug of war, which ended in the monkey escaping with her glasses, and everyone else chasing the monkey to retrieve them.

The monkeys did enjoy suddenly launching themselves off one person and flying at your face in a fairly terrifying manner. They also enjoyed trying to dislodge anything that looked steal-able, such as the buttons on my shirt, or the tie on my pants (which one used as a swing a couple of times).
One monkey did become obsessed with my baggy pants, fortunately they just weren't quite baggy enough for him to climb up there!

is there food up here?

I'm ready for my close-up now

This monkey is more chilled

This guy heard puppy dog eyes are a good way to
get food to appear

All in all and awesome day! I thoroughly enjoyed being introduced to, painted by, and climbed on by all the animals! Totally recommend to anyone heading through Cambodia.... plus, the money helps save more animals!

Cambodia.... week 2

A second week in Cambodia..... a new hotel, exploring the inner workings of a hospital and site seeing

Our lovely water lady

- During the weekend we got sick of the hotel booked for us..... there continued to be rubbish piles on every landing for days at a time, mice and possibly bed bugs..... So it seemed high time to go hunting a new hotel!
This basically involved just walking down our street, there is a never ending supply of hotels to try, and climbing endless seeming stairways.
Hotels tend to be 4 stories upwards..... and we didn't encounter any with lifts!
Happily, for a whole $1 more we get lovely, clean rooms, with a shower that actually works, fridges in room, air-conditioning, and no piles of rubbish or evidence of rodents or bugs.

The sad part of moving hotels is that we are no longer right across the road from this lovely water-selling lady. She is so friendly and happy every day! She also teaches her foreign customers basic Khmer. Starting with thank you, and when she discovered that we were back everyday moving onto numbers. She taught me to count up to 5.... then, before taking this photo I impressed her by counting to 10 (which isn't too hard.... seeing as it goes 3,4,5, 5-1, 5-2, etc)! We have discovered a 3 for 2 water deal in the little hotel shop.... but every few days I still walk down the road to visit and buy the water from her. I should be everyday.... but we have been so busy this week that walking down the road seemed like climbing a mountain some days!

We also checked out the palace and silver pagoda. The silver pagoda is home to a crazy amount of gold, diamonds and includes silver floor tiles throughout. However, I presume to protect against damage and wear and tear they are mostly covered by rugs, and the view-able tiles aren't polished up. But once you actually realise that it is all gold and silver it is pretty impressive! Plus a gold buddha weighing 90kg and covered with over 2000 diamonds! A large jade buddha and cases and cases of smaller gold and silver and bejewelled buddhas. pretty incredible!
Unfortunately we are not allowed to take photos in the silver pagoda, but here are some from the palace!

Bonus monkeys hanging out in the palace grounds

The amount of ornate carvings and gold is pretty mindblowing

The pagoda gardens

During the week we focused on giving some lessons in our new improved classroom and health promotion! Mainly getting the kids to wash their hands every time they come into the clinic. They are already starting to do it automatically, and telling other kids to go wash hands before playing. This has to be an improvement on kids with snot and filth covered hands playing with the blocks.... that other kids then put in their mouths or play with.

The kids decorating the when-to-wash-hands poster

There was a lack of space for all the kids to trace and colour their hands
on the actual poster.... so we had 2 going!

We also saw our village kids with disabilities. Discovering that the teenage boy we see (I believe his name is Sila, but not really sure of spelling!!) actually has an exercise machine and walking frame donated to the family from somewhere. Unfortunately, because of the way his mum helps him to walk, he tends to lean backwards and so is unable to use the walking frame safely. The exercise machine also seems to strengthen the pushing-backwards type muscles.... but we have been practicing balance standing on his own, and standing leaning forwards on the frame. He has actually stood without holding onto anything at all a few times now. I think he and everyone around thought that he could never do that!

We also work on balance for this young girl. I haven't yet been able to establish her name sadly, but she is always happy to play! Lots of kicking balls and standing on one leg! 

We have also been visiting Fatima (the double amputee) in hospital. Lots of stretching her tight little hamstrings, trying to get some strength back into her legs, hoping to mould her stumps into a good shape for prosthetics and trying not to cause too much pain during this whole process! Translation difficulties add a level another level of complexity to this already mighty complex situation... for example Lucy "is this hurting her?" "translator immediately replies "no." Lucy "Can you ask HER if it is hurting?"

Maybe I don't give him enough credit..... perhaps he is actually a mind reader :P

We are also becoming more and more terrified of Cambodian hospitals after seeing photos of Fatima in surgery when she arrived, fact a side that people were just hanging out taking photos in what should have been a fairly sterile environment - she didn't appear to be ventilated. So presumably was either barely sedated, or was sedated with no assist to breathing. Then, as we left on Thursday the woman in the bed next to Fatima looked like she was going to get traction on her leg, but in walked a series of doctors in surgical scrubs and masks with a box of stuff and a makita drill. It looked like they were going to drill into her leg to do the traction right there..... we confirmed this today. They drilled rods into her thigh bones in the ward room. Which had 2 patients who are unable to move out of their beds and their family. Apparently no form of curtains or screens were used. This, is horrifying!

Weekend adventures

For the weekend we ventured down to Kampot.
Staying in lovely bungalows next to the river.... well, basic bungalows next to a lovely river!
We went on a strange day tour. It was meant to be a trip to the local mountain and national park, see the "black palace" visit a waterfall for lunch and swimming, then a relaxing sunset boat ride up the river.

This was possibly one of the summer villas,
the guide was confusing

The national park tour was more a tour of deserted buildings. Turns out the french and the kings of Cambodia had a series of hotels, casinos and summer palaces.... which were all abandoned in the 70s for about 30 years. Now they seem to be the main attractions. I saw no evidence of nice walks, like you would expect of a national park.... but that might be because of the distinct possibility of landmines in the area!

some cool graffiti in one of the buildings

view out a window

View of the ocean from the top of the mountain

This is an old french casino/hotel. It is actually in quite good
nick, just completely gutted of any fixtures.
I think with some wall papering and fixing, this building would be amazing!
Instead they have built a giant tacky looking casino and hotel not far away.

the balcony of the french hotel

We then went to the waterfall for lunch. Turns out, there is no water because it is the end of dry season. So no swimming. I went for a walk along the rocks and found a beautiful ledge to hang out on and watch the world go by. Lots of nice butterflies (who seemed to be confused by my pasty white skin and think my feet were flowers) and the sound of the little bit of water in the river, birds calling, general rainforest noise. It was quite a blissful, relaxing place to sit!

All in all, the tour wasn't what I expected...... but it was a great day anyway!

The next morning we just chilled out on the deck next to the river, drinking fresh juices and reading out books. Pretty good day really.

Then a long, bumpy bus ride back!

On the way back to the hotel we discovered that they had some serious rain before we arrived, resulting in some serious flooding!