Battambang - bats, bamboo, and Buddhist temples

Our last new place on our trip! Battambang is Cambodia's 2nd biggest city but it's really laid back for a city. Even the tour we went on was super relaxed.

We met our tuk tuk guide at 10AM and went to do the thing we were most excited about: Battambang's bamboo railway!  We saw the locals assembling the trains, which consist of two 60kg metal wheel sets, a bamboo platform on top, and a lawn mower engine. 

The tracks were laid down by the French and stretched across the whole country connecting Thailand and Vietnam. But then the Khmer Rouge happened and what is left is this little stretch reinvented for tourists. 

We got on our own private train and let the conductor rattle us down 7km of the single-track warped railway going at 50km/h. If we came across another lorry coming in the opposite direction, one cart simply unloaded and disassembled the cart and laid it next to the track. The rule is whoever has the lightest load has to give priority. At the end of the track, we got the opportunity to visit O Sra Lav, a little village I am sure only exists for tourists. The whole experience is super touristy yet super fun. 

We let our tuk tuk guide drive us to two of the most famous temples in the area stopping along the way to see the countryside: a local fishing village, small temples, fruit bats, local fruits and vegetables being dried in the sun, and Cambodia's first winery. We haven't yet acquired a taste for the wine. 

Our first temple was Wat Banan.  Glad we did it first as you have to heave yourself up 340+ steps.  Like most of the temples, it started as a Hindu temple and received a Buddhist makeover in the 12th century. It's clearly been looted, a little vandalized, and the towers are crumbly which kind of makes it more impressive. It's like you can see its history right in front of you. 

Phnom Sampeu is a mountain temple complex with lots of monkeys and gorgeous views. 

The killing caves of Phnom Sampeau are located here. The Khmer Rouge used these caves as a dumping ground for all the victims they bludgeoned to death.  Now there is a memorial of skulls and a peaceful reclining Buddha. 

At dusk, an endless wave of bats fly out of the mountain toward the nearby lake.  It looks like someone sprayed a hose but instead of water, out came bats. 

Battambang offered much more than we expected. Final stop: the hustle and bustle of Bangkok!

-Priscilla 

Temple raiding at Angkor Wat

The Khmer kingdom was the most powerful civilization in the history of southeast Asia. At it's height in the 11th and 12th centuries it controlled most of present day Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, and their capital city of Angkor was likely the largest city in the world.

The Khmer civilization lost steam and was eventually defeated by the Thai Ayuthaya kingdom. The mainly wooden city of Angkor was abandoned and reclaimed by the jungle, and only the ~100 stone temples survive to this day. The temple complex area is enormous, and you could easily spend a whole week exploring everything. The temples were built as Hindu temples but later converted to Buddhist, and are a mix of tall "temple-mountain" style and galleried temple style. We spent two very packed days seeing almost 20 temples representing the whole range of Khmer architecture.

We started with sunrise at Angkor Wat. Even with 5AM tourist hordes, it's magnificent. It combines the mountain-temple and gallery-temple styles, with towering quintuple spires and hundreds of meters of carved galleries. It's so big that even with thousands of tourists there it doesn't feel crowded. Enough intro, here are the photos:

Angkor Thom is the largest complex, and was built to be the capital center, complete with royal palace and the king's personal temples. Notable temples include the huge faces at Bayon and the lines and lines of spirits and demons on the Terrace of the Leper King. Angkor Thom is surrounded by a moat, and the entrance causeways are lined with stone guardians brandishing a naga like an enormous firehose.

Ta Phrom was reclaimed by the jungle, and was my favorite temple. It's overgrown with trees and many parts of it have collapsed. It's "lost temple" look is so atmospheric that it's been used as a filming location for several movies, notably Tomb Raider. If you look closely there's what is obviously a carving of a stegosaurus, proving that the Khmer would have used dinosaurs to build their temples if possible.

Banteay Srei is 30km out and predates most of the other ruins. It's small by covered in intricate carvings. Banteay Srei was the site of the "Malraux Incident." In 1923 22-year-old French writer Andre Malraux pretended to be an archeologist and plundered several of the carvings to sell. He was broke, and targeted Banteay Srei because it was far enough from Angkor Wat that it had an uncertain legal status. He was caught at the border and there was a huge scandal, but he narrowly avoided jail and later in life became the French Minister of Culture. Seems appropriate.

Here are some photos from the many, many other temples we saw:

Siem Reap, the closest town to Angkor, is the most heavily touristed place we've been on our trip, but somehow it's surprisingly great. All the competition means that prices are reasonable and quality is high. Angkor Wat attracts every type of traveler, so in the earlier evening hours at least the streets are a cosmopolitan mix of tour groupers, couples, party backpackers, etc.

We ended our trip watching the sunset from yet another temple, and the sun is setting on this trip as well. We're waiting to board our flight home! A few more posts to come though.

-Peter

Food for Thought (in Thailand)

Pad Thai - Peter's had 19 of these street food noodle delights. Every vendor has their own take but main ingredients are egg noodles, egg, mung bean, and fish sauce.

Thai Ice Tea - the best ice tea. Very sweet because half of it is condensed milk or evaporated milk with sugar. 

Spring rolls - tiny deep fried spring rolls stuffed with mung bean noodles. Served with chili garlic sauce. 

Thai crepe - rice taco is the best description I can think of. Ours were filled with shredded coconut and egg

Pandan wrapped chicken - coconut milk marinated chicken wrapped in pandan leaves and then deep fried. Gives the chicken a little nutty flavor. I'm pretty sure you don't eat the leaves

Papaya salad - if you don't like papaya, that's ok because it tastes nothing like papaya. It's uses green papaya (unripe papaya) and it's sour and sweet and salty and spicy. 

Meats on sticks - meats on sticks

Tom yum - sour and spicy soup filled with lots of herbs and spices.  Add coconut milk for a creamy version. 

Thai Suki - or hot pot. Hot pot is one of my favorite winter dishes. It's a communal pot full of broth where you dip and cook your own meat, vegetables, and noodles. 

Curry - made with coconut milk and almost always has chillies, lemon grass, galangal, kaffir lime, garlic, shallot, and cilantro. In order of spiciness, starting with most spicy: green, red, yellow. 

Chicken and rice - I'm not sure what this is called but we saw a lot of Thai people eating it so we just pointed to it and grunted words of desire. 

Mussel omelette - another great simple street food. Egg mix, oyster, and mung bean. 

Spicy Noodle Soup - noodle in soup with hot peppers. Oddly satisfying on a hot day

Sokhothai noodles - thin rice noodles usually in a sweet pork broth and ground peanuts. Pictured below is chicken - no piggies were hurt during this process. 

Morning Glory - really simple stir fry. It's green, crisp, and a little spicy. 

Chicken Panang - Peter's 2nd go-to dish in the U.S.. Chicken, curry, chilies, and coconut milk.  

Pineapple fried rice - fried rice served in a pineapple

Grilled fish - for like $5 you can get a whole grilled fish. They stuff it with onions and leeks so it tastes less fishy. 

Mango and sticky rice - mango has never failed here, and paired with sticky rice and coconut milk makes it a sweet, slightly salty, and very delicious dessert or snack.  

Coconut ice cream - coconut is abundant and fresh here so this makes sense.