From Battambang to India

Someone claimed that Cambodia has the world's 7th fastest growing economy, though given it's current state any growth at all would presumably result in a high ranking. We couldn't leave Cambodia having only seen the economic marvel of Siem Reap, so we opted to visit the quieter town of Battambang to provide some sort of comparison.



Battambang is small enough to walk across, but developed enough to have a dozen hotels and about the same number of restaurants catering to tourists.

We decided to visit Phnom Sampeu, a mountain infamous for its use by the Khmer Rouge, and met a young, persistent tuk tuk driver named Bun with decent English and a passion for strange idioms, so decided to give him a shot.

The first place he pointed out had a sign advertising dog meat.

Our second stop was for snacks. Fried rat, cockroaches and crickets. I tried all three, to my own surprise, and found the cockroach the most palatable of the three. Kind of like a really skinny prawn that hadn't been shelled. The rat was crispy and oily and I didn't really know what to do with it once I'd tried some thigh. Bun recommended I put it back on the stall for the vendor's family, rather than tossing the crispy critter. Our driver bought a big bag of bugs for himself, and snacked on them throughout the trip. Hozumi didn't go near anything, naturally.

Bun gathered a handful of seeds and pressed them into Hozumi's palm, she panicked, thinking they might be dormant insects of some kind, and passed them to me. Bun poured a little water on them and they exploded with force, seeds flying in all directions as I laughed in surprise.

The walk to the top of Phnom Sampeu was hot and tiring. The heaped skulls and painting gave a clearer picture of what went on there than the caves themselves, which were unlit and appropriately uninviting.

The hill also featured an active Wat and impressive view. These monks were chillin' to some local rap on the radio.

Upon our return Bun told us all he knew of the Khmer Rouge atrocities and the 'killing caves'. Ten thousand people were said to have been killed and tossed into the caves above, and many more people attempting to flee were caught or died in the exodus. He spoke of the murder of anyone 'intellectual', and how people buried their glasses to avoid being targeted. He spoke of rape gangs and forced marriages between siblings, and the conditions in the 'jails' of Phnom Phen that I saw last time I was in Cambodia. He claimed that far from ending when the majority of the Khmer Rouge left the country, atrocities continued as late as 1997(!?) and that this was the reason his mother fled the countryside when he was three to seek safety and a better life in town.

Watermelons! The fruit vendor commented, and Bun translated, "Oh, foreigners can eat watermelons!". Given how the majority of people passing through Cambodia eat an entirely segregated and different diet from any local, what we 'can' and 'can't' eat must look very strange to the average Cambodian.

Lots of steps at Wat Banan.

Unable to get on the only morning bus to the border, we got in a car that was hanging around looking for a few extra passengers before departing. When we got in that made four occupants. By the time he'd gone round to the houses of friends and family we had eight people squeezed in - four in the back, Hozumi and I doubled up on the passenger seat, and him and his wife(?) doubling up on the driver seat! Imagine having to economise to that extent for every three hour journey...

Back to Bangkok, sick again, just enough time to recover before going onward to India, where we are now and have been for quite some time. More updates soon, I hope.