We traveled to Battambang with a local bus, as we often do here, and everybody in the bus was watching some bloody ghost / murder / vampire movie on the TV in the front of the bus – including the bus driver…
But we wouldn’t dare to complain – especially as we were traveling obviously soooo much more comfortably than other people on the same route…
Every time the bus stops a big crowd of people comes running up to the bus offering snacks they have prepared at home – many of those vendors are wearing the traditional scarf to protect themselves from sun and dust, the Krama…
There is always a choice of interesting delicacies …
… roasted crickets…
… and of course the ubiquitous fried or grilled tarantula…
But more often than not we rely on the little food stalls that sell “packaged” food….
Cambodians love their Karaoke…
Battambang turned out to be a charming, bustling little town “with loads of French-colonial architecture in an appealing state of semi-decay” as Nat phrased it so perfectly in his earlier blog post. Not a lot of tourists are visiting yet, so it feels very authentic.
There is a nice riverside area where people are strolling along and working out in the early evening…
On the evening of our arrival we found a little kitten in distress, in the middle of the street – it was crying and obviously had lost it’s mother. We tried to walk away and let things go their natural way – but realized we couldn’t.
With a huge amount of poverty and street children in need of food and care it seemed almost absurd to want to help a little animal – and understandingly enough none of the locals we encountered during this episode showed the least bit of interest to help the little creature out.
First we tried to feed it some milk, and then Nat set off on a search to find its litter – which thankfully he did.
Before leaving Battambang we undertook to ride the “Bamboo train” – a very old, very simple train that was built by the French in colonial era and is being used by locals today to transport themselves and their equipment and tools to the widespread rice paddies in the area. (Battambang is said to produce the best rice in Cambodia, and it is very, very tasty.)
You find an excellent and more detailed description of this little adventure on my husband’s blog – who by the way is the most funny and most fun person I have ever met – and I couldn’t wish for a better travel companion.
She Travels 