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A 30TH BIRTHDAY TO REMEMBER!
An arduous 12 ½ hour bus ride got us to our next destination of Battambang; a small riverside town with an unusual vice - rain gambling. A popular activity among locals, fortunes are won and lost betting how much rain will fall at a given place at a given time. If you keep an eye out, "rain-spotters" can be seen perched on top of rooftops around the city, communicating via walkie-talkies with their bookies and other drizzle-detecting participants.
We spent our first day wandering around the tranquil little town and catching up on some overdue chores (washing, blogging, sleeping etc). The following day we hired a tuk-tuk and went sight-seeing around the countryside, first stopping to see the 'Battambang' mascot (a huge jet-black man with an enchanted stick) then continuing on to take a ride on the legendary bamboo train. The 'train' is made up of a platform of bamboo strips, balanced precariously on top of two sets of wheels that are run by what looks like a small motorboat engine - but don't let looks deceive you, it is super-quick and super-fun! We rocketed our way down the train-tracks to the next village only slowing down for oncoming bamboo trains (a fun process in itself when the train with less people/weight has to be quickly disassembled to let the other train pass).
After an entertaining hour whizzing up and down the train-tracks, we said goodbye to our train-driver and set off for our next destination, Wat Banan temple. Wat Banan is a crumbling pre-Angkorian temple situated at the top of 375 huge stone steps, not a thrilling prospect in the blistering sunshine and 40 degree heat but worth it once we made it to the top. After exploring the ruins, we tuk-tuked our way through some more very scenic countryside to the hilltop temple of Phnom Sampeau, the site of Battambang's Killing Cave where hundreds of Cambodian people were tortured and thrown to their deaths during the Khmer Rouge regime. Like the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, it was a pretty sobering scene.
An ominous storm greeted us as we left the caves and we hurried down the hillside to the safety of our tuk-tuk, watching as the dusty, dry landscape hungrily soaked up the deluge of water. The deafeningly loud thunder shook our little tuk-tuk the entire way back to the hotel! After a short break from the wild weather, we went to Phare Ponleu Selpak, the Battambang Circus School - an amazing acrobatics show put on by disadvantaged youth of Battambang. The kids were unbelievably talented acrobats and hilarious entertainers - both Joel and I commented that it was like watching a group of young Polynesian boys from back home!
From Battambang we caught the bus to Siem Reap where I surprised Joel by checking us into a gorgeous 5-star resort to celebrate his 30th birthday. The hotel - with a free bottle of champagne on arrival, a personal driver and guide, free spa treatments, complimentary tapas and cocktails each evening, a free refillable mini-bar etc - was a world away from our normal 'backpacker' lodgings (infuriatingly, what impressed Joel the most was the TV in our room had the Rugby Channel and was broadcasting the Hurricanes game live as we checked in). Males!
The staff at the hotel treated us like royalty, even baking a delicious cake to go along with an amazing 5-course birthday dinner for Joel's special day. For a few days, we really celebrated in style and got to pretend like we weren't backpackers, although we were a dead giveaway when we handed over the entire contents of our packs to the hotel's free laundry service, stockpiled every single item from the free daily minibar in our daypack (pretending like it didn't weigh 12kgs when we checked out) and found convenient little distractions in the room to avoid having to tip the bell-boys! You know you're living in luxury when the raggedy old trousers you've been wearing for the last 6 months come back from the laundry with the giant hole in the crutch stitched up as good as new! It was a definitely a little depressing having to return to our regular 'peasant' accommodation after Joel's birthday celebrations were over.
Aside from the fabulous accommodation, there was of course another reason we came to Siem Reap - to explore the amazing temples of Angkor Wat. Joel didn't get a 'birthday sleep-in' on his big day; instead we were up at 4am to head to the Angkor complex for sunrise. Unfortunately, the sun-god was not really in the mood for an early get-up himself and sunrise was a little lack-lustre but being at Angkor Wat early had its advantages - we were able to wander around the temple and had the entire back side to ourselves to explore and pose for photos. After climbing up the highest tower to get a stunning aerial view of the temple we returned to the hotel for a tasty breakfast before heading back out to further explore the wider Angkor complex.
Our next stop was Angkor Thom (and one of my most favourite temples), the Bayon Temple which was strikingly different from the godzillions of other temples we've seen on our journey to date. The defining feature of this temple is the enormous smiling stone faces, jutting out from the towers and looking down on you as you wander the grounds below. After Bayon Temple we visited Ta Phrom, more commonly known as 'Tomb Raider Temple' (where Angelina Jolie ducked and weaved her way through all the overgrown trees). Here, enormous tree roots wrap themselves in and around the solid stone temple walls in an amazing battle between man and mother-nature.
Leaving the temples we decided to do a speed trip down to Tonle Sap Lake to see the famous floating village. Unfortunately, this was a bit of a disappointment; an expensive herding of boatloads of tourists out to a little floating-shop on the lake - that was it! A little deflated, we headed back to the hotel to perk ourselves up again with free cocktails!
After a few too many of the aforementioned cocktails on Joel's birthday night, we had a much-needed sleep-in the following morning and set off at a very reasonable hour to continue exploring the Angkor ruins and other attractions in Siem Reap. We first visited Banteay Srei also known as The Pink Temple which is a small but very beautiful structure covered with intricately carved designs. After admiring the temple and the beautiful grounds we continued on to see the Landmine Museum; an exhibition put together by a local man who, having laid landmines throughout the country as a member of the Khmer Rouge has now dedicated his life to locating and disarming these heinous devices.
After visiting the landmine museum, we were taken to a lovely lakeside park where, courtesy of the hotel, a delicious picnic lunch was waiting for us (I could really have got used to that lifestyle!). We then visited our very last temple in Angkor Wat, East Mebon; a pre-Angkorian structure that was thought to have once been an enormous crematorium. The entire Angkor complex is such an incredible place to visit and like the Pyramids Of Giza, the churches in Lalibela, the Great Wall of China, the Caves of Ellora and the many, many other spectacular man-made sites we've visited, it really is hard to fathom how on earth these impressive structures were not only constructed but also how they were built to such perfection!
High: Celebrating Joel's birthday at one of the most visited wonders in the world!
Low: Realizing we can't live the high life forever and returning back to a crappy backpacker room on our last night in Cambodia!
Next Stop: Bangkok, Thailand (again!)
- comments
Michelle What hotel did you stay at. I am looking for a great place in Siem Reap for my boyfriend's 30th and that place sounds amazing!