We’re leaving Siem Reap to travel to the town of Battambang. We decided on a boat adventure so we’re getting there on a six-hour longboat cruise. To get to the boat launch we reserved a bus to pick us up at 6:00 am. No bus at 6 am. No bus at 6:15, and no bus at 6:30. We don’t know what is wrong but we know we need a Plan B. We take a mini-van to another stop and wait for the bus that takes us to the dock. We’re the last to arrive and get settled in with 4 other tourists. Two girls traveling from Australia with bicycles and two guys we never talked to. The Aussies were shouting at one of the guys that worked on the boat, something about her backpack, complaining, and just rude.
The boat was a low floating longtail boat that held about 20 people. It’s a beautiful, cloudy day, a perfect day to be on the river. We made several stops for the locals with one-stop for all of us. About three hours into the trip we had a stop to use the restroom and visit the grocery store on the pier. After carefully getting out of the boat I headed to the bathroom that was a single wooden shack at the end of the pier. You open the door and face three wooden walls and see a wooden floor with slates missing in the middle. No toilet. Just be careful navigating around the hole in the floor to lock the door, squat, and go. Not even going to mention all the fish swimming below. It was quite an adventure and experience.
The river is a lifeline for this community. Fishing, robust plant life, kids playing in the water, I’m so glad we chose to spend the day traveling this way. When we get off in Battambang, we head up the hill and are greeted by a mob of guys trying to get you to stay at their guesthouse, hotel, or inn. Fortunately, for us we know where we are staying because we found a flyer earlier with a hotel recommendation. We found a guy to take us to Chhaya Hotel. The hotel is clean, no sleep-sack needed tonight. Hot water, air conditioning, and TV. Ten dollars for the night.
We rested for an hour, watched a Korean food program on bibimbop. We walked around the city which felt like a smaller version of Siem Reap. Market, small shops, and places to eat. We found the White Rose where we had amazing, delicious milkshakes. I had a coconut and chocolate ice cream shake and Andy had a coconut and strawberry ice cream shake. A wonderful, fun break. We shared an order of spring rolls and Andy tried a banana, lemon smoothy. Walked for a little while but it’s a small town and it’s hot so we go back to the hotel. Relax, watch TV and head out to dinner at the Smoking Pot. Yellow noodles with chicken and spicy chicken amok were good. We get our bus tickets to Sihanouk Ville and walking back home the sky opened up. Here we are, the one time so far, we didn’t carry our umbrellas. Well, we didn’t melt and ran to our hotel. Watched Maid of Honor before going to sleep. Good night.
