Leaving Siem Reap was a piece of cake: minibus picked us up at our hotel at 5:45 am, picked up some more travelers at other guesthouses and we arrived 1 hour later at the "pier". There we boarded this speedboat that would take us across Tonle Sap Lake to Battambang in 4-5 hours. There were only foreign passengers in the boat (16); we sat on top of the cabin for a 360-degree view. The larger river ferry for Phnom Penh (full of farang too) was leaving as well and it was tricky for our boat to maneuver through the "boat mess". But soon we were speeding on the lake, for a short while at least. Yep, you guessed it: engine trouble, only maybe 30 min. after we left! But they fixed it (a bit) this time so we were able to pursue our journey, albeit at a much slower pace, which meant we got to see more... The lake is huge, brownish and only a few feet deep in the dry season. But in the wet season that increases to 10-15 meters and the lake becomes 5 times as large. You see, when the Mekong River level rises late spring (with Himalayan snow-water), the Mekong Delta in Vietnam can't handle the extra flow, the water backs up and an "overflow" situation is created on Tonle Sap Lake. Then in Oct. the lake drains back into the Mekong, a process that makes the lake one of the world's largest sources of fresh water fish. Often we passed large bamboo net systems permanently set up in the water to catch the fish. When we stopped for gas I even saw a whole bunch of crocodiles in water cages. At the western edge of the lake we entered a river with mangrove shores. All along this river I witnessed a lot of fishing activity, mostly in the form of huge stationary nets that are cantilevered out of the water with a pulley system, usually with a bunch of small fish in it. In a village (on stilts as there wasn't much "ground" to build houses on) we were asked around noon to switch into a covered long boat, maybe because the river would get so shallow. This wasn't a bad thing, as it was getting pretty hot in the sun. Had something to eat here too. The second half of the trip was very interesting thanks to the lively river shore. It was a narrow & winding river sometimes so shallow that we got stuck in the sand and the boatmen had to get out and push it free. The bamboo houses on the shore were very basic and the fish being caught became smaller as we went upriver, ending up with just foul smelling, tiny fish that's used for fish paste. The impression I got was that the people were poorer than along the rivers in Laos. But the boat went further, with no end in sight. As it got later into the afternoon, more and more kids were swimming and they would always wave and yell "Hello!!!" as we went by (I felt like the queen of England waving to her subjects...). And then, finally, after over 10 hours on the water, we arrived in Battambang, where a minibus took us to a decent hotel.
Cambodia's second largest city, it is an elegant riverside town with nice French colonial buildings. We decided to take two motorbike taxis for the day (I would sit behind the driver, sometimes with Papa, sometimes with Mummy) to explore the surroundings. After our favourite breakfast of fresh baguette, butter, jam and eggs, we took off for Wat Banan, an Angkorian temple on top of a large hill. They took us through nice little villages along the river. At the temple my parents climbed the 350+ steps in the heat of the noon sun. On top they met with the Indian ambassador to Cambodia who was so friendly to make some suggestions for Mummy's Indian visa. They also saw a large field gun that was used to defend the hill from the Khmer Rouge. The views were nice but the temple was of course of minor interest compared to the splendour of Angkor Wat. Afterwards Papa went with a few of the kids to visit 2 caves with Buddha statues, making sure he walked always on well marked trails... Had a simple lunch at a roadside stall and toured some more through other picturesque villages, stopping sometimes to take pictures and chat with the locals. Later we got to the Phnom Penh-Battambang railway where we boarded the "bamboo train": a flat bamboo raft on 2 rail axles with a small engine. Since there's only one narrow gage line, they have to disassemble the whole thing each time they meet the real train or another bamboo train to get off the tracks. We got on with motorbikes and all and were cruising through the Cambodian fields at a fairly good speed. It didn't take more than 1/2 hour but it was worth the thrill! Before the end of our trip we went to see a place where they make rice paper that is used to make spring rolls, etc. The next day we left for Phnom Penh by minibus.
The capital of Cambodia only has 1 million inhabitants but gave us the feeling of a big dynamic city (we hadn't been in one since Kunming, early Dec.). There's a lot of traffic and people everywhere. The main streets are paved, but most of the residential streets are unpaved. We found a cozy guesthouse right downtown and soon got into the swing of things by riding motor taxis any time we needed to go somewhere. They were always waiting outside our place and other main areas, like markets and restaurants. They would cost an average of US$ 0.50 each per trip. Since our room had an electric kettle and a fridge we often bought fruit at the market or went to the local supermarket (lots of foreign goodies!) to buy stuff for breakfast and lunch on our balcony. We even had pizza on the bed & a movie one night! We stayed a total of 5 days, which gave us time to see the sights and feel the atmosphere. One of the days I went to a daycare, called Gecko Centre and set up mostly for expat pre-schoolers. It was great and I was sorry that I could only stay one morning.
During that time the folks went to see the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, an extermination camp where between 1975 and 78 the Khmer Rouge killed approx. 17,000 people, most after having been detained at the infamous S-21 prison (more about that later). What you can see there now are a bunch of mass graves (there were 130...) and a memorial stupa containing more than 8000 human skulls. Since they went early morning, there were hardly any other visitors and even though the visit was a depressing experience, the place looked serene with some kids playing and people doing some landscaping. Back to town on a motorbike, they then visited the former Security Prison 21, now the Tuol Sleng museum. This used to be a high school and the Khmer Rouge used it to detain and torture the 17,000 men, women and also children. You can see their pictures on the walls, room after room, taken by their captors. On display further are the hundreds of tiny individual cells and torture instruments used to obtain "invented" confessions. You see, the Khmer Rouge, headed by Pol Pot, took in effect control of the country by occupying the capital in 1975. With their extremist Maoist ideology they forced the entire population into agricultural labour, which meant mostly working in the rice fields. So the inhabitants of Phnom Penh were either marched out into the countryside or taken prisoner and labeled contra-revolutionary.
"Fortunately" the Vietnamese army liberated the city in 1978 and installed a local (puppet) government including Hun Sen who still is prime minister today. What makes the visit of this former prison even more depressing is an exhibition of a series of paintings by an artist who survived the nightmare. There was also a very interesting documentary about other survivors. A good thing I wasn't around for that!
