Pousat and Battambang

We were exhilarated from our cycling tour, and motivated to search out a trekking adventure through the jungles of Cambodia, reports of leeches notwithstanding. Ben was on a mission to get us to the Cardamom Mountains in the southwestern region, which is normally accessed through the south via the town of Chi Phat.  Unfortunately this would mean a tremendous detour from our final destination of Siem Reap, from where we would be flying out of Southeast Asia. Since our tickets were already booked, time was of the essence, so Ben looked into other entry points for the Cardamoms. There was little information on whether it was possible to find hiking options through towns north of the mountains, but bits of information here and there indicated that this might be possible from the town of Pousat. Since Pousat was on the way to Siem Reap, we decided to chance it, taking a bus from Kratie, connecting through Phnom Phen with another bus up to Pousat.

The bus system in Cambodia is surprisingly cheap, clean, comfortable and efficient, so this trip was thankfully uneventful.  We were excited but a little apprehensive when we were the only “white-ies” to get off the bus in Pousat; it’s fun to get off the tourist trail, but as we were looking for trekking options, this did not bode well for tourism infrastructure to be present in town. We walked down the main road with our backpacks on and found a hotel with a nice view, from where we could begin our inquiries.

Our fears were born out, as the next day the trip to the Tourist Office revealed that the office was closed – during business hours. We returned again with high hopes, but the doors were still locked, and after a bit of cat-calling and attempting to breach the walls, we had to admit defeat and walk away.

Despite our efforts, there was a significant lack of information around town as to whether hiking into the Cardamom Mountains was possible from Pousat, and due to limited time, we had to give up the dream and continue to head north towards Siem Reap.  However, we did enjoy traipsing around town, the only tourists for miles, and visited the very colourful local market.

We have discovered that Cambodians will eat anything – well, that’s not entirely true. They don’t eat cats or dogs, but that is almost it for off-limits foods.  Anything in the jungle goes, and local favourites include deep-fried spiders, grasshoppers, frogs and snakes. Yum. We weren’t too adventurous with trying out the cuisine, but did experiment with some delicious baked goods.

We had heard that Battambang, which was on the way to Siem Reap from Pousat, was a quaint town with a quainter attraction – a bamboo train!  We decided to make a stopover there, and as soon as that decision was made, it was as if the heavens began smiling on us once more.  We walked out of our hotel with our backpacks on with expectations of having to walk a kilometre to the bus stop, when the bus to Battambang drove right by us and stopped on the corner.  Woohoo! We hopped on, and paid the ridiculously cheap fare of five dollars for a four hour bus ride.

Before arriving in Battambang, we had decided to stay at the Royal Hotel – what do you know, on arrival at the bus station there was a tuk-tuk driver, Mr Soon, who offered us a free ride if we went to that hotel. Great! To top it all off, he ended up being a stand up guy, spoke excellent English, and we ended up hiring him for a tuk-tuk tour the next day to see all of the surrounding attractions.  Things were off to a good start, and as we sat at what became our favourite café next to the hotel, we were treated to the beautiful sight of monks in their bright orange robes walking around town to collect alms.

Patricia also found a fantastic seamstress through word of mouth, bought some beautiful batique fabrics to be made into tunics, which turned out really well.  Yes, Battambang was treating us right.

The next day we hopped into the tuk-tuk with Mr Soon, our friendly guide, and began what turned out to be a wonderful day tour.

First stop was the infamous bamboo train.  A form of transportation still used by the local farmers to shuttle goods back and forth between small villages, it is an extremely ingenious device made out of – you guessed it – bamboo.  The Bamboo platform is placed on top of two metal axles whose steel wheels fit along the railway track, and the entire device is operated by a small engine that attached to the axle via drive belt, efficiently spinning the axle and making the whole contraption move forward surprisingly quickly!  We got a ride with a local and the driver - so much fun. When two “trains” meet going in opposing directions, the one that is the least loaded is quickly dismantled and moved off the tracks so that the other can pass.

 It is fun and efficient, and we enjoyed the ride past rice paddies into the last stop, a small village with little kids who hope to make an extra dollar showing the tourists around and making jewellery out of palm leaves. They were really fun to hang out with, and very talented with their arts and crafts!

The next stop was a drive to where the local fruit bats hang out – huge critters about the size of a crow, dangling from trees, resting during the day so they have energy for their nightly forays into the forest.

We then drove into a muslim village, where Mr Soon treated us to a Cambodia dish consisting of rice and banana steamed in banana leaves. So tasty!

Mr Soon took us to a famous local temple that was reached by a veeeeery long climb up a set of old stairs. On the way up an entrepreneurial young lad saw the opportunity to make some money by continuously fanning Ben all the way to the top of the the steep flight.  This was a source of considerable entertainment, and Ben could not help but take a shine to the boy after exchanging services – his fanning for Ben’s umbrella shade. 

This proved valuable as the heavens opened up with a torrent of rain and a thunder bolt that struck uncomfortably close to the site.  We ran down with haste, but thankfully had time to enjoy the beautiful old stones of the temple.

Our last stop was another temple high in the mountains, where we left the tuk-tuk and made our way uphill by foot. There is a cliff there known for its sordid history, where the Khmer Rouge cadre bludgeoned thousands of civilians to death and threw their remains into a cave.  After the somber visit to the sight, we climbed back out into the bright skies with renewed appreciation for our good fortune in life.

 On further climbing we reached the temple with beautiful Buddhist statues and a gorgeous view of the surrounding area.

We had hoped to catch the exodus of bats from a nearby cave that occurs daily at sunset, and realizing we were late, we ran all the way downhill just in time to see the last trickle of the millions of bats heading out on their evening migration. 

With the sun setting it was time to head back with Mr Soon and his trusty tuk-tuk, happy with the full day of adventures.  Battambang had been a fun stop that got us out into the countryside and provided a relaxed pace before our next, highly anticipated destination: Siem Reap and the wondrous temples of the ancient Khmer dynasty.