Battambang, Cambodia

Time to visit Battambang (Bat-tam-bong by the locals)
The concierge at the 20th hotel facilitated bus tickets for us from Siem Reap to Battambang for $8 per seat. We elected to purchase 3 seats thinking the girls could share a seat over the 3hr ride. Turns out there were plenty of empty seats, so plenty of room for all. It also happens that they were $4 tickets,,,lesson learned. Next time we’ll purchase tickets directly from the station a day in advance, and pay what the locals pay. Anyway, off we went…the AC on the bus broke down an hour or so into the trip, so we pulled over while they patched it up. When it broke down again another hour into the trip, we pulled over again, but were unable to fix it, so the last hour or so was sans AC. Only 2 windows on the bus opened, the back ones…luckily, our seats were at the back 🙂
When the bus pulled into the station in Battambang, about a dozen tuk-tuk drivers desperately ran along side it hoping to secure a fare. They held signs… “tuk-tuk ride from here to any hotel = $0.50”. Because I was sitting at the only open window on my side of the bus, I had already agreed to a driver before we had even stopped. Although when we exited the bus, a driver from our new home “Ramchong Guesthouse” was holding a sign with my name on it, so we quickly got into his tuk-tuk and off we went.
The Ramchong Guesthouse is a beautiful hotel/villa about a 7min tuk-tuk from the city. Its really somewhat of an oasis, surrounded by cattle fields and dirt (dusty) roads. It features a wonderful salt water pool in the middle of the courtyard, with a billiards lounge on one side. Our room was on the second floor, and Lisa had arranged a few surprises as it happened to be my birthday that day. We entered the beautifully renovated room to see the beds were covered in rose pedals, and there was bubbly on ice to the side (sparkling fruit juice), there was also an arrangement of local beer on the desk under the TV…Thanks Lisa!

The next morning we visited a nearby railway which is being used to send tourists along the countryside on a bamboo platform. I found this to be a little disappointing as everything is so dry and “burnt out”. I can see how it would be much more impressive just after the wet season if everything was green and lush. Ultimately, it was just an uncomfortable ride leading right into a tourist trap, with locals trying to sell us T-shirts at the other side. Although the girls had a blast.

That evening was quite eventful. After a swim and a mid day siesta, we got back on our tuk-tuk and took off for Sampov mountain. We were dropped off at the bottom, and the four of us took off on foot up the winding mountain side dirt road. At the top was a huge buddah statue where we had a refreshment and prepare to see a killing cave from the genocide in the mid to late 70’s. I’m not going to go into the history in this post, but if you’re interested. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_genocide .

We were on top of the mountain with an amazing sun setting over the Cambodian countryside below, below a cave… As we approach the cave we notice monkeys in the tree’s to our left… We descended the (recently made) staircase into the site where 10’s of thousands were killed. It was eery to say the least. On the first “plateau” a glass shrine with dozen of human skulls. I descended further below while Lisa and the girls idled. I checked out the site about a dozen meters below, no more staircases, then returned. Then it happened…

No fault is to be placed…if any it’s mine, but the end result is… Ellie was scraped above the ankle by a wild monkey. The tiniest of scrapes, no blood, but it did break the skin ever so slightly. This incident has shaped our adventure since, and will continue to for the following 29 days…but I’ll get back to that in a bit.

After initial concern (as we did not get the $800ea rabies vaccine before our T.O. departure), we continued our evening. We walked back down the winding roads of the Sampov mountain to the bottom. There was a glaring hole in the side of the mountain, a cave. We were told that at about 620PM there would be some bats that would fly out of it. As it was a tourist destination, cold waters were available, 1000$ riel per bottle ($0.25usd). We sat and waited. Sure enough at 6:21PM they started…more than 10,000,000! They flew right overhead, seemingly in single file! It was a sight to see! We didn’t stick around for them all to leave, but apparently it takes about 40mins for them all to fly out. Then, some of the locals climb into the batcave to collect their droppings…strong fertilizer!

When we returned to the RCG (Ramchang Guesthouse), Lisa and I started our rabies research. We came to 4 conclusions:
1) we were sure she didn’t have it.
The monkey was provoked, not crazy. There is almost zero reported cases from Cambodia due to monkey bite or scratch in the past decade. Only a few 5 years ago in Bali, Indonesia where a reported 50 tourist get bitten per day in Ubud’s “monkey forrest”.

2) Rabies is a hell of a disease! There are very little symptoms until it is “too late”. Testing for it is very difficult, most time it is diagnosed during biopsy.

3) …and I hope I’m not being over dramatic (revert back to finding #1). This was not going to happen to Ellie!

4) …We don’t like monkeys!

The next morning, after all the research possible, we called up our tuk-tuk driver to take us into town. I re-loaded my cell with calling and data ($2), and called our travel insurance company. They advised on the best local hospitals/clinic’s to see, and off we went. The (English) doctor agreed that it was 99.9% nothing, but understood my need to get the vaccine. He would write urgent on medical claim form (not that that really mattered). Ellie had the first of a series of 5 needles right then and there. They were to be taken that day, day 3, day 7, day 14, and day28. This has, and will be part of our plans for another few weeks (as I write this now). We decided to stay at the lovely RCG for a few extra days until after shot #2. Although covered by our insurance, turns out that the $800 vaccine in Canada, is only $100 here…surprise surprise (maybe useful to anyone planning to travel to southeast asia). This vaccine is available in all of Southeast Asia, at all most of the hospitals. We called down to a clinic in the south of Cambodia, a beautiful place on the gulf of Thailand call Sihnoukville…they said to come by for the 3rd shot…

All in all we loved Battambang. Although we thought Siem Reap had the nicest people, the people of Battambang were even nicer still. Ellie and Isabel again the main attraction.
We visited an amazing “cirque du soleil” type performance 1 night, which was really cool (and well done). Also a crocodile farm where we held a baby crocodile, and saw over 2000 of the beasts. We looked down at them from an above platform with no railings…I found every second of it stressful, we stayed about 10mins.
Otherwise, we pretty much just relaxed, lived on the cheap, started “home” schooling and planned the next step of our adventure… Otres Beach, and Koh Rong Samloen!!!