Day 16 – 18.10.2016
Another travel day – this time from Siem Reap to Battambang (pronounced Battambong). Along the road we stopped for a little snack. It is coconut sticky rice cooked in a sugar cane. Absolutely delicious!!
We carried on and the next stop was „lunch“. No, not the dried sting ray on the left, nor the dried beef on the right.
But yes, yet again some rat. This time from the barbeque. It tastes very different than the one I had in Vietnam, which was completely marinated and all you tasted was spice. This one was actually just barbequed and tasted like suckling pig. It was really really good, and every one who had had the rat before agreed that this one was heaps better. It was served with a spicey sauce, which just made it even better!
Rats are caught around this area to prevent them from eating at the rice crops. They are not actually bred to be used for food or the like, but are removed to help the farmers. If they all taste this way I full on support this!
I even got to share a frogs leg with one of our drivers – very crispy and delicious!
Eventually we arrived in Battambang and headed out for lunch. Here are some impressions around the town.
For lunch I had some dumplings filled with mushrooms and a coconut. Unfortunately this coconut was nothing like the one I had had during lunch the other day. The first coconut tasted bitter, the second was better but slightly sour – as if it was off. The free tap water was the better option here...
Here a statue of Battambang. The story goes like this ( I hope I get it sort of right..): A man lives in the forrest. He finds a stick. This stick has magical powers with which he can kill animals and protect himself (Stick turns into a wand). (Battambang literally means man with a stick – perhaps even old man with a stick). The man learns to control this wand and eventually wants to be king. So he goes into the royal palace and kills the current king. His son the prince escapes however. The new king enjoys his time at court but starts getting paranoid. He asks the most important magicians and wise men to come to court to understand more about this wand. One of the wise men tells him that he will be fine for the next 7 years, and then he needs to look out for a holy man on a white horse. Time passes and the king enjoys his parties. He wants to have everyone around him in case the prediction comes true and he can use his wand against this holy man.
The prince in the mean time grew up protected by supporters of the old king. He hears that the murderer of his father is throwing a party and wants to see this man. On his way there he meets a hermit. The hermit tells him that with the pace he is walking at he will reach the party when it is already over. So the hermit lends him clothes and his horse to get their faster. He changes into the robes and with his beard looks like god. Now we get even more magical, since the white horse wasn’t just fast, but could also fly, as such hermit horses do... Prince turns up at the party, the king sees a holy man on a white horse and tries to kill him with his wand. The wand however doesn’t work however since the prince is protected by the royal blood running through his veins – making him the true king. Battambang his killed but still is part of the cities story, which is why they have a large statue of him with his wand.
In the afternoon we opted for a fun activity in Battambang – the bamboo train! The train is a set of wheels with a bamboo mat construction on top run by a motor on rails. It doesn’t sound that fun, but it is like a rollercoaster without the ups and downs...
Pre ride selfie.
„A whole new world.....“
The rails connect several towns all the wa to Phnom Penh. These rails used to have a proper train but this train was banned during Khmer Rouge times. A new railway is supposed to be reintroduced soon however and the bamboo train will have to make way.
We stopped at beautiful bridge where the sun was gradually setting. Rice paddies in the distance, it was truely beautiful!
Back in the city we headed out for dinner. I had some lemon grass schicken stir fry. (I will definitely stock up on lemon grass when I get back home!)
This giraffe was staring at us the whole of dinner, so I couldn’t resist!
