It was back to Phnom Penh for some relaxing and enjoyment of the city. It does have a great feel and has come a long way in 7 years. Adam and I found a great massage place which we visited a few times and I spent the next 5 days just soaking up living in the city.
It was great to bump into my friend Berenice (French) on the street as she was arriving to stay in the same hotel . There were lots of cultural things to do and many were for free which says a lot about Phnom Penh's development.
Last Saturday we went to see a famous French Jazz musician (Louis Sclavis) play the clarinet, the soprano saxophone and the bass clarinet with a group of traditional Khmer musicians. It was a great experience and there was even an Aspara dancer who came on for a number of songs and did modern Aspara dancing to the music. After the show we had a delicious dinner with Monica and the wedding crew.
On Sunday we went to Khmer Boxing, (same as Thai Boxing) and that night we went to the Metahouse, which is an art gallery and restaurant/bar to watch a Wong Kar Wei movie (Chungking Express) at the rooftop bar which was great. We took Berenice to 'Friends' the restaurant that night and spent some time at Monica's before strolling home late through the quiet streets.
Monday I did some unexpected shopping and too much working out at the gym. Tuesday was pretty quiet although I did make back to the National Museum which was fantastic. It's quite small but there is some really great stuff in there.
Adam and I decided it was time to leave Phnom Pehn. It's a great town but I was being too social and drinking a bit much! So Wednesday we jumped on a bus to Battambang - Cambodia's second biggest city.
It is a really beautiful city with lots of old french colonial architecture and it is much more relaxed than Phnom Pehn. We spent the first day in the back of a tuk-tuk doing a tour of many of the local sites.
These included a ride on 'the bamboo train' of which there are actually very many. A local just builds a platform from wood and bamboo, and sticks it on some wheels on the railway track. It is an easy way to transport food and people between villages. We actually were going really fast and it felt a bit like a roller coaster but we stopped at a village and met some really nice locals - one of who showed me around a brick works they operate there.
We then went to Phnom Sampeau which is a large limestone mountain that suddenly sticks up out of the flat countryside. There were a number of new temples there as well as some left over Khmer Rouge cannons. We also visited the killing caves which were used by the Khmer Rouge during their reign and genocide.
From there we went to Phnom Banan and up the 358 steps to the temple that some say inspired Angkor Wat. You can definitely see the similarities although Phnom Banan is much smaller, I met a lovely young guide there who fanned me as I stopped for a breather on the way up. She also had some good knowledge of the temple as she lived in the village below.
After an early diner at Smokin Pot (A local restaurant that offers cooking classes) Adam and I jumped on a moto out to the Phare Ponleu Selpak centre. This is a centre for homeless and disadvantaged children and was really impressive. The buildings were great but much much better was the artwork that was produced by the children there. From the gallery we went out to a circus performance that was incredible. A mixture of juggling, diablo, acrobatics, interpretive dance, trapeze and live music was incredibly impressive. Many of the artists are going on to do international tours and I later found out that many of the musicians that I saw in Phnon Penh last Sunday came from this NGO as well.
As I have been living the life'' rather than being a tourist I have not taken many shots and I'm also having problems uploading them here in Battembang so apologies for not posting more. I have a bit of a flu again from too much partying and gym work in Phnom Pehn so are planning to slowly make my way to Thailand via Banteay Chhmer and Banteay Top. What to do for Chinese New year?? I'm sure it will be big in these parts!
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