I tackled Angkor Wat in a day on the bike, even though it meant cycling out to the temple site at 4:30 in the morning through the jungle in complete darkness. By 4 pm I had seen everything I wanted to see and I wasn't even going in a rush. I had "prepared" by watching Tomb Raider the day before and this temple overgrown by massive trees was my absolute highlight!
I was equally impressed by the floating villages on Tonlé Sap lake. I booked the ferry down to Battambang and was not at all expecting such an interesting trip (the main attraction of the boat ride is supposedly bird watching - I found the people watching much more engaging, they happily let you look into their living rooms from the passing boat!)
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Whole towns are floating on this massive lake which is changing its level by 12 m during the year. Since fishing season was on we could see them moving massive bamboo constructions with fisher nets up and down, it was truly fascinating.
Battambang itself is not really touristy, it certainly felt more "real" than Siem Reap. I spent an afternoon with 2 street kids, which was quite an experience. For 1 day I hired a motorbike guide, Tha, (he can be found at the Chaya hotel), who showed me around the area. He was a really nice guy and very knowledgeable. His family had suffered tragic losses through the Khmer regime in the 70ies and he could still remember being in a refugee camp at the Thai border when he was little. We visited the Killing Caves, where thousands of people, including children and babies, were killed by being thrown down into the caves. The atmosphere felt oppressive down there, they still have not even recovered all the bones.
We closed the day with the spectacle of the bat cave - a cave, where every evening for about 1 hour, you can witness a stream of bats exiting the cave. Locals say there are millions of bats.
With some extra days to spend before flying down to Kuala Lumpur I decided to visit the island of Koh Chang again. I'd been there 10 years ago and would not have recognized the place anymore. Lonely Beach is far from being lonely - the village transforms into a wild party zone by night. Their full moon party was not too bad at all. After 2 nights I had enough and went to Long Beach by motorbike, which might some day become the next Lonely Beach, once they build a road there. At the moment you need to be fearless and/or very skillful on the motorbike (I was neither but miraculously I survived).
Christmas in Kuala Lumpur, except they don't really celebrate Christmas here, but with the hot and humid temperatures I won't really get into Christmas mood anyway!
I was equally impressed by the floating villages on Tonlé Sap lake. I booked the ferry down to Battambang and was not at all expecting such an interesting trip (the main attraction of the boat ride is supposedly bird watching - I found the people watching much more engaging, they happily let you look into their living rooms from the passing boat!)
.JPG)
Whole towns are floating on this massive lake which is changing its level by 12 m during the year. Since fishing season was on we could see them moving massive bamboo constructions with fisher nets up and down, it was truly fascinating.
Battambang itself is not really touristy, it certainly felt more "real" than Siem Reap. I spent an afternoon with 2 street kids, which was quite an experience. For 1 day I hired a motorbike guide, Tha, (he can be found at the Chaya hotel), who showed me around the area. He was a really nice guy and very knowledgeable. His family had suffered tragic losses through the Khmer regime in the 70ies and he could still remember being in a refugee camp at the Thai border when he was little. We visited the Killing Caves, where thousands of people, including children and babies, were killed by being thrown down into the caves. The atmosphere felt oppressive down there, they still have not even recovered all the bones.
We closed the day with the spectacle of the bat cave - a cave, where every evening for about 1 hour, you can witness a stream of bats exiting the cave. Locals say there are millions of bats.
With some extra days to spend before flying down to Kuala Lumpur I decided to visit the island of Koh Chang again. I'd been there 10 years ago and would not have recognized the place anymore. Lonely Beach is far from being lonely - the village transforms into a wild party zone by night. Their full moon party was not too bad at all. After 2 nights I had enough and went to Long Beach by motorbike, which might some day become the next Lonely Beach, once they build a road there. At the moment you need to be fearless and/or very skillful on the motorbike (I was neither but miraculously I survived).
Christmas in Kuala Lumpur, except they don't really celebrate Christmas here, but with the hot and humid temperatures I won't really get into Christmas mood anyway!
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