Battambang, Cambodia

I walked the 5 blocks to one the many tour shops in Siem Reap this morning, where I had purchased a bus ticket the day before ($5). I got picked up by a van full of White tourists to go to the bus station, to catch the 8:30 bus to Battambang. After moving several suitcases to make room for me and my pack, we drove 10 feet to a waiting bus around the corner. 2 Irish girls and I all laughed at the short distance. We waited for 30 minutes, another passenger had the same seat number as me, hand-written on the ticket, which she found very annoying. We depart and head east, when Batambang is southwest of Siem Reap. After 15 minutes, we arrive at a rural bus station and all must unload. We board different buses bound for Phnom Penh, Battambang, or elsewhere. My bus proceeds to drive west, looping back through Siem Reap and the same street corner where we had started 30 minutes prior.

Nearing 1pm, we arrive in Battambang. While the bus was still rolling down the last street, several Cambodian men were running next to the bus, waving their arms, tapping the bus and yelling. Once parked, the bus door and luggage containers were swarming with tuktuk and moto drivers all yelling, and holding up laminated signs for hotels, some with the prices displayed (in dollars). I walked past 40 yelling men to get my bag, and 4 of them hovered around me while I got my pack on. I asked 3 young travelers who were also going to the same, $1/night hostel I had seen in the guidebook, if I could share the tuktuk with them. They said no. I walk away from the tuktuks and yelling men, to the nearest intertsection to get my bearings, and quickly realised where I was and that I could simply walk the 6 blocks to the hostel.

Once there, the innkeeper tells me that the dorm bunks are all taken, which seems unlikely, but I can have my own little room and bathroom for $5/night. It's time to get some laundry washed, and my small dirty clothes bag, 1 kilo ($1), will probably be clean and folded by tomorrow morning.

Battambang is dirty but pretty with yellow and blue French buildings and schools, situated along the river. It's a relaxed place, and unlike Siem Reap, it's full of local people. I'm looking forward to riding the bamboo train in nearby O'Dambang tomorrow, and possibly finding a cave. I'm exhausted from not enough sleep this past week, menstruals, and diarrhea. Drinking tons of water with vitamine/electrolite salts, and doing a course of anti-biotics. Early bedtime tonight.