12/17/13 - 12/24/13

When I first met Maxine, I was sick in bed with food poisoning. I felt awful and the only thing I had tried to eat that day was a half a bowl of rice. She moved into my dorm room that night and had the bunk above me. She didn't seem to think it was odd that I was already in bed at 9pm and so she introduced herself and we chatted for a bit, nothing out of the ordinary. There was no way I would have guessed that she would become an integral part of my journey through Cambodia.

Maxine was from Germany and she worked for ADIDAS. Apparently, I have been saying ADIDAS incorrectly my whole life, because she was always correcting my pronunciation. She was only on a short holiday traveling through Vietnam and Cambodia. She didn't like Vietnam and so came to Cambodia early and had been doing a Yoga retreat in Siem Reap for a few days. She and I, pretty much got along right away. Photography was her hobby and so she was pretty knowledgeable about the subject, so she taught me how to better use my SLR camera. She showed me some of her pictures and they were very good, some looking like they were taken by a professional. I could only wish to take such good photographs. Hopefully, with practice and with her tips, I will become a better photographer.

My last few days in Siem Reap, she and I hung out often. We checked out a monastery and talked with some monks, came across a school with children learning English and hung out in the hostel common room. We had dinner a few times and talked about various topics. We were actually becoming friends. We even talked about continuing to travel together. However, I would eventually move on to my next destination, leaving her behind in Siem Reap. She wanted to stay another day and initially seemed unsure of her own plans. However, I don't know if it is because we got along so well or if she just wanted a travel partner, but she would end up joining me a day later. It seems that I had acquired a travel buddy!

Battambang

A few days before Christmas, I had decided that it was time to move on from Siem Reap and so I was going to Battambang. The bus ride to Battambang was a little rough, because I was hung over from the night before, but I managed to make it there. I had booked a guesthouse and was expecting someone to come pick me up at the bus station. However, they never showed up, so I was bombarded by tuk-tuk drivers looking to take me to my guesthouse. The thing about tuk-tuk drivers in most of SE Asia is that they will do almost anything for your business. One of the more annoying things they do, is they crowd the door of the bus as you are getting off trying to get your attention. So, you're arriving in a new city and first thing you see are a bunch of people rapping on the bus windows and standing right next to the bus door looking to give you a ride somewhere. You have to fight this crowd to get off the bus and then go get your luggages. I, honestly, don't understand how they figure that this works to get business. I find it extremely annoying and actually walk away from these types of drivers. I would rather walk down the street and find a driver that's not yelling at me and give them my business. As it were, I was left at the bus station with no ride and so I waited, the whole time being surrounded and harassed by tuk-tuk drivers who would not take no for an answer. I nearly lost my cool. I realized that my ride wasn't coming and so unfortunately, I had to find another driver. Luckily, the driver I found called my guesthouse and made an arrangement with them, so I got the ride for free!

The next day, I did a moto tour of the countryside and saw a few temples. One of them was fascinating as it was in total ruins, but you could still walk into it. My driver also took me to one of the Khmer Rouge killing fields, where there is a monument to all those massacred. The tour was very interesting. My driver was also a really nice guy and we chatted a little about Cambodian life. A common saying in Cambodia is "no money, no honey." Now, you may think that this is a reference to prostitution, however it is not. He explained it me, telling me that it meant that if you didn't have enough money to pay for a wedding, then you would not get the girl. So, most Cambodian guys were saving to have enough money to pay for a wedding.

The rest of the afternoon, I just walked around town, but not before I asked my driver to do something for me. Maxine was coming to Battambang that afternoon, so I asked my driver to pick her up at the bus stop, so that she wouldn't have to deal with all of the tuk-tuk drivers. When I saw her later that afternoon, she was very grateful and surprised.

Later, she and I walked around town a looking for some good photography shots. We found several good ones in the markets. And we even found a tuk-tuk that was made into a small kitchen that made tacos! But, the best part of the evening was when we found an English language class in one of the temples. We stumbled upon this class and observed as a monk was teaching. The class consisted of teenagers, monks and middle aged men and women. The monk noticed us watching and invited us to join in. He didn't just want us to join in, he actually wanted one of us to help teach the class. So, that is how I became an English teacher for 15 minutes. All I had to do was read off a few words that were already written on the chalkboard, so it wasn't all that hard, but it was still fun. He just wanted his students to hear the correct pronunciation. So, I read off the words and listened as the class repeated the words back to me. After, I asked if anyone had any questions for me. They all seemed a little shy about speaking English, so no one did, but finally one students stood up and had something to say. He came up in front the class and stood right in front of me and thanked me for the lesson. It was touching. I found that I actually enjoying teaching, even if it was for a few minutes.

The next day on Christmas Eve, we set up a tuk-tuk tour to some sites around Battambang. One of the first places we checked out was a circus school, where the children were learning performing arts, such as music and acrobatics. The school has children as young as 3 years old and as old as 15. We watched some of the younger children's classes and some of the acrobatic classes. The little kids are really cute and are almost always smiling and playing. The teacher told us that they would learn for 15 minutes and then play for 15 minutes. It was the only way to keep their attention long enough for the lessons. In the acrobatic classes we saw kids juggling, balancing on boards and balls and one girl doing some flexibility exercises. Maxine even joined in by doing a little hula hooping! After that we went out to a temple that was situated on top of mountain. We walked up the mountain and along the way we saw a few temples and one of the infamous Khmer Rouge killing caves. Finally, we reached the top and had some amazing views of the Cambodian countryside. We descended the mountain at around dusk, in time to see the next thing on our agenda, the Bat Cave. Every night as the sun goes down, millions of bats fly out of this cave and across the sky, so we were there to see it. We had to wait a little bit, but eventually some bats started to trickle out and then finally, they just swarmed out en masse! It was quite a sight to see all these bats just spilling out of this cave and swarming, in one sinuous line, across the sky. It was getting darker and the clouds were turning pink from the setting sun, making it a very remarkable and beautiful sight.

That night was Christmas Eve, so the guesthouse had a small party. The owner was German and, for some reason, he was playing some weird techno-like music. It didn't really set a Christmas mood, but the owner like it, so it's what we listened to. Maxine and I just shot some pool and enjoyed our free Christmas beer. Maxine went to bed early and I stayed up and joined in with some of the other guest for some Christmas drinking and pool playing. It was fun and I stayed up later than I had planned. That was the end of our stay in Battambang, as the next day, Maxine and I would be making our way to Phnom Penh.