Wow can't believe it's been a month since my last post! Sorry about that! Time seems to get away from me here (ok so everywhere but especially over here). Hard to believe I'm half way through my six months in Thailand!
With that 3 month mark comes the need for a Visa run - I have to leave the country and return to renew my Visa for another two months, so on Terry and Alanna's advice I have took the 48 baht ($1.50) train to the Cambodia border. Bit of chaos getting through, but made it in one piece :)
Decided to stay in Battambang for two nights - with a trip to northern Thailand and Burma planned my schedule was a bit tight. Battambang is the second largest city in Cambodia, but what drew me was that it's possible to navigate on foot - and you know I love me a town where I can avoid taxis etc. Getting here took pretty much a full day in transit starting at 5 am! But I'm happy to have made it - and not just for the baguettes :)
I started the day by ramblings about a bit, heading in the general direction of the Gecko Cafe, which I'd been told had good food and was Witness owned. I walked through a market for the experience but it was a bit too hectic and tight for my tastes - considered buying some grapes but the price was too dear. It's hard not knowing the language again, and I find myself struggling to not talk to people in Thai! The trouble let is that in my head I know it isn't English, but Thai is the only nonEnglish language I really know and it's what I'm used to using at markets and about town, so I tend to automatically revert to it even though here I'm better off using English.
In walking about I found Battambang to be both quieter and more Chaotic than Bangkok, as odd as that may sound. It seems that here there is a great fondness for honking of the horn- even when it sometimes seems there's nothing that they're honking at! And they have fewer sidewalks, plus I just don't know the city or customs, which contributes to the feeling of chaos. However the streets are, in general, smaller and less filled than in Bangkok so it seems at times almost oddly quiet - that and they don't seem to have the streetsellers going about on their calling out their deals on their (incoherent) loud speaker or ringing their bells/honking their horns to alert people that a certain good is in the area. Or maybe that's just what a,let the random honking is about...Still it means the city seems oddly quiet.
Especially in the afternoon. After I found the Gecko Cafe - Had fish, mint lime drink and a banana smoothie (after a day in transit doing little more than snacking I felt like a little indulgence), I found the river. Felt a little like the Cambodia version of Athens bike path - I couldn't have been happier! They had a nice,wide paved path on both sides of the River that was empty for the most part, allowing me to leisurely wander down one side and up the other to see what there was to see while a few kids splashed in the river and men fished, snapping pics of whatever caught my fancy.
It was interesting, while in Thailand everywhere you look are carts selling traditional coffee and milk tea, here the drink of choice seems to be made of iced sugar cane - and here I'll admit I wasn't up to trying it, so can offer no opinion on the taste. However the method of making it I found fascinating! The carts carry around long stalks of the cane, which they feed into what I can only describe as a loud wood chipper that is also on their cart! Well, at least you know it's fresh! :)
So had a long walk, took in too much sun - umbrellas don't seem as common here and I think I only really sawa couple monks carrying them- hats must be the trend as I saw whole stalls filled with them, but i didn't end up buying as in general the prices seemed a bit high, and communication was difficult. Then had an early night - enjoyed the luxury of ENGLISH tv - though it seemed every thing on I had seen before :) Isn't that just how it goes?
Now I'm waiting for my busback to the border using the wifi in a gas station - a gas station with no cafe, but a nice little sitting area and English speaking staff. I'd be lying if I say I hadn't been surprised to see the sign advertising wifi on a Family Mart, but can't complain as its air conditioned and I don't have to spend a fortune to just sit and chill.
OK. I'll try to post the pics later - blogger is currently being difficult :( I'll also try to update as I travel through the North, though I can make no promises as it depends on wifi availability in random little towns ;)
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