Water Festival and trip to Battenbong

Sat 20th  November.

Can someone please explain to me why we always seem to have to be picked up at 6.30am every time we go away?  Yes, Ryllis and I are dressed, sitting in the dark ready to go on the bus to Battenbong which is about a three hour bus trip and the bus is supposed to leave a 7.30am.  We are picked up by a pink bus, pink outside, pink inside and one could say that I was in seventh heaven considering my love of pink.  We drove around Siem Reap picking up passengers, stopping for about 10 minutes at a travel agent when we took on even more passengers and luggage, some of these were going to Phnom Penh.  We went out to the out skirts of town and drove around some more, changed into the old clanger that we were going to Battenbong on, drove around some more and ended up at, yes you guessed it back at the travel agents we were at 45 minutes before.  By this time I had eaten all my snacks that I had to eat on the trip and needed to go to the toilet!!

Bonn Om Teuk (the Festival of Boat Racing) is an annual boat rowing contest which has become the largest spectator event in Cambodia as well as a national festival. Held each year at the end of the rainy season Bonn Om Teuk is celebrated when the Mekong river begins to sink back to its normal levels allowing the Tonle Sap River to reverse its flow.

Bonn Om Teuk lasts three days so that boats from near and far provinces can join the contest. During the festival, Cambodians from across the country gather in Phnom Penh, the capital, to attend and celebrate this festival.

The Water Festival has a long history dating from the Angkor era in the 12th century, under the reign of King Preah Bat Jayvarman VII, when the Khmer Empire occupied and ruled most of the Indochinese Peninsula. The King battled with enemies to defend the Empire as well as to expand the territory. With a very powerful naval force, the King had defeated his enemies at each battle.

As a result, the King decided to organise the Water Festival every year at the Bayon Temple and Batteay Chhmar. The purpose of the Water Festival is to select a champion capable of winning a sailing (naval) battle. In addition, the ceremony is also used to train the King's "army" (seafaring fighters) to prepare for battle.  In Cambodia, there are many statues depicting sailing battles under the leadership of King Jayvarman VII, originally carved on the wall of Angkor Thom temple. Because of this Bonn Om Teuk has become a very important traditional festival in Cambodia, and an opportunity to admire the military exercises of the naval forces.

The festival is also used as an opportunity to express thanks to the Buddhist symbols, Gods and all holy things which help the people. There are special thanks for the harvest and all things related to agriculture (rice fields in particular) and opportunities to show gratitude for happiness and sufficient rain for rice cultivation.

There are three other ceremonies associated with Bonn Om Teuk: Loy Pratip is the ceremony of "illuminated floating" – the sailing of illuminated boats along the river; Moon salutation (Sampeas Preah Khe) is the ceremony of lunar worship; and the eating of Ork Ambok (once described to the writer as .. "pestle new special rice with banana or coconut juice") are all traditional.

The Water Festival itself – which takes place on about 1.7km of river (the competition course) with over 400 rowing boats and approximately 20,000 rowers from all the different provinces across the country.

The river in Siem Reap was a sight to see at night during the festival

The bus trip was uneventful, although the bus was very crowded and we only stopped once for the obligatory toilet stop and we after 3 hours found ourselves chucked out of the bus in the middle of a street and we could only guess and hope that we were in Battenbong.  Fortunately, we had arranged to be picked up at the buss stop and yes there was a tuk tuk driver holding up a piece of paper with our names on it.  We hopped in along with another man who was also staying at the Bus Stop which was the name of the guest house we were staying in.  Ryllis and I were sharing a room and we had decided that we would pay a little more so that we would get a balcony with a scenic view and we had been looking forward to getting together with Sandra for a drink and nibblies on our balcony.  

This young man was sitting across the aisle from me

The guest house was certainly not 3 star and the owner was an Australian from Adelaide who was married to a Cambodian lady with 2 small children.  They spent most of the 3 days we spent there, fighting and slamming doors etc.  The balcony, you ask?  Well there certainly was one, it was about 1/2 metre wide and overlooked the smelly noisy street and I think we went out there for a look and never went out there again.  It looked good in the website.

Battenbong is the second largest city in Cambodia and is very much the same as any other big city.  Lots of people, lots of rubbish, lots of poverty and lots of markets and small shops.  Ryliss and I went out to look at the town and of course headed straight for the markets and wandered out them.  They were a lot different from the ones in Siem Reap as Siem Reap caters for the tourists and there is very little tourist trade in Battenbong.  The markets were quite reasonable and they were really not all that interested so we were not hastled and this makes a nice change.   I bought a matching top and shorts for $5 and we then tried to find somewhere where we could get a cold beer.  That proved quite a challenge as I mentioned before this was not a tourist town and not a lot of cafe or eating places in the centre of the city.  We eventually wandered into the International Hotel which turned out to be accommodation but we found a fridge and sat in the foyer and drank a beer.

Sandra received an invitation to the wedding of one of the students in her class so decided that she would go to the wedding and come down to Battenbong on the Sunday bus.  We had a text from Sandra on the Saturday morning telling us that she had been hit by a motor bike while she was out on the push bike and was shaken but not all that hurt.  She was down by the river taking pictures of the boat races and the streets were packed and traffic everywhere. Only Siem Reap and Phnom Penh have boat races.

The boat races in  Phnom Penh attract a huge crowd and they close off the roads leading into the city, early Saturday morning allowing only busses in.  Unfortunately, the awful accident after the concert on Monday certainly showed up the huge crowd and how unprepared the Civil Services are in Cambodia.

There were no boat races  in Battenbong that weekend,  as they, like all the other provinces have their races earlier so that they can select their best teams to send to Phnom Penh.  We saw the races on the TV and they are really popular with about 300 boats racing and the boats have teams of 70 or so rowers.  The boats in Siem Reap are only about 20 and it is interesting as they stop the water flow of the river and allow the water to bank up to almost the top of the river.

Sandra and Liz had a great time at the wedding and took some great pictures.  They were the only non Cambodians there and were given special treatment.

Sandra arrived on Sunday and of course we had to catch up with all the gossip about the wedding and looked at the photos.  Sunday afternoon saw Ryllis, Sandra and myself at the local cooking school.  We met up with 3 other tourists and went to the market with the chef to buy some of the ingredients we need for the 4 dishes we were making.  The market was of course the normal jumble of fruit, vegetables, fish, pig's head, red ducks and heap of other unrecognisable items.  We spent about 30 minutes at the market as as it was almost 5 in the afternoon the smell of the market was at its peak and we were glad to get back to the kitchen.  We had a great time making 4 dishes, fish amok, beef Lok Lak, fried spring rolls and steamed rice all this for $8.  The only problem was that by the time we got to eat the food it was cold but still really nice.  I will have to make it for everyone when I get home.

Trip to the market

The Chef's kitchen

Chef Ryllis

Chef Sandra

Fish Amok

We had arranged for a tour of the sights of the Battenbong area for Monday morning and the 3 of us plus a lovely Canadian lady who had made friends with us on Sunday set of in a Tuk Tuk driven by a very nice young man.

Our first stop was to have a ride on the bamboo train (Norrie to the locals) which is an ingenous and practical solution to enable the locals to move between villiages aftr the Khmer Rouge regime when the road were in disrepair.  Although it looks flimsy the construction is very strong, carting tons of produce to markets, fishermen to their fishings spots and can carry up to 30 locals at one time.  It was a lot of fun, racing down the track at 30 km per hour and the noise from the metal wheels rolling along the uneven rails is quite simply earsplitting accompanied by a large jolt of the floor under your bottom.  It really was a lot of fun and as we were the bigger train every one else travelling in the opposite direction had to get off their platform and wait while the driver and a helper takes off the platform, removes the wheels from the track, totally dismantelling the train, we pass and they rebuild the train again.  It seems that an Australian company has a lease to run a new network of trains and it seems that the local network will be disbanded which would be a shame as it certainly is a tourist attraction and a money earner for the Cambodians.  

 

Dismantling the train





Hang on here we go!!!



 
















Our driver pulled over to the side of the road and we all got out and wandered over a very recently built suspension bridge over the Sangkar river.  From the bridge you can see the crops that are grown immediately after the water recedes and before the next wet season.

This is similar to the one in Phnom Penh

Crops are grown on the banks

Our next stop was a the winery called Chan Thai Chhoeung which is the only grape winery in Cambodia.  The vines came from Australia and California and they make a  dry red wine, rose, brandy and non-alcholic grape wine.  It was quite nice and of course I bought a bottle.  I don't think Australian wines have to worry about Cambodia taking over the market but it certainly was a lot fun trying it.  I think it would be great to put into cooking.

Half way looking down

Halway looking up

Wat (Pagoda) Banan was the next destination which dates back to 1050 and has been a Hindu and Buddhist temple.  It has not been restored, so is in a very sad state of disrepair.  I look at some of these temples perched on to of a huge mountain and wonder how on earth did they build them!!  This particular temple will be forever imprinted on my mind because the 300 stones leading to the top was certainly memorable.  We would take 6 steps and stop panting for 10 minutes and then tackle the next 6.  My God, I thought I was going to be buried at the site of the ruins but we got to the top and was the view worth it? Mmmmmmmmmmm sure.  You can judge. 

  
 We sat around for about half an hour after coming down the stairs catching our breath and congratulating ourselves that we in fact did it and earnt the T-shirt.





Back into the Tuk Tuk and off to the next Phrom which was about 30 minutes away.  Riding in a Tuk Tuk is a pleasant way to travel but not when you have 4 people in the Tuk Tuk and 3 of them have much larger bottoms than the average Cambodian.  One conciliation is that if we fell over, we would not have fallen out as we were certainly jammed in.  The small motor bike pulling the Tuk Tuk missed a few beats every now and then especially when we were going up the hills.

Phnom Sampeou is a hill steeped in Cambodian tradition tales and history.
We stopped half way up the hill and had some lunch.  Sandra, Ryllis and Merlie (the lady from Canada) decided that they would go up the hill on the back of a motor stopping to see the caves and shafts  on the way up.  I decided that I didn't want to go up the hill and certainly didn't want to see the caves so I stayed down at the food stall and played cards with the people there.

Why didn't I want to see the caves you ask?  Well, during the Khmer Rouge regime victims were thrown down the various shafts, sometimes having their throats cut first.  In the caves, there are bones, skulls and rotting clothing etc stored in cages.

 

The ladies enjoyed their trip up to the top on the back of the bikes but they certainly had some tales to tell when they came back down.  Sandra came off the bike when it seemed that another rider came down the hill and her driver had to take evasive action, resulting in Sandra sitting on the road on her bottom.  Merlie had an altercation with the large monkeys that live on top of the hill near the monastery, she was quite shaken as they were quite vicious in their attack.  The view from the top of the hill is quite spectacular. 

We then began our trip back to town, ate a great meal at the restraunt next door and got ready for, yes you guessed it our 6.30am rise for our trip back to Siem Reap and back to school.