The boat to Battambang (Jan. 18/09 - Battambang, Cambodia)

Since it seems that schedules seem to be tentative and pointless in this part of the world, we weren't at all surprised when our supposed ride to the boat dock didn't show up at 6am as planned. It still hadn't shown up at 7am, so we finally got the guy behind the desk who booked it to call and see what was up since the boat was supposed to leave at 7am, and it was a half hour drive to get there. It turned out that they had forgotten about us, but a few minutes later a minivan pulled up and the driver waved us on. The bags for fourteen people were piled on the roof, and ours were added to the mountain and secured with a flimsy rope over the whole thing. The nine seater van resembled a can of sardines, as people were jammed in on top of eachother with daypacks piled on everyone's laps. We wedged ourselves in and were instantly on a first name basis with two British guys, a Scottish woman, a Chinese guy, and an older local woman - all in the front row! Half an hour later, we pulled up at the edge of the river and were bombarded by local kids selling baguettes and bananas. A couple passenger boats were lined up at the dock, all of them overloaded with people and cargo but still welcoming more onboard. We perched ourselves on the top deck with a bunch of other travellers and did our best to get comfy for the six or eight (or more?) hour ride.


The river channel quickly emptied into Tonle Sap, which is apparently the largest lake in southeast Asia and one of the world's richest sources of freshwater fish. Green swampy mangrove forests fringed the lake, which stretched out for about 100km in front of us. We sailed west across the north end of the lake, dodging the occasional clump of lily pads and zig zagging around fishing wiers. Some wiers were so long that we had to slow right down and look for a hole to cross at. Land eventually came into sight, and floating villages lined the edge of the waterway where the Stung Sanker river empties into the lake. It was neat to see the locals going about their daily routines, puttering around in their boats, shaking fish out of full nets, and rocking babies in shady hammocks in their little open air houses. Floating schools and churches, as well as stores and offices, also bobbed around in the water. We carried on upstream, where the river meandered west through the forest, wide and calm. We passed small groups of houses here and there and the occasional boat carrying piles of fishing traps and fresh bamboo for house construction. About four hours in, we pulled up to a floating store to drop off a couple locals and to buy cold drinks. The late morning sun was already scorching, and with no shade on the upper deck, it was a hot ride with only a rare breeze.

Beyond the rest stop, the river reverted to a narrow, meandering trickle that we guessed was only 3 or 4 feet deep in the middle. The bends were so sharp that the captain had to slow right down to pivot the 50 foot boat around each one. It made for a long stretch, but at least the scenery along the banks was interesting to pass the time. Wooden houses were built on stilts along the banks, each with a few banana trees, a boat, and a handful of naked kids running around that went crazy waving when they saw us coming. The hours dragged on and on, and nobody really knew how far we had to go since it seemed that everyone was told a different estimate for the trip length - anywhere from two to eight hours! Unfortunately, the downstairs bench seats were all full when we got on the boat, so about 17 of us were stuck on the top deck that was nothing more than a tarp on a bare, flat floor. With nothing to sit on or lean against, our backs and butts got really sore really fast. The metal surface got super hot too, so every time we tried to shift positions, you pretty much singed your feet and legs in the process.

The river widened and straightened a little, and we started passing lots of people bathing in the river, doing their laundry in the river, and sometimes just plain swimming and splashing around. Finally, when we pretty much couldn't take it anymore, the makings of a town came into view and the boat slowed down to pull up to a dock. Nine hours it took us! We thought they should have "I survived the boat to Battambang" t-shirts after that!

We followed half the boat to a hotel in town and scored a nice clean room with hot water and all the extras for $10. The BBQ chicken satay and piles of fresh fruits and veggies looked perfect for dinner, but these vendors didn't take US dollars as they did in Siem Reap, so we opted to go elsewhere until we had some of the local Riel currency. Some tasty "lok lak", a Khmer specialty, hit the spot and constituted our only real meal of the day!