12.10. Attack of the Monkeys

The journey from Siem Reap to Battambang was on the agenda early this morning. After a three-hour drive with only one interruption, when the bus funny enough drove away with our luggage, but only went to the workshop, we arrived in Battambang.

The great thing about this city is that it is not overrun by tourists and they are only found at the major attractions - a welcome change after Bangkok and Siem Reap!

After checking in at the hostel, which was the cheapest for us so far, only two dollars per person with a pool, we continued on to the Bamboo Train. The term 'train' here is maybe a bit misleading, because it was rather a bamboo plank put together on wheels with a motor in the back. This vehicle drove us at about 30 kilometers per hour for 20 minutes to a small village, which mainly consisted of the operators of the surrounding rice fields. In the past, the residents used the Bamboo Train exclusively to transport their goods back and forth, but today they have switched to other means of transportation. Since the tracks are 'one way' only, the entire vehicle must be dismantled and reassembled if there is oncoming traffic, which somehow adds to the charm. In the village, we were the only tourists around, but many locals, especially children, greeted and waved at us. The English skills were limited to mainly two phrases, to offer us cold drinks and bracelets, which made us realize where we actually were: in Southeast Asia, over 9,000 kilometers away from home.

A hole through which the bodies were pushed

After this depressing intermediate stop, we continued to hike up the mountain, where a magnificent temple has been built in remembrance of the genocide. There we already saw a few monkeys in the trees and on the buildings, but we were still happy to see them.

We took a brief look around, but soon had to start the descent again to not miss a special event in the valley. On the way, we discovered a horde of monkeys on a railing that bordered the path and initially didn't think much of it because they were just monkeys... But when the horde noticed us, it jumped right onto our path and approached us. Well, what can you do? Immediately you think of rabies and other contagious diseases and just want to get rid of the monkeys. Throw something at them or lure them away with food? There was nothing to throw and food would probably have gone wrong too because the monkeys would have only pounced on us. So we made ourselves big and rushed through the horde of monkeys with stomping and hissing, of course nothing happened.

At the bottom of the valley, we arrived just in time for the event we had to hurry for: the exodus of millions of bats from the so-called 'Bat Cave'. A continuous and spectacular stream that could be watched from a terrace over the sky and lasted for a good 45 minutes.

How can all these masses fit into a cave, how do they organize themselves so that the stream remains constant and they don't all rush out at once, and how do the bats manage to fly in a swarm only through wave resonance, remains a mystery to me.

After seeing so much in one day, it was time to enjoy the well-deserved pool at the hostel, because today was one of the hottest days so far and we needed the cooling. Tomorrow we will already go to the next big city, Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

Thanks for reading and greetings from Cambodia!