From Siem Reap we drove to the colonial, less touristy town of Battambang - center of rice production. Highlights here included the bamboo train, cooking class with a market visit, and riding tuk tuks to explore and see temples older than Angkor Watt. We also saw the hundreds of thousands of bats take flight at sunset from 'bat cave'. The most memorable experience was seeing the Phare performing arts school and show. The school educates poor children in the area that are in difficult situations and trains them in the arts, music, or theater and then assists with a professional career. The show we saw was outstanding - a cross between a theatrical West Side Story with acting, cirque du soleil with acrobatics and strength, and Cambodian culture intertwined into the easy-to-follow plot. The girls loved it too!
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| Scenes driving down the road - lots of temples and arch ways |
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| Explanation of the Phare Ponleu Selpak school in Battambang |
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| what happens when trains meet going opposite directions? |
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| Bella tired, getting carried through the market at the cooking school |
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| fish, frogs, snakes - egg embryos, chickens, pig parts - vegetables and fruit |
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| Nary's cooking school - our instructor was Mr. Toot |
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| The girls were mainly observers but helped mixing and stirring |
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| family waiting for us to move so they could take their tuk tuk over a suspension bridge that we found scary to walk on |
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| typical Cambodia construction - built on stilts to provide shade below and helps with the rain |
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| we noticed the 'danger' sides after Jeff leaned up against a wall and literally the entire structure swayed! |
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| notice the crickets behind Bella |
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| Morgan deciding if she wants a 2nd bite after her first bite of cricket... she ended up eating the whole thing. As I snapped 20 photos in fast speed, I turned around and Bella said she ate one too. I didn't believe her at first and then saw the legs still sticking out of her mouth. |
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| Bats flying out of Bat Cave |
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| All the tourists capture the bat exodus on film |
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| One of the many interesting buildings we passed. Every town has temples and many of the streets decorated arch ways. |
