Leg 5: Banteay Chhmar, Cambodia

Our final destination in Cambodia, Banteay Chhmar, was in the northeast part of the country. We loved it! This was our favorite part of the entire trip, mostly due to the homestay. Plus it's not commercialized and crazy like Angkor Wat was. The people in this town didn't bother us, hassle us for money, to buy their goods, etc., which made for a very lovely stay!

The taxi driver/tour guide picked us up in Angkor Wat and drove us to Banteay Chhmar. It took 3/12-4 hours to get there. Probably the most exciting part of the ride was I ate a fried bug–much to the amusement of all the locals. It didn't taste too bad–crunchy and salty–but I had a hard time getting the legs or antennae down and it made my throat itch. Conor was in the car, so was the camera, so no pic of Dayna eating the bug. : (

We did a homestay with a local family; there are three rooms upstairs they rent out and they live on the main level. They did have a western toilet and shower we shared with them. All of our meals were eaten at the "center" where we met for everything (a family lived here and they were the ones cooking for us). Our food was tasty but it was hard to eat when it was sweltering hot and humid outside all day/night. All of our water and drinks we bought from the locals--almost everyone has a store selling items. I think we cleaned them out of their water supply! lol I hated to drink much since there was never a place to use the bathroom. I can see why many of them wear long skirts. Guys have it easy! Electricity at our home only worked certain hours and the lights went out. Most of them run electricity off of car batteries. During the night I was constantly awakened by chickens, dogs fighting, pigs, who knows what. Then around 4 a.m., as was typical of most our southeast Asia trip, we were awakened to chanting on loudspeakers across the town. Awesome. Sleep is overrated anyway, right? We didn't miss much action.

Parade with a man wearing mask, carrying bag for money for the temple.

It may not sound like it, but we really did love our stay in Banteay Chhmar. We definitely had a feel for the area and how the locals live. Although we weren't working in the fields and doing any "dirty work". We toured the temples in town, which are being restored and rebuilt slowly, but mainly in ruins. Crazy we just walk all over the stones to see it all. Same as Angkor Wat–very little protection and preservation for these amazing sites. The silk center was great to see and we bought some lovely silk scarves, went to the rice fields, and saw rice flattening. A temple is being built nearby, so all the neighboring townspeople gathered for a festival party. They paraded into down from each direction and collected money for the temple. It was a big event and fun to participate. A lot of homemade rice wine was consumed and they danced their hearts out. A band was playing and singing and they announced I was going to come up and sing. Everyone laughed and our guide translated what he had said. That's right--have the white girl in town parade around. I wish I did sing--I totally would have! : ) We highly recommend visiting this charming town if you ever visit Cambodia!

There was one large light to see our food at the center where we ate the first night.

Above is the views out from our room. At least we had 2 windows and a door for ventilation during the night. The mosquito netting was a must, as well as spraying with bug spray in the middle of the night. Our bed took up most of the room, with a little wiggle room at the foot and side of the bed where the door was.

I liked the wood floors. They appeared to be handscraped and cut.

Three little boys were climbing the trees and jumping into the lake. They wanted me to take their pic. Below is the place we stayed.

For the longest time I couldn't get over the locals selling and drinking such filthy water in old, used soda bottles and water containers. Joke's on me--they were selling fuel. : ) Made me feel a little better.

Loved this contraption. Local vehicle in Banteay Chhmar.

THE best drink ever!!!! Made from sugar cane right in front of you. Yummy! So refreshing; bought several.

They came rolling into town on tractor, car, truck, foot, you name it! Everyone had huge speakers playing music and talking into megaphones.

This guy has to be deaf in front of the speakers. I don't care if he had earplugs or not!

Here's my favorite guy. haha! Notice he had his rice wine stored in an old diesel fuel container. No wonder he's missing all his teeth.

The upstairs of our home. Our room at the far end where Conor's standing.

Some critter came and ate this apple during the night. Not sure what. Notice the itty bitty red ants. Bugs were everywhere.

Rice flattening demonstrated by the local women. I thought we were going to do it. I guess they didn't think we were cut out for it. We ate some of it (dry) after they flattened it. We were hoping they would make a dish using it.