Battambang to Phnom Penh

Battambang to Phnom Penh

I’ve now been to 18 provinces in the Kingdom of Cambodia, only 5  to go. I've explored:

Phnom Penh
Kandal
Takéo
Kampot
Kep
Koh Kong
Kompng Speu
Pursat
Battambang
Banteay Meanchey
Pailin
Kampong Chhang
Prey Veng
Svay Rieng
Tbong Khmum
Kampong Cham
Kampong Thom
Siem Reap

Goodbye our Battambang "home"

We left Battambang at 9.30am and we were in Phnom Penh by 2.30pm. The roads were dry which is unusual during this time of the year. Last year it took 8 hours to drive over mud laden roads from the Cardamon Mountains in Koh Kong province. It’s 253km between Battambang and Phnom Penh. If this was Australia the cars would be driving at about 100km/hr so would take two  and a half hours, but we were travelling at about 50km/hr (dodging cows, and trucks & SUVs driving towards us ON OUR side of the road. When we got close to Phnom Penh, we were doing about 30km/hr with lots of stops.

Outside our hotel at Wat Kor Village

 We left our little quiet rural Wat Kor village and hotel. Despite the poverty in the area this province is one of Cambodia’s rice bowls, so the farmers can earn income. There were rice mills sprinkled on the roadside from Battambang. Cambodia is now the 5th largest rice exporting country in the world. 

We passed rice mills ... then I stared out the window watching the Cambodian panorama pass me by.

Rice mill

Mum wants a Phi (spirit) house in Sydney

Spied this at a green mango snack stop

cheeky smile!

We finally arrived in Phnom Penh, to our "home" for 8 years. Every time we flew to Phnom Penh for weekends from Saigon, we stayed at Villa Langka. Wat Langka is across the road, and we are woken every morning to the monks chanting. Mum got our special room, with our own balcony, which have so many memories, including when Grandma and Georgie came here, when Louise and Andrew and Saem and Emily spent days with us, when Carol and Chetra came, when Sally and Sopheak and Judy came with us. It's home. The tuk tuk drivers all know Mum and say "Wendy - welcome back", and all the staff know us. It's home. Here's me on the balcony: