Tag Ferry to battambang
My tagline is “the journey is part of the destination” and today this was certainly the case. I wanted to go to Battambang and there is a bus but I heard that the boat, though slower and more expensive, is a worthwhile experience so I decided to try. At seven in the morning a minibus picked me up and brought me out of Siem Reap down to Chong Khneas on the shore of the Tonle Sap. There I got on the boat which was quite a simple thing made from wood, with a thumping diesel engine in the back and … Read the rest
We are sailing through a field, there’s not even a channel anymore, just a mass of floating plants, big bulbous roots under water and green stems culminating in thick, waxy, cup like leaves. The boat goes through them, crushing them beneath the prow, and our wake sends large ripples through the field. Behind me I can hear the engine straining as the propeller chews through the vegetation.… Read the rest
The channel we’re sailing along is barley wider than our boat, the edges lined with submerged trees and water living vegetation. The branches keep scraping along the sides, some even reaching in through the open windows, bending back then twanging forward in a shower of leaves and twigs as they hit the pillars supporting the roof, and I have to keep ducking to avoid getting slapped in the face. I never thought taking a regular passenger ferry would be such an adventure.… Read the rest