Battambang

Battambang province is mainly known by having a very fertile land. Everything growing here seems to have an excellent production. Rice is the main plantation; that is why this area is known as the "Rice bowl of Cambodia". The rice production of this area is enough to feed all the country!! Furthermore, rice here is of the highest quality. But besides rice you can also see corn, peas, oranges and sesame fields.

We decided to visit Battambang area by motorbike.

Our tour started in Phnom Sampeu. This is a temple in a hill called the Ship mountain… the locals say that it is called like that due to its shape… as a ship.




You have to go up a very steep slope to reach the peak. There you have a Buddhist temple and some grottos to visit. So hot as well!!! A slope and the hot weather…. We had to stop every now and then.. I think menopause is already affecting us!! Hahahaha
But it was worthy the effort! The best thing was the views from the top and the peacefulness there…surrounded by beautiful green fields… and an amazing silence.



After being there for a while enjoying the landscape and recovering from the heat we went with our guide to visit one of the grottos. He explained to us that these were used by the Khmer Rouge to kill the people. They used to bring people there and throw them from the top.. if they didn’t die due to the fall they ended up doing it there… as they were injured and very weak to get out of there. Hundreds of people were piled up there.
To be honest, when someone tells you that and you are there it gives you goose bumps…



He explained to us that he was 13 when the Khmer Rouge invaded Cambodia. He was separated of his family and he was sent to work on the land. He was working for 12 hours a day and he just had one meal a day (a bowl with water and a few rice grains). They were hungry and tired. Two of his brothers died. One of them died by starvation and malnutrition and the other by a disease. Khmer Rouge got rid off any medicines from the country so the hospitals were not able to look after the people. They didn’t have the material or capacity to treat them.

A criminal regime that lasted for 4 years.

He consider himsleft very lucky for having been able to survive (a third part of the population died during these years).Now he looks ahead with hope but still a bit frustrated by the progression of the country. He told us that the recovering is being very slow and some people opted to live a life outside Cambodia.
He, deeply rooted to his land, has rebuilt his life in Battambang but he doesn’t doubt when he says that if Khmer Rouge or any other similar regime invades Cambodia again he would be the first one running away. He doesn’t want to go through such a cruel experience anymore.

To be honest when someone that has lived this kind of experience explains it to you is quite shocking. Yeah.. we read book and articles about this tragedy and we visited the museum and the killing fields.. but when someone who suffered it tells you it is different...

A very positive person with a look between sad and bohemian … he just wants to look ahead and do not think about the past.


The way down was easier… very relaxing and just contemplating the Buddha statues and stupas along the way.




After that we took the moped and we drove to the Phnom Banan temple. We have to say that the drive is the thing we enjoyed the most!! Infinite roads among huge rice fileds… just going through little villages and looking at locals and the way they work on the lands.

Cambodia has an amazing landscape!!!! Taking a motorbike and getting lost around anyplace is worthy!






Phnom Banan is a temple located 25Km away from Battambang city. To get there you have to walk up almost 400 steps!!!! On the top you can enjoy the views as well as visit the ruins of the temple.





We were starving after all these steps!!! so we decided to go for something to eat in a small village located just beside the bamboo train. It is called Bamboo train because its wagons are made of this material. It is a little train that goes through the fields and brings you to the villages around. The experience was good but you can’t imagine the bumping!! Our bums were sooooooooo sore!!!!



After that … and with sore bums we came back to the city…





Check here more photos of Battambang!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26501406@N05/?saved=1

Vipassana Experience

After these 10 very intense days we’ve got lots of things to tell you!!!!!!!!!
Hours and hours of meditation ….. We were using the breathing to concentrate ourselves, we were seated cross legged for hours and hours… getting fed up….eating lots of rice…



And sometimes we were also cheating in some of the hours that we were suppose to meditate…:-) but guys.. 11 hours a day meditating is not an easy task!!!
It has been a test of effort, perseverance, and discipline. We’ll tell you more about it… each of us our personal experience.. but now we will explain you a bit about the technique and the daily schedule. Maybe you want to try it some day!!! Hahahahaha Who knows???





During the 10 days that the course lasted we had to follow a disciplinary code. This code was actually quite hard and strict. It is supposed to take you away from the entire external world and your daily life and being able to concentrate yourself in the fully observation of your mind and body.



Well… we can say that we have been leaving as nuns!!!!



It seems crazy how we have been able to last for the 10 days… but as everything difficult then you get a reward.. and it worth the effort!!



The base of the practice is the Sila, the morality. Sila gives the bases for the development of the Samadhi, the concentration of the mind. The purification of the mind is achieved with the help of your Pañña, the wisdom of the upright vision.

Here are the rules that you have to follow when you are there:

1. Do not kill any human being ( yeah that sounds easy… but if you see how many bugs you have in your room is not hat easy!!!!)
2. Do not steal
3. Do not have any sexual behaviour
4. Do not lie
5. Do not take any intoxicants (so no alcohol or cigarettes!!)
6. Do not eat after noon.
7. Avoid any entertainment (no reading,, no music…)
8. Avoid any luxury beds.
9. And a vow of silence… this is the most difficult one!!!! And even more when you are in our situation… two friends that have been traveling for the last 3 months together… 24 hours a day together… and no talking now!!! No way!! it seems impossible!!



This was the daily schedule:

04:00 am Bell was riningin!!! Doooooooooooooonggggggggg!!!! 4 am!!! So early!
04:30 am 06:30 am Meditation in the main hall or in your room (optional)
06:30 am 08:00 am Breakfast and break
08:00 am 09:00 am Group meditation in the main hall
09:00 am 11:00 am Meditation in the main hall or in your room, according to teacher instructions.
11:00 am 12:00 am Lunch
12:00 am 01:00 pm Break and personal meeting with the teacher if you needed so
01:00 pm 02:30 pm Meditation in the main hall or in your room (optional)
02:30 pm 03:30 pm Group meditation in the main hall
03:30 pm 05:00 pm Meditation in the main hall or in your room (optional)
05:00 pm 06:00 pm Tea and fruit and break
06:00 pm 07:00 pm Group meditation in the main hall
07:00 pm 08:15 pm Teacher discourse
08:15 pm 09:00 pm Group meditation in the main hall
09:00 pm 09:30 pm Questions
09:30 pm Time to bed!



So, what do you think???? If you add them all… there are 11 hours of meditation a day!!!! If you multiply that by 10 days… do you think that this is feasible??? For two jokers like us… being still for so long.. seated cross legged… with our eyes closed!!! Yeah… But we didn’t have another option!! We had to do it… there was no choice...



We had the temptation of packing our bags and run away so many times!!!! But we didn’t… a commitment is a commitment.. and we made it until the end.

Vipassana technique opened a door for us… now is our choice whether we want to continue with it … a path to the purification of the mind…

We didn’t get enlighted or purificated in 10 days… but at least we discovered a new way of autoconection with your mind and body…. A personal development!

The best thing of the experience was to do it here, in Cambodia… surrounded by lots of Cambodians … we were around 120 people.. so funny!



The food, the atmosphere, the friendships that we made, the personal development… a real experience!!! 




Saduuuuuuuuuu saduuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu saduuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Vipassana meditation- our first experience with Buddhist meditation!!

Family and friends.... the day has arrived!!!! One of the moments that we have been waiting for since the beginning of our trip.... we are going to do a meditation course. This will be in a temple near Battambang, Cambodia. The technique is the Vipassana Buddhist meditation... have a look:

Vipassana Technique

Vipassana, which means to see things as they really are, is one of India's most ancient techniques of meditation. It was rediscovered by Gotama Buddha more than 2500years ago and was taught by him as a universal remedy for universal ills, i.e., an Art Of Living.
This non-sectarian technique aims for the total eradication of mental impurities and the resultant highest happiness of full liberation. Healing, not merely the curing of diseases, but the essential healing of human suffering, is its purpose.
Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body, which can be experienced directly by disciplined attention to the physical sensations that form the life of the body, and that continuously interconnect and condition the life of the mind. It is this observation-based, self-exploratory journey to the common root of mind and body that dissolves mental impurity, resulting in a balanced mind full of love and compassion.
The scientific laws that operate one's thoughts, feelings, judgements and sensations become clear. Through direct experience, the nature of how one grows or regresses, how one produces suffering or frees oneself from suffering is understood. Life becomes characterized by increased awareness, non-delusion, self-control and peace.
Whatever it is... it is a very challenging experience!!!

If you are curious about it have a look at their website: http://www.dhamma.org/

Here you can see what we will be doing during the next 10 days!! 10 days in a reatreat , with no communication somehow with this world....

So, we let our blog to rest for some days.....



See you soon!!! We’ll explain everything... no worries!!

Battambang Vipassana Centre
Dhamma Latthika
Battambang, Cambodia


Offering courses in Vipassana Meditation as taught by S.N. Goenka
in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin

Sihanoukville’s beaches

Sihanoukville, known by Cambodians as Kompong Som, is the touristic centre of the Cambodian sea coast.
The city is located on the Kompung Sao bay and it is comprised of 3 islands: Rung, Sanloem and Koun.

The first thing that we noticed in Sihanounoukville is that it is a place with a huge tourist boom. A high amount of hotels, resorts, pubs, travel agencies have all been built in recent years and you can tell that the thing doesn’t finish here. Some virgin areas smell like bricks and cement.... that means money!! WE don’t really know where all this money is going to... if it is going to the sake of everyone or it is just making rich a few.... To be honest it is not the first time that we ask each other this question... some other places in Southeast Asia are the same...we just hope the government of these country is responsible enough and takes care of the well-being of its citizens. Money attracts those starving of power””, overambitious of wealth that drive their luxurious cars along the streets where the poorest are still suffering hunger.... it is quite sad to see such a contrast!

We arrived to Sihanoukville after 6 hours by bus from the Phnom Penh. The arrival was cool as it was pretty sunny.... so after looking for accommodation... guess what we did? we put our bikinis on and run to the beach!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Great!! We missed that!!

Our hostel was beside Serendipity beach... a pretty touristic beach as you can find there lots of restaurants and bungalows along the seaside.



We can’t say that it is a beautiful, clean and quiet beach but you can find there anything that you need! You can rent some hammocks, have a beer for 50 cents, rent a motorbike, enjoy seafood barbeque, get a massage.... and thousand of things more! all that in a beach??:-)





We arrived to Sihanoukville on a Saturday... some local told us that that night there was a Full moon party on Serendipity beach. This kind of parties are quite popular in Thailand... we thought was going to be something similar.... so , after dinner, we decided to go to the party... However, the only thing that we found was a group of very young Cambodians guys dancing local songs along the seashore!!! It was a party... for sure... but not the party that we expected :-) They seemed to be having a brilliant time but we decided to go to bed this time :-)

The next day we rented a moped and we went to visit some of the beaches around the area.



We rented the moped... after a while we even knew how to drive it (it had the gears on the pedal) but.... it started raining sooo much!!!!!!!! ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh we were soaked to the bones but we still wanted to go to the beach.... so we decided to go around Victory beach. This one is a beach close to the harbor and, to be honest, there is nothing special around there.. more bungalows and pubs along the seashore. However, we stopped there for a while to see if the rain stopped.



We were lucky enough and the sun came out again!!! so we took our moped and we went lookiing for the wild beach... and we found it!!! Its name is Otres beach!



Otres beach is a very long beach.... at the very beginning you can see some bungalows and pubs on the seashore but , if you walk a bit more it is a very quite and wild beach with white sand and crystalline water. So we stayed there for a few hours enjoying the sun...



After a few hours we decided to come back to the beach in front of our hostel (Serendipity beach) where we enjoyed an amazing sunset. There it was where we met our new friend... Moshe!!!
Moshe is an amusing character!!! The first impression is that he might be a freaky .... however, after, you realise that it is a person worthy to listen.
Our new friend is 67 years old... long white hair and long white beard... he is an American- Polish retired psychiatric that have lived in Hawai for 18 years. Now he holds a hippy life style and spends his time traveling and telling stories that you would never be tired of listening! Such a laugh!!! He is now working to make a film of his life. He wants to call it “Moises and the 10 commandments”!! Imagine!!

Some of the days that we were in Sihanoukville was raining a lot so we didn’t get to do too much... just relaxing on and reading by the sea.



One of the days... as it was raining again we decided to go to town to see if we found something interesting to do... and we found a very comfy cinema for the rainy days :-) We went in and watched the film “City of Ghosts”... quite a coincidence that it is based on Cambodia.. so it is quite funny to watch a film and see the places and style of life that you are experiencing at the moment.

We just had then one day left so we decided to walk along the beaches and go for a nice seafood lunch... yummy!!!!!!!!!!!



Now we are leaving to the north of Cambodia... we’ll keep you updated!!!

Check some more photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26501406@N05/?saved=1

Phnom Penh - the capital of Cambodia

After our trip through the Mekong Delta finally (it was a never-ending trip!) we arrived to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh.
The first thing was to look for accommodation as it was already dark …. We decided to stay in a hostel around the area called Boeng Kak, beside a lake with the same name. Lots of travelers stay around here or along the river side.

Phnom Penh is a city of contrasts…. The luxury beside the poverty … huge hotels and luxurious cars in some streets and shacks in others… the thing is that Cambodia is a country still recovering from cruel wars.

The French colonized the country in 1864 and Cambodia didn’t achieve independence until 1953. Peaceful times were short lived as the country was dragged to the Vietnam War on the 60s. This continued with the dictatorship of the Khmer Rouge army. The Khmer Rouge took control of the country from 1975-1979. These years are remembered for its barbarities;it is said that a 3rd of the population died during this period.
Khmer Rouge established a drastic regime which isolated Cambodia from any foreign influence. They closed the schools, hospitals, factories, banks, temples….. confiscating any property and moving the urban people to work on the land. They were forced to work from 12-14 hours a day without the necessary food or rest. This situation ended up with a high number of deaths due to executions, exhaustion, malnutrition, diseases and hunger.

Khmer Rouge wanted to turn Cambodia into a classless society forcing all the population to work on the land. All those considered intellectuals were executed. They only need to know how to write, read, speak another language or wear glasses to be killed. This regime broke families … any kind of family link was banned and the non fulfillment of this rule was brining people to death.
After almost 4 years of suffering, North Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia (1979) throwing out the Khmer Rouge. Its leader, Pol Pot, dissolved the organization in 1996 and died in 1998….so he never paid for what he did!!

Cambodia is still affected by this last catastrophe as it was only 30 years ago…

We visited the, nowadays, museum of Tuol Sleng. This museum was a school that the Khmer Rouge turned into a security jail called S-21. Here they imprisoned and tortured the people under arrest. Those were later executed in the Killing Fields of Choeng Ek"

To be honest it left a lasting impression to visit this museum and the killing fields where the genocide occurred. It’s overwhelming!!






After that we went to visit the local market and the surroundings. This is a local food market but you can also find souvenirs or clothes.




We also visited the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda. This complex in the middle of the city has temples, a museum and the Royal palace. The complex is very nice…you can spend there hours just seeing the huge and beautiful temples!!!





There was a wood balcony in one of the temples where the Cambodians were playing some music with local instruments.. and … of course.. we had to try them!




Our visit in Phnom Penh ended up with a relaxing walk along the bank of the river and a nice dinner beside the lake.
We are going to the south of Cambodia now….

See some photos of Phnom Penh here!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27523343@N06/?saved=1

The Mekong Delta

The Mekong Delta is the heart and soul of Southeast Asia.

The Mekong River is also called Cuu Long Giang or the river of the nine dragons (the river has 9 tributaries which flow into the sea). This river is 4.180 Km long and it is one of the longest ones in Asia.
From Saigon you can get different tours to visit the delta and also to see how the locals live there. You can also cross to Cambodia by boat through this river.



There are different people living on the Mekong… they are Vietnamese, Jemers, Chinese or Cham. Therefore, there are also different religions such as Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam and the sects of Cao Dai and Hoa Hao.



We decided to cross to Cambodia by boat and then take a 2 day trip.
We started our trip with rain (of course) …we took a bus that brought us to Chau Doc, first stop. From there we took a boat to visit the local factories. In one of them they produced rice paper… and it is edible!! It is quite funny as back at home we just use rice as “rice”. They wrap sweets and spring rolls with this rice paper… You should have seen the girls wrapping it!! So fast!







After the factories we went to the floating market. It was funny to see how there is a market on the sea! They live on the boats but they also have their work there.
To let you know what they sell they have a big stick on the boat where the item for sell is hanging … I’ll explain… for example… if there is a banana at the top of the stick it means that teh boat is selling bananas, very clever!!

All the boats have two big eyes painted at the front.. the locals told us that this is to protect themselves from the crocodiles!! Actually there are no crocodiles anymore here but the tradition of painting them have been kept until now.



After all that and a nice lunch we took the bus to a border city… a great day that showed us the life of the locals living in the river.

The second day started visiting a fish farm. They have a cage of fishes under their houses… very funny! Just beside this farm there was a fish food factory. Then they feed the fish there and later it is sold in the local market.



After the fish farm we stopped at Cai Be Hoa Phuoc village. This is a very different village to the others and its citizens are Muslims. They showed us their houses and even invite us in for a cup of tea  All the houses are built very high in order to face the flood tides and high levels of the water during the rainy season.

Then we changed to a bigger boat in order to cross to the neighbour country…Cambodia.
We have crossed countries by bus, by train and by plane but it is our first time to do it by boat!! From Vietnam to Cambodia… same same but different!!! As they say here.




More pictures of the Mekong Delta experience!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27523343@N06/?saved=1