jimmie50

I learned very quickly they are definitely very picky about USD. It must be in absolute pristine condition. If not perfect, their bank will not accept it or deduct from the value if they try to deposit into an account. I had read about this before my trip, so made sure that most of my bills were brand new. I am getting more accustomed to using the Riel now. The thing I dislike more than anything is using the ATM at ACLEDA. I cannot speak about other banks, but since I opened an account at ACLEDA I will use their ATM's occasionally. If you request USD, they only provide $50 notes...always brand new. This is fine except many of the small businesses we frequent are unable to make change for the larger bills...in USD or Riel. That was really frustrating until I opened the bank account. Now, if they cannot accept the $50 notes I can just open the bank app on my phone and pay using the QR code. Quick and easy.

Not completely out of the equation. lol. I ask plenty of questions about many things. Cam will confirm this, and probably state it becomes rather annoying at times. 😂 I don't ask questions about the family history of his parents, don't make statements that could be misconstrued or interpreted as judgmental of the culture, history or politics, and am careful about making comparisons to other countries and their cultures vs. Khmer. Even though Cam has gone to Thailand on numerous occasions for work over the years, I have learned he has some very strong opinions about how Thailand has stolen most of what they call 'Thai culture' from Cambodia. I prefer to maintain neutrality and remain silent...simply listening to him vent. It is a case of picking your battles.

I do think that Cam is quite intelligent and has reasonably good common sense. He is also able to stay focused on the long term goal and not easily distracted from that. I also think he has learned information about investing in gold from his Battambang friend who now lives in Australia. I totally agree with you about learning money management skills...and it isn't just in Asian countries. In US schools many years ago, they would teach things like personal finance and money management. Not any more. Those days are long gone. Since the student population I taught for 30+ years was the moderate to severe special education students, we did try to teach them some of those basic skills so they could function in the world as independently as possible. I cannot begin to tell you how many parents of the general student population would ask us if we could teach the same things to their high achievers who were college bound.

To be honest, when US first started fighting in Vietnam I was in junior high and high school. That was current so not something we even studied in high school history classes. Since meeting Cam and learning more about Cambodia, it's history, and the atrocities of Pol Pot, it really is both moving when you see these things up close and personal but also appalling that they killed so many of their own people. It simply goes beyond reason and understanding. I think Cam is also learning and experiencing much about his own country on our adventures that he never experienced before. His parents were elementary age during Khmer Rouge. I am sure they probably lost family members in all of the killings, but he said they never talk about it. It is one of those things that never gets discussed or talked about. I am very careful about what I say, and never...never ask personal questions.

The riverfront really is quite nice and they have done a good job with the beautification project. They are able to hold events along the waterfront such as concerts, festivals, etc, many people enjoy running, and in the evenings at different locations along the river you will find small groups of people doing exercise with music and a leader/instructor similar to what some people participate in at Lumpini Park in Bangkok. The area also fills up with different types of food carts in the evening, similar to Siem Reap and the river night market area. Battambang is nice, and we are enjoying our time here...the Phare circus school is located here and they do shows several days a week plus tours of the school, and there are a couple of nice art museums as well. Just not sure I would make this home base long term. Prefer Siem Reap.

A side note to my post about the new house...we were having lunch at a restaurant in the older area of town, a place called White Rose (would not recommend or personally return), and seated at the table next to us were two female travelers and their Cambodian tour guide. The two ladies were from France, but their table conversation was in English. I assume the tour guide had good English skills, but no knowledge of French. In any event, the two ladies were asking many questions. Since they were sitting just beside us, it was easy to hear the conversation. The guide was explaining about the border conflict with Thailand and commented that before the conflict many people would travel from Cambodia to Thailand looking for work. The ladies asked if that was lucrative for the Cambodians and the guide laughed, and then responded that most of the time it was not the best decision. He went on to explain that most of the people who went to Thailand to work were not good stewards or managers of their money. Consequently, they would often return home with empty pockets having spent on their hard earned money on frivolous things instead of saving or sending it home for family. That was interesting to me, since Cam has obviously been very good about saving his earnings from both construction jobs, food service jobs, and the job at Hotmale...sending it home for his mother to safeguard or purchasing the gold. In that regard, I would say he must be the exception rather than the norm, and has definitely stayed focused on the end goal...building the new house. Gotta give the boy credit!!!

So it seems we will be going back to Cam’s parents to have a family get-together before we head to Siem Reap. I am not exactly sure if this will only be overnight, or for a few days. Since they are not good about planning in general, nor do they seem to share information with me…it will just be another go with the flow moment. Speaking of his parents, I thought it was time to provide an update on the new house. Yesterday afternoon, Cam had a rather lengthy conversation (over an hour) with his brother and father. They were discussing some pretty specific details about the project. After he had finished the call, I decided to insert myself into the discussion by asking some specific questions. For example, I was curious if they planned to put pipes in the concrete slab for electrical and indoor plumbing. Affirmative. Will the house be elevated like the current house (on stilts)? The slab will be about a foot higher than ground level…that is all. Will they do concrete posts, brick walls like the fence, and then do concrete stucco over the brick or build frames and pour concrete walls? Same as the fence…concrete footers and posts, brick walls, then stucco over the brick. Stucco will be tinted some color, but he hasn’t decided on color yet. Tiles on roof…again unsure of color. Do they plan to install any type of air conditioning. Planning for it in the bedroom if possible, but will depend upon the cost at that time and the availability of funds. They will just open windows and use fans in main living area. Probably not of interest to most of you, but I get curious about the plans, and also have questions since my father was a stone mason and helped to build houses. I would be his helper some summers, so picked up some general knowledge about building. I asked if they have a concrete mixer truck deliver for the slab and he said ‘no’, they do it all mixing by hand from bags with sand and gravel. It is cheaper that way. Mixer truck is too expensive. Even though the actual start date is December 8, they are doing some preliminary work in preparation. During Cam’s absence, the family has been dismantling the old chicken coop and cleaning up the surrounding area. Cam has ordered a load of dirt to be delivered and the family will work on distributing and leveling the dirt creating a pad or landing spot for the temporary housing. They won’t actually begin to disassemble and reassemble the current house in the temporary location until that magic date of December 8. I know many here have expressed concerns about the cost of building the house and where the money is coming from…namely…am I the foreign donor or ATM?!? lol. I have asked Cam before about the financial picture. While he has never avoided my questions, his answers have always been general and not very detailed. I was pretty pointed this time in my questions. He and his brother have estimated the total cost, with family providing all of the labor, to be $15,000 USD. Cam previously told me that he had saved $7000 USD and his mother was safeguarding that money. That always made me a little nervous, since I had never met his family and only knew what little information he shared. Not all family members are trustworthy. In this case, mother was a safe choice and I have seen the bank account. They do, in fact have $7000 USD. Cam has also been buying and saving gold during his time working in Thailand and Cambodia. Gold is usually a good, safe investment, so I thought this was very smart on his part. He has accumulated enough gold over the last couple of years that if sold on today’s market would net him approximately $8000 USD. He said his cost to buy the gold was probably around $6500 over time, so that would be a nice profit he made of $1500. Not bad by my estimation. He said he watches the gold market every single day and will sell off the gold when he can get the best possible price or maximum return on his investment. Smart guy. That gives him the estimated amount he and his brother think will be needed to purchase the materials needed to build the new house. I am sure that incidental things may come up they hadn’t considered or planned for, so I still may be asked for some assistance in the future, but he seems to have this all figured out without any contribution from me at the present time. They are actually very determined to do this on their own as a family.

The Bamboo Train was interesting and fun. As someone previously pointed out on the forum, there are two locations. One is closer to town and only about 3km. The other is a good bit farther away from the city and the entire ride is around 12km. The longer one is what we decided to do. Both are just $5 USD per person. Getting to the longer train was quite the challenge, though, so be prepared for a rough ride. Due to the recent rains and flooding, part of the road has washed away. I would say for a good stretch of 2km one side of the road is completely washed away and you are down to one lane traffic. Good luck trying to figure out who has the right of way given their expert driving skills here. lol. We were on the motorbike, so it wasn’t too bad, but it really was a nightmare with cars and trucks trying to figure it all out. There was some sort of make shift barricade using bamboo poles, string and plastic flags, but that was only visual. So far it looks like there have been no attempts at repair. The interesting thing to me about the train is when a car going one direction met another car traveling the opposite direction and how they solved that problem. I expected the passengers to simply exchange cars and continue on their journey. Silly me. They literally pick up one car, remove it from the track, slide the other car past, then return the first car to the tracks and both continue on their way. Not realizing what I was getting myself into, when we arrived at the bat cave we decided to walk to the top. Had I know exactly what was involved in that walk, I would have either opted for a ride on the back of a motorbike or in the back of a pick up truck. The walk was too much for me. Cam was good about stopping periodically so that I could rest and guzzle some water, but it was quite a steep climb. The view from the top was great looking out over all of Battambang Province. It was also interesting to see the very distinct rice paddies across the valley. The statues at the entrance to the killing cave representing the different types of torture that was inflicted upon the Cambodian people by the Khmer Rouge was both interesting and depressing, as was going inside the cave. It was fascinating to watch the bats exit the cave once we were back down at ground level. It truly looked like a flowing river in the sky…millions upon millions of bats playing follow the leader. I am curious if they take turns leading, or just which bat determines what time they leave the cave and where they go?!? LOL. Seriously…quite the natural phenomenon. The day we visited the magic time was 5:10pm. We were told it could be anywhere from 5-5:30pm as it is not exactly the same time every day…just within that range. I am also curious to know if they return in the same manner…as one large mass. I was not curious enough to be sitting out there in the early morning hours of the day to find out.

General comments in no particular order or significance… There seem to be more schools and more students attending schools in Battambang province than I noticed in Siem Reap. There also seem to be more schools of various levels in Battambang. Most of what I saw in Siem Reap were Primary (elementary) schools. In Battambang I have seen several high schools as well as a vocational school and several ‘universities or colleges’. I am curious to know if there is a greater emphasis placed on Education here in Battambang versus Siem Reap. Battambang seems to be more industrial to me than Siem Reap. Battambang does seem larger than Siem Reap in both population and area. Some online sites and travel guides refer to Siem Reap as the second largest city and Battambang as third; others have them reversed. I am leaning more towards Battambang being the larger of the two, therefore coming in as number 2. Battambang waterfront along the river in front of the old French colonial buildings is quite nice, but that seems to be where the beautification stops. I find Battambang overall to be a very dirty city. Even those areas they have tried to improve with plants are overgrown and not well maintained. Siem Reap does a far better job in this area and from my perception is a much cleaner city. Traffic is not as bad in Battambang, although at certain times of the day in certain areas it can be a nightmare. Drivers are much worse in Battambang than in Siem Reap. Not only do drivers not realize why vehicles of any type have mirrors, they also do not know what turn signals or headlights are for. Regardless if there is oncoming traffic, cars/trucks will pass anyway to get around slower moving vehicles and expect the oncoming traffic to yield to their lunacy. I have no idea if there is any such thing as insurance in Cambodia…according to Cam, there isn’t or at least not required. I will say that the craziest drivers in both Battambang and Siem Reap seem to have a license tag on the vehicle indicating they are from Phnom Penh. Given that fact, I cannot begin to imagine what traffic must be like there. I know…as Cam has pointed out to me on numerous occasions…I notice some weird shit. lol. Condition of city streets in Battambang is horrendous, especially in the older areas of town. While we have seen a few foreigners, I don’t believe these are tourists but rather expats who live here now at least part time. Certainly not what Siem Reap has, which is understandable because of Angkor Wat. I can probably count the number using both hands. I am definitely in the minority here. I have only seen one large bus during the entire time we have been here and cruising around on the motorbike…very different from all of the tour buses in Siem Reap. We have seen a couple of smaller buses, but they are not occupied by foreigners, so not sure if they are local, from elsewhere in Cambodia, or nearby Asian countries. Riders are definitely Asian. As I previously mentioned, WIFI in Battambang seems to be less reliable. Using my laptop has been challenging at times. I often resort to using my cellphone and connecting via Metfone vs. service at the Airbnb. Unsure of the provider, but would definitely choose someone else if it were up to me. When I am able to connect, it is slow as molasses. In Siem Reap I noticed a significant number of hotel/resort properties that looked quite nice and fairly new but they were either closed and gated with no access or appeared to be deserted. You don’t see huge resorts like that in Battambang, but still see a fair number of large abandoned commercial buildings, some of which were never completed but are closed off and some even overrun with vegetation. Overall, Battambang is an interesting place and we have met some really nice people here; however, I think we are leaning towards living in Siem Reap at this time. We have come to the conclusion that the only strong reason for choosing Battambang is the closer proximity to his family…one hour versus two hours from Siem Reap. Unless something drastic happens over the next few days to change our minds, I think we will be heading back to Siem Reap and look at housing options there.

This is the drink in question:

Had connection issues yesterday. Sorry I couldn't post anything. WIFI seems to be more unstable with frequent problems in Battambang...more so than I had in Siem Reap. Anyway, we decided to play tourist yesterday and did the Bamboo Train and the Bat Cave. Will write something later tonight or tomorrow and post about those adventures, as well as some observations about Battambang and comparison with Siem Reap.

When it is just the two of us at home, it isn't an every night occurrence. He can go days or even all week without a single alcoholic beverage. However, put the family together...whether in small numbers or the entire group...and the cases of beer magically appear. I don't know what the environment was like when Cam was growing up, but I do know two things for sure...his mother doesn't drink, period (never has) and even if everyone else in the family is sitting around drinking, his father does not drink now. He might have one can and nurse it all evening. No idea what his drinking habits were prior to this. As an outside observer sitting back and watching the family dynamics when they all get together, I think Cam's youngest sister is the primary instigator of the drinking. She is the one temporarily separated from her husband and she stays with her grandmother. The husband has custody of the children. Probably a lot of emotional garbage to unpack there, but she definitely encourages everyone else to have another one and is non-stop herself. I am sure working in a Bangkok bar and his buddies from there has influenced Cam quite a lot as well.

Thanks for that explanation. That seems to be the case. I am not sure why he decided to purchase it last night...perhaps an advertisement he saw on Facebook or TikTok. Possibly a friend he was talking to mentioned it. No clue as to why that instead of the usual cans of beer. Also, I should explain that when he isn't around family and it is just the two of us in the Airbnb, he quite often doesn't drink at all. He will just stick with bottled water. He can go several days without a single alcoholic beverage. I should also clarify that when I say he became aggressive, he was still being his playful self, but more extreme and aggressive with me...such as literally lifting me up off the floor while we are in the shower in the bathroom. Wet floors and too much weight for him to be lifting do not mix well with old age and broken bones. The problem was getting him to realize in that state of mind that he was being too rough with me. The playfulness really turned into rough housing and I felt like I was in the ring of a Kun Khmer fight. Also, something he has never done before...at least when he has been with me...is to literally pass out from the alcohol. Fortunately we were already on the bed. He was sitting up one minute and the next he was totally gone. The whole thing was just so bizarre. Much of it he doesn't even remember. He also had a bit of a hangover this morning, which he has always told me before he never gets. It took him several hours to return to some semblance of normal this morning. He was better after getting some food. We did chat about it this afternoon and there will be no more Jingo when he is with me. Cannot control what I cannot see or know about. lol.

He has only talked about men's barber shop. He has never mentioned anything about ladies hair or referred to it as a salon.

I do have the screen locked and facial recognition turned on, so that would provide at least some level of protection...I hope. You are so wise...I would never think about such things.