This morning came early and we were all in a rush to get our bags packed back up and all our clothes together before we took off for Battambang. We had breakfast at the hotel, accompanied by their signature guava juice, and got on the bus. As soon as we left the city there was a stark difference in scenery. The multitude of small shops and chaotic crowds of motorcycles were replaced by open plains with small trees scattered around and the occasional lone traveler zooming by in the opposite direction. As we began to drive we got accustomed to small houses with wood walls and corrugated metal roofs rusting in the sun.
We stopped after two hours of driving to eat lunch at a nice roadside restaurant. They brought out a platter of different sodas ranging from coke and fanta to something called grass jelly soda that smelled like prune juice. A highlight of the meal was when senior Sarah Mehrberg tried to pick up a chicken foot with chopsticks. The foot ended up grabbing onto one of the chopsticks, and seemed to come to life. After this we went to a martial arts school a little further down the road. After seating us and serving us coconuts with straws in them, the “performance” if you could call it that, began.
The first set of guys came out onto the mat in front of us, bowed and started to circle each other. They were both extremely agile and wrestled until one of them had the other pinned. The next pair came out with a bamboo stick and a pair of small bamboo guards worn around the lower arms. Their fight was a choreographed battle, ending in a pantomimed throat slitting. They bowed to us and went back to their group to watch the next pair. Another ten or so fights went on, wrestling matches intermingled with choreographed battles. We boarded the bus again and began our final ride to Battambang.
We knew we had arrived in Battambang when we saw the giant statue in the center of the roundabout in the front of the province. Driving down multiple roads we arrived at the hotel. The hotel is very nice; it has a huge pool and zumba classes in the morning. Once we arrived at the hotel we went straight to dinner. Dinner was on the rooftop of the hotel. We ate while looking over the city of Battambang and there was a beautiful sunset while we ate. Most of us ordered fruit smoothies and sodas. Dinner consisted of egg rolls, soup, rice and chicken.
After dinner we walked down to the lobby to meet our pen pals. We were so excited to meet them! We then all loaded onto the bus to go to the circus with our pen pals. The circus was amazing. The circus was a combination of dancing, acting and stunts. All the people were our age and it seemed like they were having so much fun. They did flips, juggled fire, balancing acts, and did aerial tricks. With all the acts they did they intertwined the Cambodian culture with traditional music and dance performances. It was very entertaining. After we got back in the bus and drove back to the hotel. On the drive back some of us got into some intense games of hand-slide. Arriving at the hotel we jumped off the bus and went into the lobby to say goodbye to our pen pals until tomorrow.
By: T. Will, Isabella, and Malli (additional photos by Mr. Gass)
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| A traditional Cambodian martial arts demonstration |
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| Surfing: Phare Circus style |
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| Parker, penpals, and Phare Circus celebrate a wonderful evening |
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