The boat journey from Siem Reap to Battambang was fantastic. The boat itself was very simple with two plastic benches either side which made for a slightly uncomfortable 6 hour journey along the river but we saw so many great things. We passed many villages built on stilts in the river completely isolated from solid ground or roads. Occasionally we dropped off locals who would be picked up by family from the middle of the river in small boats. There were lot of children on boats and sitting outside houses who all waved and smiled at us. Some of the houses were a jigsaw of scrap wood and others had been painted and had beautiful pot plants outside. It was sad to see so much rubbish in and around the river. The locals on the boat were even throwing their cans and plastic straight out of the boat into the river. It took a lot of willpower not to ask them what the hell they thought they were doing like I would in England.

When we arrived in Battambang the tuktuk drivers were so keen to harass us they all got on board the boat before we could get off and it was chaos. Luckily our hotel was only a 15 minute walk away so thanks to Google Maps we made our own way there. The hotel was a large 7 story building nicely decorated in French Colonial style except for the very modern, blue reflective glass, lift shaft on the front which ruined it a little.

We had a very nice room considering the price and a nice view from the 6th floor. In the afternoon we went for a crepe and had a very brief wander around town.

On Saturday, despite the fact I was starting to get a cold, I decided we should take the online walking tour of Battambang so we set off after breakfast. After the first few sites I think it would be fair to say that Battambang was probably one of the most boring towns to do a walking tour in. I imagine it would be like a Cambodian taking a walking tour around Maidstone. The 'charm' described in the guide book was either not there or so well hidden we couldn't find it.

We gave up the walking tour half way around and went for a Cambodian coffee and some lunch at a small cafe. Both of us seemed to be getting a cold at this point so we didn't do much in the afternoon.

One of the main attractions in Battambang is the Circus so in the evening we paid $10 to go and see if it was worth the hype.

The show was fantastic. The performers are students at a charity run performance school and their skills were amazing. We saw them throw each other into the air in summersaults before catching each other on shoulders or hands. There was one man who juggles whilst riding on a unicycle on a tightrope and at the end they skipped and flipped over a flaming skipping rope. For the price we paid it was incredible and disregarding a few hiccups we could have been watching Cirque De Soleil.

The next morning it was time to start our last long bus journey to Bangkok to do some shopping and get our visas for Myanmar.

My next blog will be about Myanmar as there isn't too much to write about what we did in Bangkok.

Alice
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