The bus did a delivery of stinky fish on the side of a random road. Motorbikes were packed with boxes like lego blocks, carefully construed, fastened with string. We were next and dropped off at the bus station (people are always a by product of other deliveries on these transport expeditions). We got our bags, zipped our small back packs onto the larger ones and stood in line for a $2 ticket for a took took. 2 Swedish guys joined us and we all headed in the direction of the city.

The man who obliged took us to our first enquiry: Wild Orchid (we stayed at the Wild Orchid in Bangkok, so was worth a shot) they were horrendously over priced, even with a '50% discount.' 50% discount my foot - they see a western face and immediately imagine dollar signs. We left. The took took driver then took us to a residence that he said would give us a good price. $15 for a fan room was by no means a good price; he argued with us and then told us he was no longer going to take us where we needed to go. Unfortunately, we'd already paid at the bus station, so had no choice. He told us 'good luck' in finding anything cheaper. He could keep his luck and shove it where the sun don't shine.

We walked up a side street and asked at a few guest houses. They were $15 for aircon, so immediately a better option than the took took drivers suggestion. Edd was however convinced that he could find something cheaper, so went in search of other hotels, guest houses and hostels. I sat at a back packers on a chair, barely able to breath in the heat. He came back and announced that he'd found somewhere fabulous for $15 dollars and one of the Swedish guys followed him to the potential hotel. They came back defeated, they'd said $50, not $15. The Swedish guys then went to the guest house next door and checked in, Edd had found somewhere up the road that was cheaper and we headed for Villa Rose.

We checked the room out, immediately liked it and got the keys - $12 with aircon. We had a shower, freshened up and then went in search of food, so walked into the main area of the city. We initially walked around a market and then went to Pub Street, sitting down at a local spot for some lunch.

Edd ordered an Amok chicken dish and I ordered Calamari with black pepper. The food arrived and Edd immediately had food envy; after 2 mouthfuls, however, I assured him it did not taste as good as it looked: the calamari was so tough you could use it in a kati and shoots stones with it. The worst I'd had since the BBQ on Otres beach. Calamari was clearly not a Cambodia specialty. Edd called the waitress over who tasted it, struggling to bite a piece off as it had turned to rubber; she then explained to us that it was how Cambodians eat it, she ate it like that all the time. Customer service was also not a speciality they expressed. I explained back to her that it was the worst Calamari I'd ever eaten (not a complete lie, the calamari in Otres was actually a squid on a skewer, to be precise). She took it back and gave me the menu to order something else, but I was no longer hungry and very, very tired. I had a few bites of Edd's dish, avoiding the chicken, but eating the rice with some of the sauce.

We then walked back to our guest house, stopping at tourist information centres along the way to find out the price of a bus to the Cambodia/Thailand border. We got back to the guest house and a guy was there with the ladies that either live at the guest house, or work at the shop that is underneath our room. He said he could take us to the circus that evening and to Angkor Wat the next day. We got on his took took and he dropped us at a tourist information store to buy tickets for the circus. We bought them and went back to our guest house immediately, it was too hot to function.

I sat a read my book for a while and Edd researched buses to the border and read the news. I had just started blogging, when Edd decided to go back into town and find the ANZ Bank, to get verified so we could open up a savings account with them in Australia. I was not happy at the prospect of going back out in the blazing sun, exhausted and quite miserable. I did however need to get verified, so got my shoes on and grabbed my hat.

The bank was not where it was supposed to be, according to google maps. We asked around and found out it was further down the road, turn right at the traffic lights; the man who helped us also explained that it was a public holiday today, 'The Royal Day of Ploughing,' so the bank was closed. We walked down to see if we could find it anyway and the go back the next day to sort our banking woes out.

We did not find the bank, but did find a pharmacy and stopped to get a few bits. We then started walking back and decided to have a drinks somewhere; I ordered food and Edd used the pubs wifi to figure out where the bank might be in relation to where we were. He realised that we were on one side of the hospital and the bank was on the other side of it, so he went on a little adventure - short cutting through the hospital - in search of the bank. I sat at the pub with a ginger ale in my hand, enjoying a nearby fan.

He came back successful, if we'd walked another 20 metres after being in the pharmacy, we'd have see the bank. Drat. It was closed anyway though, so had made no difference. He did inform me of the hospital he'd done a little detour in. He'd apparently gone inside some of the buildings and found people lying in the passages, some lying outside on hammocks and discovered revolting toilets. His summary: 'if you get sick, don't go there.'

I ate a pasta dish and we made our way back to the guest house, again. He kept stopping at tourist information shops and I kept walking: I desperately needed a lie down. We got back and had a 1 hour relax in the air conned room.

We went downstairs at 7.15pm as our took took driver was taking us to the circus: seats weren't allocated, so get there early or get a bad seat. By 7.20pm he was still no where to be found and the girls that worked there were of no use. So we walked up the road, found a different driver and he took us to the circus. We got our tickets exchanged from the tourist info centre, walked through the shop, got 2 cooldrinks, walked out the other side and stood in line to go into the arena.

The tent itself was small, the smallest we'd ever been in. There were 2 screens suspended from the ceiling, telling us the story behind the circus. Apparently it had been going for over 12 years and was a non-profit organisation that helped children from disadvantaged backgrounds, orphans, victims of human trafficking, academically weak and the 'outcasts' of society - essentially they were the children that usually slipped through gaps as they did not fit into a conventional upbringing and found themselves on the wrong side of the law. These children were taken in and trained them in the arts. The organisation had originally started by teaching them to draw and paint, but they discovered that the young people needed more physical activities to channel their energy. They then started hiring professional gymnasts, musicians and dancers to train them in manner of avenues - thus the circus was born.

1 and a half hours later, there was a standing ovation. It was the best circus show I'd ever seen. The talented young people had acted out a show where a guy with a lame leg had been outcast form his village and bullied, the acting was so good that a 3 year old western girl sat and cried, she did not know what they were saying and could not read the suspended screens, but she knew exactly what was going on - perceptive little thing. One of the actors turned to her and told her to shush, putting his finger to his lips, the entire audience laughed at his impromptu interaction. We left feeling exhilarated, I genuinely wished I could do what those young people could do. They were simply outstanding.

We made our way back to Pub Street and sat down at a local spot for a drink and a pizza. We ordered our drinks with a waitress and then ordered our pizza with a guy that had delivered our drinks. 45 minutes later, Edd enquired about our pizza. The woman looked confused, but we figured her understanding of English must not be that great, so she went and called one of the other girls to assist.

The other lady came over and asked us if we'd like to order food; we explained that we already had and she went to find out what the hold up was. Apparently there was no order. She came back saying who ever had taken our order forgot to put it through. There were 5 steps between our table and the computer, did he have the memory of a goldfish? Should goldfish be working at a restaurant? We were then asked to identify they guy who had taken our food order. Which we did. He denied us having ordered anything. The woman then explained that he struggled to understand English sometimes, but he'd spoken to us in English that was reasonable, and anyone that didn't understand us usually called someone who could assist. The manager was then brought in, he then accused us of lying. I asked him to clarify what we had to gain from sitting waiting for an hour for a pizza we hadn't ordered. In the end, they reluctantly agreed to 60% of the drinks bill being paid and we left.

We circled around and found a Mexican place that was still serving food (it was not 11pm) I was so tired I was no hungry and so upset that any remnants of appetite I did have, were gone. Edd ordered a feast that arrived in less than 10 minutes. We ate it quickly, paid and then walked back to our guest house. We got into bed at 12am and set our alarm for 4.30am - after a bad night sleep on the hotel bus, we were only getting 4 hours before we had to get up again. I missed the beach.