Although there is little to do or see in Battambang you can get there across the tonle sap lake which i was keen to see. Amy was't that bothered though and up to this point kept saying "so why are we going to Battambang?" it was slightly closer to thailand and I also didn't want to leave Cambodia having only been to two places which I kept explaining!
After pulling away from siem reap the boat turned and seemed to be heading towards a bush. A narrow canal suddenly appeared which seemed to narrow for the boat and without any warning he went for it. We were on the top deck and all the bushes and branches swept the top of the boat. We all had to move to the centre keeping our head down to avoid getting whacked in the face. We emerged the other side of the canal into what we guessed was the main part of the lake; Amy thought it was more like an ocean! The next 20 minutes were quite rocky as the boat went over the waves and we were both pleased this time when the boat made another turn into a narrow canal! I think we passed through the bird sanctuary as there were plenty flying around the vast wetlands. Every so often we would pass through remote floating fishing villages which were fascinating; we even saw a floating temple. 9 hours after leaving siem reap we arrived in battambang. The town itself is a very quiet but quite pretty french colonial town on a river. It is clear that hotels and restaurants are gradually opening up and that if all goes well it could be busy tourist sestintion in the future. A tuk tuk took us back to our hotel for nothing. He explained to us that he works for free at the hotel to try and get work guiding tourists around the area. He was very nice and we asked him to meet us here at 9am the next day. So the next morning we chatted to him and told him what we'd like to do and he told us his day rate of $13 including petrol! We started at the bamboo train which was basically a bamboo platform on wheels which the locals use to transport goods between a few villages. It was quite scary experience and although we only went 25mph felt that we were going 100. When another train comes toward you the train with the least passengers literally have to get off and lift the train off the tracks. when we arrived at the small hamlet some girls between about 5 and 9 greeted us in their pyjamas and gave us a tour of the village and rice factory showing us how they produce the rice. We both smiled as the youngest kept talking over the other older sisters basically repeating what they had just said. Very confident and thorough mind you! Most Cambodians live in rural areas and we had only really explored the towns so the tuk tuk driver took into the heart of the counrtyside. The locals and famers accommodation was extremely basic with just one room for the whole family with no modern conveniences. It seemed so wrong how poor people were when we remembered that the centre of phnom penh was full of top of the range 4x4s. Our last stop was to see a temple perched on top of big hill. The tuk tuk could only go to the bottom so we had to walk to the top. On the way there was a small hamlet where the killing caves were located. I can't explain why but we both wanted to go inside. As we approached the village some children rushed up to us and offered to show us the way. They took us down these some steep steps and explained how the Khmer rouge massacred people and had thrown their bodies through a hole in the top of the cave. Next to a budhist shrine deep in the cave was a cabinet full of skulls; Another reminder of that brutal regime. When we arrived at the top of the temple we sat next to a monk and looked across the completely flat countryside. It was a great view and worth the climb. We gave the tuk tuk driver a $2 dollar tip as he had been an excellent guide and very knowledgeable. He was so grateful and said some nice things (which I can't remember) to us before he left. Oddly we had an Indoor pool which was pretty long so I seized the opportunity to do some lengths before going out for dinner.
The next morning we took a coach to Bangkok. the journey was actually ok except for the border control which was a little messy and confusing. Oh yes and when we arrived in Bangkok our cab driver drove around for two hours looking for our hotel despite it being just a mile from the bus stop. Fortunately though we agreed a price as we got in!