Time to leave Siem Reap after a brilliant few days visiting the temples and relaxing in our lovely hotel. We were heading to Battambang for 2 nights, on the way back to Phnom Penh. The bus took around 5 hours and when we arrived we found a tuk-tuk driver holding a sign with our name on, in amongst the crowd of drivers all dying to get you to go with them!

The hotel was just around the corner and we received a very warm welcome including a free basket of fruit! The guy behind the desk also said he hoped we'd feel like a King and Queen during our stay! Before we went up to our room, we arranged for the tuk-tuk driver to take us on a tour of some of the sights tomorrow, including the Bamboo Train and Killing Cave where a lot of innocent people were executed by the Khmer Rouge. Then two of the staff carried our bags up the 3 flights of stairs for us and showed us into our lovely room. We're getting used to being able to stay in nice places for $20 or less!

We settled into our room for a little while, then went for a wander around the town. There wasn't really much to see, only shops for locals, and a big food market. We enjoyed our walk along the river though. I think most of the sights here are outside of the main town, so we'll see them tomorrow.

That night we headed out to find somewhere to eat and ended up at The Gekko Cafe. When we sat down we were given a sheet introducing all of the staff. It turns out the carfe is run as an opportunity for underpriveleged young Cambodians to earn good money and learn about the hospitality business. They pay above-average wages and educate the staff on management training programmes. We found out that our server, Noyt, pays for her education and sends money to her family using her wages. The chefs are also part of the programme, along with all of the waiting staff. The menu was really good too, adn we enjoyed three delicious courses!

Afterwards we were very full, so went back to the hotel for an early ngith before our tour tomorrow.