Time for a tour around the area in a tuk-tuk after breakfast on the rooftop of our hotel...very nice!

We left at 8:30am and our first stop was Battambang's famous bamboo train. This is basically a wooden platform on wheels with a motor on the back, which hurtles along a single-track line between two villages, for about 8km, and is currently the only passenger rail service of any kind in Cambodia! It's due to close on 30th April (according to our tuk-tuk driver) as they're upgrading the line to be able to run proper trains again, so we managed to experience it just in time! We left our driver at the village, paid our $5 each and climbed onto the planks of wood. Then we were off, at breakneck speed, dodging overhanging branches and going over rickety bridges as we rode down the line. After about fifteen minutes, we arrived at a small village and were called into a cafe/shop by the tracks by the family who ran it. We enjoyed a cold drink and chatted to the owner, who was a soldier adnd proudly displayed a photo of himself in uniform on the wall inside. He said he'd studied in Oxford (hmm...not sure about that claim!) then came back to Cambodia, and he pays the bamboo train operator $20 per month to stop there. Meanwhile, his children were busy making grasshoppers and brooches from palm leaves which they gave to Laura for free! Soon it was back onto the crazy train for our ride back to the first village and our waiting tuk-tuk.

Our next stop was a local winery...yes, they make their own here in Cambodia, and we haven't been to a winery since Australia so we were due another visit! This time we had to pay for the tasting - $2 each for a taste of their ginger and honey drink, grape juice and shiraz - bargain! Whilst there, we got chatting ot a group of Australian women who were doing the same tour as us but had a driver who couldn't speak English, so they got our driver to tell theirs to follow us!

Our final stop was the site of the Killing Cave on the hill at Phnom Sampeau. When we arrived at the bottom of the hill, we were given the choice of walking up or getting a ride on a motorbike for $2 - we chose the bikes as it was roasting hot by this point! Us and the Australian group were all assigned drivers and we sped off up the hill! At the top, a local guide showed us into the modern temple there, which told the story of Buddha in the paintings around the walls. Then we were led down some steps into the Killing Cave, another haunting site used by the Khmer Rouge to murder their own people between 1975 and 1979. Their victims would be led to the natural skylight at the top fo the cave, told to kneel and were then beaten to death before being pushed through the skylight into the cave below - horrible. A display of victims skulls inside the cave reminds people what went on here - we didn't want to stay for too long.

Back at the top, I had my drink stolen by a monkey who'd spotted us admiring the view - he came right up to us, took the cup and disappeared with it over the railing - charming! We decied to take the steps back down the hill and we stopped for a well deserved beer in the bar at the bottom of the hill before getting back into the tuk-tuk for our ride back to the hotel.

In the evening, we caught another tuk-tuk to a place called Phare Ponleu Selpak, which means 'The Brightness of Arts'. This place is a charity that educates kids in the arts, including a circus school that we'd come to watch tonight. When we arrived, we had a look around the gallery displaying some of the childrens' work, which was very impressive. We also got a free drink to take with us into the peformance, and we met up with Laura, who we'd first met in Jalan Jalan in Melaka, Malaysia. The show turned out to be absolutely amazing - the kids showed us their skills in juggling, acrobatics, tightrope walking and dancing and their comic timing was brilliant. They poked fun at Cambodian streetsellers as well, which we appreciated as we've seen a lot. They were very professional and we all left on a high after such a good show!

We headed back to town and met up with Laura and another guy from her dorm for dinner - we went for Western food tonight for a change! A nice end to a great day and night in Battambang.