We arrived by bus in Battambang around 3 in the afternoon, the bus journey yet again in itself was an experience. We were the only "Barangs" (whities/foreigners) on the bus which was completely full and very hot. A good indication that our destination was going to be more rural and less touristy than anywhere we've been so far.

We were collected from the bus by a free Tuk Tuk driver from the guesthouse and checked in to our less than $5 per room per night accommodation. Lonely Planet and the Tuk Tuk driver had told us all we needed to know about worthwhile trips in and around Battambang so we hired "Bun" for the following day, happy as he speaks very good English with a great sense of humour. Travelling on the buses is very tiring so a quiet night was on the cards with some grub and a drink then bed.

Bun met us in the lobby at 8.30 to begin our adventures. Our main reason for us hiring Bun was that he grew up in the countryside and promised to show us the real Cambodia and take us to places far off the tourist trail. In Cambodia there are 2 ways of life, the City Life and the Country Life and they are worlds apart. We were only 5 minutes out of town when he pulled over to show us a sign outside someone's house. Apparently the sign advertised "special food", which meant that locals could visit and eat dog which he described as being better than beef - we think not! The next house had 2 white flags hanging from the roof, a sign that buddhists live here and that 2 people within the family had died within the last 100 days. We then pulled over to see 2 ladies picking "morning glory" (something which we have seen on many menus and dare not order), it's a vegetable that grows on the river banks! (see pics)

We began to make our way further into the countryside when we noticed every single person who saw us on the Tuk Tuk either smiled, waved, cheered or cried with laughter at the site of us. Every person. This would continue throughout our entire 10 hour trip.

We visited a buddhist temple and drove through the graveyard - the better off have very ornate tombs even though they are cremated rather than buried but the idea is that the whole family can be there so a lot of money is spent on making them a shrine to a family rather than one person. (see pics)

Our next stop was to see a Cambodian family who make rice paper used for spring rolls. The [ictures show an old lady who sits in the same position from 7am to 5pm steaming the rice paper made from rice milk and her husband lays them out on a bamboo sheet to dry in the sun. 100 cost $1 and people buy them to make spring rolls to sell at the local market.

Various stops among our route - as per our photos you will see that Bun was adamant on more thanone occasion that we try the local food - Gem didn't enjoy the Rice and Coconut Jelly and we ate a few things that we could not identify, maybe it's best we never know!

We then went to the "Bamboo Train"... The locals use this to take their goods to market early in the morning and are used to tourists wanting to have a go! It was really good fun, 3.7k to the end of the rail and back with a stop off to speak to the local children. We met another bamboo train coming the opposite way and there's had to be taken apart for us to pass. This track won't be here for much longer so we were happy to have had the experience.

We visited the Temple of Ek Phnom that was built before Angkor Wat in the 10th Century but didn't risk clambering to the top, it looked too dangerous! It was very picturesque with the lily ponds surrounding it. This is the site where they celebrate their new year in April, there's a picture of a yellow and black pole in our photos and Bun told us that on New Years Eve the richer people of the community make a game of giving money to the poor by throwing different denominations from the top of the pole. He explained this is the only way they feel they can help them as they can't give to everybody but the less wealthy are very grateful and it's a great celebration which lasts for 3 days.

The Big statue of a Buddha was on the same site, Matt was able to mess around as we were the only ones there, made for some funny photos...

We stopped outside a school and Bun told us about how the schooling works out here, it is very sad. The wealthy kids simply pay the teacher money and they get the best grades, if the poor kids can't afford to give the teachers a back hander they sometimes end up in the teacher's rice field working instead and then the teacher will give them a good grade. This is the area where Bun is from and he was quite emotional telling us this story, very humbling.

Our next stop was to see Krolan being made. This is a sticky rice cooked with coconut milk and black beans inside a hollowed out bamboo shoot. Another local delicacy Bun wanted us to try. It was interesting to see how they do this, they start at 3am and then sell to people who take them to the markets, it's something Battambang is quite famous for. We tried it but it was a bit sickly!

Bun warned us that the next part of our trip would be smelly. We went to see local fish being dried out for market and how they make Cambodian fish paste, not for the faint hearted - didn't stay long. No wonder they call it cheese here, it stinks!

Every day in Cambodia begins at 35 - 45 degrees and changes about 3pm to rain for 1 hour as it's the rainy season, cooler temperatures follow for the rest of the day (as in low 30s!). We therefore weren't surprised when it looked like rain at 3 and took shelter at the foot of the Prasat Banan temple waiting for the rain to stop before climbing the 358 steps to the top. The climb was tiring for Gem who could only make one step at a time, Matt being much fitter and a bit taller managed 2 steps at a time and therefore took half the time! It was gorgeous at the top - see photos of temple and the views. This temple was built before Angkor Wat and looks like a miniature verson of it. Many locals therefore believe this was a prototype for Angkor Wat and are not only proud of it but look after the site very well too.

We then went to a hill called Phnom Sampeau. As it was so late in the day and a very long walk to the top we hired a motorbike tour guide each to take us up. On the hill are a number of temples, mostly destroyed by the Khmer Rouge, but currently being rebuilt. We were then taken to the killing caves. The photo of the picture outside the cave depicts what the Khmer Rouge did to over 10,000 people here between 1975 and 1979. We didn't have much knowledge about this until we came to Cambodia and although it's not very nice the Cambodians will tell you it's an important part of their recent history and are more than happy to answer any questions.

The Khmer Rouge, took control of Cambodia on April, 1975. The Khmer Rouge created the state of Democratic Kampuchea in 1976 and ruled the country until January 1979. The party's existence was kept secret until 1977, and no one outside the Khmer Rouge knew who its leaders were. While the Khmer Rouge was in power, they set up policies that disregarded human life and produced repression and massacres on a massive scale. They turned the country into a huge detention center, which later became a graveyard for nearly two million people, including their own members and even some senior leaders. Cambiodia's population was only 6 million at this time so including those that were seriously injured almost everyone here has been affected in some way. Bun told us that altough it's beleived that the Khmer Rouge regime came to an end in 1979 many villages in the countryside were still controlled by them until 1993!

On a lighter note Bun then took us to our last stop, a cave on the road back to Battambang which he claimed had a billion bats living inside. We had to wait until dusk to see them as they leave the cave on a nightly basis to go and feed on bugs, returning the next morning. You'll see the many photos of this, we were there for 40 minutes and they just didn't stop coming, maybe a billion wasn't an exaggeration!

On our return to Battambang we continued to wave, smile and laugh with the locals as it had almost become the norm. Such a great day, the best day by far since we have been travelling. Exhausted from our adventure another early night was had and a chill out day to be had on Friday in Battambang.

We leave for Phnom Penh tomorrow (Saturday) at 7am. $5 each, happy days!