On Saturday morning we got up early in order to catch the bus to Battambang, and had a considerably shorter journey than our bus to Phnom Penh - only 3 hours this time - but on the otherhand the bus itself was considerably less modern. We only planned to stay one night in Battambang and go home early the following morning so we knew we had to pack as much into our day as we could. This meant that practically as soon as we arrived in Battambang and had dumped our stuff in a guesthouse we were off out again, our first stop being the bamboo train for which Battambang is probably most famous for. At first all 7 of us on the trip tried once again to fit into one tuk-tuk but it really wasn't feasible, although it did provide much laughter. The road to what I thought was going to be the bamboo train station was the bumpiest road I have ever been on in a tuk-tuk, and we spent more time in the air than we did on our seats. Eventually, after what seemed like we had driven through half a jungle, we arrived in a little village that had a train track through it, and that was it. What was even more suprising than the lack of a station was the fact that the train line looked disused, with grass and bushes growing all over it. Neverthless it obviously was a used train line because we were barely waiting a minute when we were introduced to our own little train - which looked more like some pieces of wood strapped onto wheels and with an motor engine than any train I've seen before. A piece of carpet was laid out on top and we all piled on and then we were off. I literally cannot describe how fun the experience was! It wasn't the most comfortable train ride I have ever been on due to the noise and the fact that you could feel every vibration and bump in the track, but it was so exhilarating and it was really quite fast for such a little piece of equipment. My first impression of the track looking overgrown was still true however, and if you were sitting at the edge you did have to be careful you weren't hit in the face by a branch - but we just thought it made the experience more exciting. Halfway through our journey we met another bamboo train coming towards us, and that was where it got exciting. Because there is only one track, one train always has to be dismantled and taken off the track so the other can pass. I was led to believe that normally the one with the most passengers has priority, but that was not the rule in our case. The train coming towards us had only 2 guys on it, yet the 7 of us plus our driver had to get of and carry our train off the tracks. After about a 15 minute ride we stopped by a small hamlet and waited for our ride back, although I found out that the train track apparantly goes all the way to the coast which would be a really exciting, but long, way to get there. We were also told that the Cambodian Government was going to close the train line in 2013 which would be such a shame because it's a really good way for them to make money, and on our return trip we passed lots of other tourists. After our return trip we got back in our tuk-tuks and headed to the temples and the Killling Caves on the big hill that is Phnom Sampeau. At the bottom of the hill we had to pay $2 entry and organise motos up the hill as it was quite steep and we didn't have enough time to walk up as the sun was sinking in the sky by this stage. We had a local tour guide to show us around the temples and we were told that during the Khmer Rouge many of the temples in the area were seized and used as prisons. We were then brought down into a Killing Cave, where thousands of Cambodians had been shot and then pushed through a hole in the top of the hill. There is now a golden reclining Buddha lying next to a new glass-walled memorial of skulls and bones while the old one, made of chicken wire is nearby. Further up the hill there are more temples and so we had a wander around those and then watched the sun set over the plains.

Of the 7 of us on the trip, only 3 of us - Anne, Alice, and me - decided to take the much longer, and much more expensive option of going home via boat along the river and through the Tonle Sap Lake. This meant catching a boat at 7am and watching it fill up with tourists, locals and supplies for people living in the floating villages. About an hour in we decided to go up onto the roof of the boat to get a better view and ended up staying there for the duration of the trip. It was quite a large boat my Cambodian standards and hence the roof was quite large with passengers' rucksacks and even a couple of bikes up there, so there was plenty of room for us to lie out and sunbathe. By about 10am it was getting very hot so we had to start applying the suncream, and we were obviously the only hardcore sun fans because we were the only passengers to remain on the roof the whole trip! The scenery was quite varied throughout the trip - at the beginning we went through winding rivers and then out into a large marshy plain where there were some interesting fishing net contraptions. For us, the most exciting bit was when the boat went through what ´can only be described as a water lane. With large trees and shrubbery on either side there was room for only one boat at a time and so the captain was constantly beeping the boat's horn to warn other boats that might be coming towards us. In a similar way to on the bamboo train, lots of branches were sweeping onto the top of the boat (I wish we'd gone and had a look downstairs at this point because there was literally a wall of trees and they wouldn't have been able to see anything but leaves and branches) and Anne got hit by a branch and it stole her headphones! We looked back and could see them hanging from a tree in the passage behind the boat. After that we were a bit more careful to stay away from the edges! About 11am we stopped in a floating village in order for people to buy food or go to the loo, but from what the other passengers were saying the latter was an experience you did not want to have! The toilet was housed in a little cubicle next to the floating shop, and like all the other buildings, it was floating. However, it really wasn't, and apparantly the planks you had to stand on were submersed in the water you did your business in - needless to say many people decided they didn't actually need to go! We were starving hungry by this stage and bought some Cambodian pastries with odd paste stuff inside them and very strange chocolate cookies that did not melt for the rest of the entire trip, which was odd because it was unbelievably hot. For the remaining few hours of the trip we carried on lying on the top deck and passed through more floating villages and then out into the great expanse that is the Tonle Sap Lake. Close to 7 hours after we set off from Battambang we came into dock at the same port we had been to when we went on the Tonle Sap boat tour a few weeks earlier, although we arrived back in Siem Reap 4 hours after the others who had taken the bus, the boat experience was definately worth it!