From Phnom Penh we took a 6 hour bus to Battambang. Once the bus had stopped we went to grab our bags. The driver opened up the baggage compartment and we noticed it was pretty wet. He pulled out some large containers followed by one women's suitcase which was drenched. She tried to ask what it was, the first answer was oil and then water. We then got our bags which were also pretty wet. As we walked to the hotel the liquid was running down Pete's arm and by the time we arrived at our hotel it had dried into a flaky white film. We think it was some sort of sugary water or oil, our tops were soaked in it.

The hotel we found had one cheap room left at $4 which is the cheapest we've had in Cambodia. Pete hung his clothes and bag out to dry and had a shower and then we went off to explore. Just up the road from the hotel a couple of guys stopped us asking for money, the second guy turned towards us and had a huge growth hanging from his forehead over his face down to his neck. We were both rather shocked as we really weren't expecting to see that. Anyway, We wandered round and found a nice little restaurant for dinner and tried some more Cambodian food which was very tasty.

The following day we got up early to explore the sites around Battambang. We had organised for a tuk tuk driver to take us around as everything is spread out in the countryside, his name was Mr Scorpion. Just as we were getting in to the tuk tuk we bumped in to Lee and Nicola, a couple that we had met on the camel safari in India, we couldn't believe it.

Our first stop was at the bamboo train which is used by locals to transport produce. It was like no train we had ever seen before and really not what we were expecting. It is basically a small wooden platform which sits on top of two axles connected to an engine (you can see in the photos). We jumped on with one other guy and the driver and set off. The rails were so bent and warped that the little carriage was bouncing all over the place, it wasn't much more than a pallet on wheels but it picked up some speed. It was a single track, so when another train came in the opposite direction they would both have to stop, and one train would gave to be taken off the track and dismantled to let the other one through. This happened 3 or 4 times on our trip heading out, it was rather impressive as our driver managed to take it apart and carry it off the track with only one leg. Once we arrived at the stop off where they turn around we were inundated with children giving us presents of origami palm leaves folded in to crickets and a bracelet for Kate, they were very sweet. We sat down and had a drink before heading back.

Next we went to some temples up a mountain, we climbed the 300 steps and caught a glimpse of a snake to on the way up. At the top we found the remains of the temples which were originally Hindu and had been converted into Buddhist temples; these had all been damaged by the Khmer Rouge as they wanted to wipe out religion.

From here we headed to some more temples up an even higher mountain, on the way stopping to see some huge fruit bats hanging from a tree. We arrived at the bottom of the mountain and started trekking up. We stopped off half way up to see the killing cave used by the Khmer Rouge to murder people. When we arrived here we were again welcomed by some children who really wanted to show us round. It felt a but odd having kids running around the cave trying to explain how thousands of people had been killed and then laughing and playing with their friends, it ruined it a bit. We then carried on up the path in the sweltering heat, by the time we reached the top we were both dripping but the views were amazing, we couldn't believe how flat the countryside was with only a few mountains in the distance. At the top sat a huge gold stuppa, similarly shaped to a bell with a temple inside, there were also a few monkeys about. One ran right up to Kate's leg when she was trying to take a photo, she jumped a lot when she saw it at her feet.

Once we got back to the bottom we enjoyed a breezy ride back to our hotel.

Battambang is a nice chilled out place with a few French style buildings from the French era. There is not a lot to do there but to head into the countryside and enjoy the views.

The following day we had a boat booked to take us to Siem Reep at 7AM which Lee and Nicola are also on.