Feb 15 - Today we'd planned to go to Siem Reap, which is the launch point for the temples of Angkor. Battambang is not really such a great place to see, although the people there are really friendly. The only reason we'd routed this way was that the boat trip from here to Siem Reap, down the Sangker River, was meant to be one of the most beautiful in the country ... so we were slightly concerned that our moto drivers had told us the river was too low for the boats to run! Anyway, we were up at six-ish to catch the 'fast boat', which the manager at our hotel had booked for us. We got down to the jetty and the boat was pretty crammed. We ended up sitting on the roof, which in the end was probably the best place to be, as we had an uninterrupted view to all sides. We set off with the sun in front of us (going vaguely eastwards, which we knew was the right direction!) but the Sangker is a very convoluted river, and we wiggled our way off downstream - sometimes heading north, sometimes south, and occasionally west! We passed fishing villages, fields & trees, and the route was very scenic - much less crowded than the Mekong trip that we'd been on a few days before.

With us on the roof were a couple of Australian guys - Dave & Dave, and also Nina & Linda, who have a physical theater company called Commediva <http://commediva.com/>. The characters in their show are two clowns, Freddie and Bellafina, and they are out in Cambodia for six weeks, on a self-funded trip to bring theater to kids here. They're doing shows for local kids' foundations, and also workshops with NGOs and Cambodian groups, to teach teamwork. They've lugged outfits, makeup and props all the way from Sweden and Denmark, to combine a vacation with volunteer work, and after talking to them for a bit, I felt really selfish that we'd just come out here on holiday! They were great fun to talk to, and it was brilliant spending the day with them on the roof of this little motor boat, crawling up the river and watching the world go by!

About the boat, though ... The Lonely Planet is pretty much the fountain of all knowledge, and everyone we've met has a copy. It said that the view was scenic, and it was right. It said that the trip would take longer in the dry season, and it was right. It said that breakdowns were common, and boy, was it right! About every kilometre, the engine would come shuddering to a halt. The boat would drift listlessly into the bank as the driver leapt down, shooed all the passengers on the deck off the benches which doubled as an engine hold, and engaged in some serious percussive maintenance - beating the engine with a large monkey wrench until it grudgingly turned over when he wound up the starter cog. The Sangker's nowhere near as crowded as the Mekong, but every now and again another boat would come around the corner, and have to make a rapid halt - the river's fairly narrow in the dry season, and we often drifted sideways and blocked up the whole watercourse. There was a bit of good-natured banter as they helped to shove us out of the way, and we watched jealously as they cruised on up the river and out of site, as we waited for our next breakdown.

Luckily there was a lot to see on the banks, and it was great to have good company - it made the time fly. The Commediva girls are also putting together a photography exhibition as part of their trip, and the local kids provided some great material for shots; running along the bank, leaping around and performing. The pace of life is much slower here, and it was actually kind of a peaceful trip - especially when the engine had stopped and we were just drifting gently. Cheryl and I had stupidly forgotten to bring any water - it was the first time we hadn't packed our bag with a litre or so, as you can normally buy it on boats and buses, but Nina & Linda came to our rescue with a spare bottle.

By the time we got to double figures in the engine failure department, we were getting a bit worried. We didn't have a map, but we'd estimated we were probably doing 3-4 kilometers an hour, with all the stoppages. At this rate, we'd be in Siem Reap around midnight - almost double the Lonely Planet's maximum estimate of 8 hours. Shortly after the twelfth breakdown, though, we pulled up to a floating shop and changed boats. This was a really pleasant surprise - we were able to buy water and food, and the new boat was much larger, although we still sat on the roof. We set off towards Tonle Sap lake - the river had widened out, and (thank goodness!) the engine worked perfectly.

The boat was obviously the local stopping service. Everytime we rounded a bend to see a new school, village or fish farm, the driver would give a few blasts on the horn. Occasionally a sampan would come furiously paddling out to meet us, and either offload or pick up passengers from the boat. Although the population density is much lower here on the Sangker than on the Mekong, there's the same sense of the river as the lifeblood of the community - providing food, transport, accomodation and work.

As the afternoon progressed, we got hotter and hotter - the sun blazed overhead and the river widened out as we approached Tonle Sap lake. The birdlife is prolific here - we saw egrets, herons, kites and giant pelicans, and flocks of bee-eaters and swallows followed the boat the whole way. We also passed through some larger villages, complete with floating schools, hospitals and even a nightclub or two! The hotel owner had given all of us scarves, and a packet of bananas each as a gift when we left. We ate the bananas, wrapped the scarves round our heads, and blessed him for both! At four-ish the river mouth widened out into the lake, and we could see the local dock that serves Siem Reap in the distance. We crawled across the lake under a blazing blue sky, just drinking in the beauty of the surroundings. For those of you who've been there - it was something like Lake Kariba, in Zimbabwe. The surrounding terrain is pretty flat, though, with occasional large hills that seem to spring up from nowhere.

An hour later, we motored into the mouth of the delta, and travelled a kilometer or so upstream before pulling into the dock. The whole trip had taken us nearly eleven hours, which was a marathon trip out in the sun, by anyone's standards. We'd avoided sunburn, but were all feeling a bit dazed. Our hotel had sent a driver to pick us up. "Have you been waiting long?" we asked her. "Not really," she replied. "Only three or four hours." We said goodbye to our new friends and hopped in the car. Our driver pulled out an icebox, and gave us each a cold towel to wipe our faces and hands with - I can't tell you how good that was! We bumped up the dirt road to Siem Reap, checked into the FCC (we had decided to flashpack for a night!), and leapt straight into the swimming pool before grabbing a beer and dinner. We booked a tuk-tuk pickup for sunrise the next day, and crashed into bed ... pretty much asleep before our heads touched the pillow!