[Siem Reap to Battambang, Cambodia] Yuk ! Pick up at 6am for our boat ride to Battambang. The earliest we have had to get up in a long time. After rattling around the back streets of Siem Reap picking up tourists we were deposited at the docks and escorted onto a boat which did not look anything like the speedboat on the ticket.

As soon as the engine fired up it became apparent that this trip was not going to be a comfortable one. It was insanely loud. We pulled out of the docks just as the red bull was kicking in – and just in time too. The scenery was wonderful. We ploughed through overgrown waterways teeming with bird-life and passed plenty of floating villages. The most stable looking structures around were the cell phone towers in amongst the floating houses, shops and schools. As the morning wore on villagers were getting on their way to work and school. Funny to see 6 kids in a boat paddling to school. Even funnier were the floating schools with dozens of boats tied up outside the busy classrooms. Just like I remember. Except we had bicycles.

Some of the waterways were extremely narrow with blind corners and obscured intersections resulting in a number of near misses (video to follow). V spotted at least one snake enjoying a tree branch close to our path and this made me nervous. Most of the morning involved being clouted by similar branches as we ploughed through. In the end everyone on board got bored and pulled the fabric blinds down – finally safe from inquisitive snakes and vengeful branches. The river widened as we approached Battambang. 6.5 hours of brain splitting noise – but it was still the most wonderful transit of the trip so far (we think).

Battambang is not impressive as a town with more poverty and beggars than Siem Reap but our hotel (the Seng Hout) is once again of high standard and overall good value. Not much else to mention for the day. We were shattered (literally) after the boat ride. Dinner at a local Thai/Khmer restaurant (The Smokin’ Pot) was very cheap and you could taste it ! Tomorrow we’ll see what the area has to offer.

[Pictures: Kids on the way to school. In the driver’s seat of our ‘speedboat’]

– Posted from my iPhone via WiFi