Battambang

Hopefully this will be a slightly more cheery posting. Kate and I did something naughty, something which we probably weren't insured to do, something very, very dirty...we did a motorbike tour of the countryside!

To most hardened travelers this is a minor crime, if a crime at all, to us it was a risk as we've tried to do everything covered within our insurance policy, but we thought bollocks to that and hired 2 nice guys to take us out of town to see the sights.

Our trip took us to Phnom Sampeau the a Buddhist temple on the top of a large hill. Our guides took us very carefully on their bikes to a small village at the bottom of the hill where our young guide of 10 years old escorted us to the top of the hill. It was hot work but not too much of a challenge. At the top was a large golden Buddha, and a temple with more Buddha merchandise (is that the right word for objects of worship?). She lit us some incense and we under took a moment of prayer. Not something which I would do normally but this was a special place, unfortunately it was another site of Cambodia's dark and recent past.

She then lead us down to the base of a cave system with another Buddha statue and some human remains. The poor victims had their throats cut and were then thrown off the edge of the cave to their deaths. At the bottom sat a nun who gave us incense and tied a piece of string around our wrists. We thanked her, said a prayer and then moved on. It was quite moving.

Next stop was an 11th century temple Wat Ek Phnom on yet another hill. The steps for this went straight up from the carpark so there was no need for a guide. The temple was an interesting site, reminded me of an Inca ruin 9and Kate of King Louie's palace in The Jungle Book). At the bottom waited the highlight of the day, lunch. This wasn't any old lunch, it was a hammock lunch. For a couple of hours we sat in hammocks by a lake in a little shaded hut grazing on cold drinks and freshly cooked local food. Both Kate and I think this was one of the best parts of the trip, the view was amazing and it was just so relaxing. We may have to invest in a hammock when we get home.

Our drivers then took us around a few more sights before returning us to our hotel. We were very dusty, but very happy, it had been a lovely day out and loads of fun. Strongly recommend it to anyone staying in Battambang.

Today we took the boat from Battambang to Siem Reap, an amazing journey taking 8 hours past floating villages full of cute kids saying hello, waving and smiling... Cambodia is the best place on the planet! Tune in soon to find out more...