Slow boat to Battambang

Monday morning sees us on a boat bound for the town of Battambang, which we have affectionately called Battenberg. It is a wonderful journey taking us down a river then across the Tonle Sap Lake and then down another river. We pass through several floating villages which are so serene.  Little boats which are mobile shops paddle from one house to another selling their wares.

Although the journey is beautiful I do have some misgivings about it. The passenger boats have no respect for the little boats and the erosion to the banks has to be seen to be believed. But they've been doing it this way for years so I should let them get on with it.

The journey takes 9 hours in total but we are rewarded with a lovely room with a cold shower! We head out fairly quickly for beer and a lovely Khmer red curry. Delicious.

After a down day we hire a motorbike and head off to visit Phnom Sampeau, our first killing field of Cambodia. We have a guide who describes quite graphically how the Khmer Rouge went about killing the people of Cambodia. At one site, we are faced with a glass edifice full of human bones. These have been excavated from a killing cave. It is so difficult to comprehend that these horrors happened in my lifetime. We also visited an huge lake with a dam that was built during the Khmer Rouge regime resulting in the loss of lots of lives. We move on to Banan a Wat that the locals believe was the model for Angkor Wat. There are similarities - the wat is approached via 358 steps with warning signs either side not to stray from the path as there are landmines. On the way back we cut loose and visit the only winery in Cambodia, we sample the wine, brandy and grape juice that they produce, then head back for beer.

A 12 km walk sees us visiting Wat Sampong Knong which has been locked since the Khmer Rouge was overthrown as it was used as a prison. A new Wat is being built alongside it. Nearby there is a monument called the Well of Shadows housing the bones of 10008 people who were murdered in the killing field here. There are a series of concrete bas-reliefs depicting a no-holds barred scene life during this time. Very very moving.

On our way back to town we call to a crocodile farm which is really scary, hundreds of crocodiles all sizes, the walkway we use to view them from above has only a railing one side, one false move and you're history.  There was a little baby one that was deformed, Adrian was very brave and held it, but I stuck to the turtle.