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When the bus pulled in we saw a guy holding the name of the hotel we were aiming for in the crowd of moto and tuk-tuk drivers so gave him the thumbs up and made a bee line for him. He only had a little moped and we had our huge bags, but he recruited a friend and they each placed one bag carried at their feet and one of us on the back. No helmets, but it wasn't far.We'd picked another hotel out of the Lonely Planet. This one was a marked improvement on our Phnom Penn guest house. $10 a night though so double the price, but efficient fan, working TV, towels, a door on the toilet and clean bed.It is a very small town though and not many tourists seem to include it on their route. We liked it though. We found 2 restaurants, one specialising in fresh fruit shakes, the other doing really good food. The head waiter seemed to be a 12 year old boy who was actually going on 40. He was really mature and serious about his job. His parents were the chefs. It was called the Smokin' Pot and does good cooking classes. We didn't have time to stay and do that though.Our main event in Battambang was to go for another day on motorbikes! We couldn't resist. We went with the same guys that we used to take us to our hotel. We began heading out into the country side. The roads were terrible, all dirt tracks and huge water filled pot holes. The bikes managed to dodge round these so no wet feet. Our first stop was a house where the family grow mushrooms. It was an extremely complicated process starting with the fungus being grown, split into bags with compost to grow, split again into more bags with different compost, steamed then left to grow fully, when the mushrooms sprout out of the bags in little clumps. All very clever, but very time consuming. They are then sold at the market, and one bag will keep re-sprouting for 6 months!After seeing that we drove 5 minutes round the corner and found a truck, with its wheels spinning in two huge pot holes. We tried to help and push it out but it wouldn't budge. The axle was stuck on the ground between the puddles, so the driver ran off to the nearest house to get a spade to dig it out. Meanwhile a car that had tried to pull the truck out had slid off the road and was half sitting in a rice field! The tow rope had snapped and it had shot off. Eventually the truck got free and headed back to help the car. It could pull the car backwards but wasn't close to pulling it back onto the road, even with 5 men standing in the rice field pushing. It eventually took 10 men and the truck to drag it back on, with everyone and the car slightly mud splattered but no worse for wear. The car then proceeded to get stuck in the same pot holes the truck was stuck in when we first arrived, and the truck got stuck in a different one again, but they were at least quick fixes!After the slight delay we were off again and the drive took us past school kids on bikes, temples, little villages and through jungle. It's that part of motor bike rides that we've really come to love. The road stayed in the same state for most of the journey, so it was very bumpy and dusty, even when we got on the main road that runs to the Thai boarder. Our main port of call was the Killing Caves and mountain top temple. It was a really long, steep, hot and sweaty walk to the top where these sights are. One of our guides was telling the history of Cambodia as we walked up, and once at the top sat us down for an hour to finish his story. It was really interesting but hard to concentrate as it was so hot His brother in law was killed in these caves by the Khmer Rouge. The Killing Caves were used by the Khmer Rouge to dispose of soldiers and others from Battambang and surrounding towns and villages. They killed them at a hole above the cave then threw their dead body down into the cave. Now there is a monument in the cave containing bones and skulls of the dead found there. The temple is impressive but we were there at the heat of the day and the sun was hitting us twice as hard because it was bouncing off the tiles and back into our faces. The view was spectacular though. The down side is the number of steps down! They seemed to go on forever. Lunch at the bottom and then on to another hill top temple! The steps here were fewer but so steep. Emma had got there 1st with her guide and an old woman was trying to talk to her about ants. As we headed up the steep steps she followed waving a fan over Emma, while looking at me and making odd noises. It was pretty weird, but it became clear all she wanted was a bit of money for her efforts. She was very sweet and headed straight down when we gave her a note. I don't think she expected to climb that far, she was worn out. Emma took a photo and she turned round and saw, so waved her arms and screamed! Emma had managed to pick up a crazy woman. Luckily she wasn't there when we got down; otherwise she may have jumped on Emma's bike and gone back with us! The temple at the top was pretty dilapidated but still impressive and once again there were good views over the countryside.On the way back to town, we drove through a temple that had fruit bats living in a tree in the grounds. These bats were huge! They are active during the day and pester the farmers by eating fruit off the trees and scaring the cattle. When they took off their wing span was a good 4 feet and there were so many in the trees. We also popped in to see the bamboo train. This is a train locals run that they built and that they run down the tracks left over from French colonisation. It is just a raft like platform with 4 wheels that they use to transport goods to sell in the market in town. Tourists often take a ride on it but we were happy with our motorbikes. It is illegal too apparently and has to be dismantled when the train comes! It is now powered by a small engine, but originally was pushed along like a gondola with a stick.It was a really good day and only $20 each. We had a fruit shake and dinner at our favourite restaurants again, before heading back to the room to watch a film and pack. We had decided to go by boat to Siem Reap that leaves at 7am.
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