Siem reap to Battambang

So, we've moved on again and are in BAttambang, Cambodia second largest city. We arrived here after a crippling 8 hours on a boat through Tonle Sap; very very beautiful and again we saw so much of Cambodian life but very very uncomfortable! Arriving at Siem Reap's port was an eye opener in itself as it was full of shacks and a shanty town really - very poor and the first time we saw children sat alone, starring into space and not smiling.

Our boat was tiny and all the seats were already taken so we got put on the roof with absolutely no space! Luckily, the boat was toppling so the driver asked all those on the roof to come inside and stand up for an hour whilst we crossed the largest expanse of the Tonle sap, the drivers assistant said I could sit on the front of the boat if I liked so me and lee got to stretch out and even catch some sleep with an unspoilt view - perfect! Until of course the sun came out, Lee was still asleep and now has the scars of a permanent purple vest on his back!

As the river got narrower we made a stop and split into two smaller boats. There were many floating river side villages where all the children would shout and wave as our boats went by which was so nice.

2 breakdowns, one rudder change and a rescue from the mud later (dry season causes very low water levels!) we arrive at the port in Battambang and meet the moto drivers who will take us to our hotel for free, Chhaya hotel. It seems very nice and we have a lovely big en suite room, very clean for $10 a night. Battambang however is qwuite a strange place, not a lot to do and nothing here except pharmacies and mobile phones shops! Met a lovely girl called Vic who turned out to be a Manchester United supporter from Cornwall and was over the moon when Lee said he had managed to get the restaurant to put the Derby on for him later! She stayed with us to watch it and we had such a great evening(despite loosing 2 1!!!) watching the football with the family of the restaurant in what was essential their front room!

Next morning had welcome lie in and decided to try and upload photos from Siem Reap - wait time for upload said 3 hours so we wating and wrote the bologs only to find that wqith 4 moinutes remaining, there was a server error and the whole upload had been cancelled! I was so angry! Lee did well to calm me down!

Anyway, bit of a disaster of a day as we then walked to a bar quite a bit out and it was closed! Had great tea in Smokin Pot but experienced one of the saddest things so far; a woman came over with a tiny tinay baby so we immediately thought she was begging but she simply handed a plastic bag and asked for our left over food. It was so so sad and she cleared every table in this way. We went back the next day to try and find her and give her some money but she had gone.