What do you do in a town where there's nothing to do? Rent motorbikes and set off on an adventure, that's what!

Hiring motorbikes was the highlight of our visit to Battambang; our happy band of 6 meant we had the perfect number and we headed off into the unknown with me on the back of Dan's bike acting as backseat map-reader. None of us wanted to follow any specific route so we set off with some poorly copied maps, a lot of enthusiasm and no real clue of where we were headed. Dan proved to be a great driver and I think it was probably a good idea for me not to have a go; he's about 6"2 so it might have been a bit tricky for me to drive him around anyway!

We had a great time cavorting around the country lanes, going off-road up and down dirt tracks on a mad detour to find some distant mountains and making a decision on which way to go on the spur of the moment. Eventually we stumbled across a temple I'd read about in the guide book, it sounded lovely but there was a catch - you have to climb up 200 to reach it. Obviously the boys had to race up it didn't they? Mindful of needing to get some practice for the Inca Trail I took my time, to find the boys on the verge of collapse by the time I reached the top. Poor Ben looked like he was going to pass out! The view was worth it though, we could see for miles (Cambodia is very flat!) and the temple itself was interesting, with ornate carvings - oh, and signs warning about unexploded mines. We've seen a few of those now. Watch your step…

The ride gave us the opportunity to see more of Cambodian rural life; live water buffalo strapped to the back of a motorcycle, entire peasant workforces piled on top of a pick-up van, thousands of chillies laid out to dry in the sunshine, schoolchildren 3 to a bicycle waving and shyly calling out 'hello' and 'thankyou' to us.

Celebratory drinks were called for after a day of adventure and we went to a great little place called Smokin Pot. The sweet waiter informed us sadly that they can no longer sell actual pot, but if we wanted he could arrange a 4 hour taxi journey to Phnom Penh for us to find some. We'll just have the food if that's ok, thanks. After a few mango smoothies with vodka (and beer for the others) we found ourselves back in the hotel bar, making friends with other random lost souls and grinning ear to ear about our day of fun.

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