Siem Reap Sunset, Battambang and Road to Phnom Penh

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Going Back to Angkor Wat to see the sunset was much nicer as the cloud cover allowed you to see the sun. The sunset attract lots of people snapping away so don't expect anything idyllic. However a good way to end the Angkor experience all thanks to the Remok driver who ferried us around all day.

The last evening was spent feasting out on an all you can eat Khmer BBQ!! (Queen BBQ, 4 $) It was great value but many of the Remok drivers will not take you there as they don't get commission but if you persevere you can find one that will do it for a dollar. The rest of the evening I spent well oiled after my German friends went to bed a met some people and partied to the early hours.

Next stop was Battambang by bus which took 6 hours, we stayed in the Royal Hotel! Not so Royal but the price was (5$). Battambang is a bit of a hell hole but is the owner of the famous bamboo train. Back with my German friends we hired a Remok for the afternoon to take us to the Bamboo train and many sites around the countryside including Cambodia's only wine vineyard, Green Village, Killing Caves and the almighty Bat Cave.

The best bit was the Bamboo train which was an hour ride on 6hp train which hurtles down the old and floundering track at 30 km/ph. It's a great view and you meet many other trains along the way that involves one of you dismantling and removing it of the track as it is a single line rail.

Onwards to the winery which is a small operation that produces white and red wine for Cambodians, the taste is interesting and quite spicy but it is no Savoie!!

The Killing Caves were next, during the Khmer Rouge doctrine period many children were pushed into the caves to there deaths because they came from intelligent families, famous families or the rest of there family had been executed and in fear of rebellion they had to be killed as well. A very chilling place but I thought a place of national heritage would have been better maintained or at least kept clean out of respect.

Finally, the bat cave. At around 18:00 over 2 million bats fly out of the cave in search of food for the colony. I've never seen anything on that scale before however it's smells pretty bad.

SO.. That was my world wind tour of Battambang in one afternoon. I would say the best attraction is the bamboo train (a Remok driver will charge around 15$ to take you sightseeing) the city is not such a nice place but has some great restaurants. White Rose and Khmer Delights had great menus all dishes below 2.50$.

An early night was in order after Siem Reap and the 07:30 bus to Phnom Penh in the morning, I'm really not enjoying the bus rides because they take forever, stop so many times and pay torturous music along the way 😞

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