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It was another early start, this time a 6am pickup for 7am boat departure...in reality we were picked up at 7.45am and the boat departed at 8.50am so we could have had another 45 minutes in bed!! We decided to take the boat instead of the bus as we wanted to see the rural river way of life for the Cambodians, even though it would take 6 hours instead of 4 hours (on the bus).

The boat was narrow with wooden bench seats and a very thin cushion, not a good sign for a long journey. The noisy engine was situated in the middle of the boat but there was room on the roof with the luggage if you wanted some space. The tourists were packed on and we were lucky to get a seat as they were probably 5 or 6 over capacity.

We set off along the river and saw amazing sites of traditional houses on wooden pillars sitting meters out of the water with men, women and children in traditional boats paddling between the floating shops and homes. There were many men fishing with small nets as well as more industrial fishing techniques using huge nets and pulley systems made from bamboo. People were bathing in the river as well as washing clothes and crockery while the children used it was a play area.

As we found on all our previous bus journeys, the boat stopped randomly to pickup extra passengers and goods to transport... with a small fee going to the crew! So our already overloaded boat was even more overloaded with an extra 6 passengers and goods.

It is in the middle of the dry season at the moment and the river in places was very low. Since the boat was overloaded, we would feel the bottom brush against the river bed many times and the men steering would have to work hard with sticks and using the engine to move us off. We were easily the biggest boat on the river but we noticed we would slow down going through any floating village and if we passed a fishing boat we slowed so not to create a wash. With the frequent slow times the total time we spent on the boat was 9.5 hours, not the 6 advised! We finally disembarked with sore bums and desperate for a cold drink. The sore bums seem to be a theme of the journey so far... maybe a cushion will be our next purchase!!

We are only staying one night in Battambang as the main draw was the boat ride! After that we head to Phnom Penh for a few days and then north to Laos... more long bus journeys await!!

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