Cambodia - Slow boat to Battambang

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Seriously today was just hell. I think I would rather be on a bike. We are taking a six hour (or so we are told) boat ride up the river to Battambang. This is a boat that doesn't look like it will float. It's wooden, it's old, the seats are hard and the toilet is in a closet (but I didn't even look at it). I still wanted to just curl up and sleep all day but not on this boat. I took out my pillow/blanket combo (excellent purchase if I do say so myself) and just put it over my head. Eventually people made space for me and I was able to lay down and sleep for a several hours. I was on that boat for nine hours. Note - if they say that a trip by car, boat, train will take and hour or more, always add at least 2 hours to your trip. Because it was the dry season, the boat could not go as fast so that's why it took us forever. The driver also had to blow the horn every few minutes to make sure that we didn't run into another boat coming around the bend. It's just amazing to see how people live along the river and I was surprised to see how much trash is along the sides of the river. I will say that it has made me think about how much trash we use and where does it all go. Needless to say we were all happy to finally get to land and it was a great experience. I would never have thought about travelling across a country by boat and it's a way to really see the country and have real experiences.

Battambang was nice. I'm not sure there was a lot to see or do because we really were only there as a place to sleep and then to start our ride the next day. It's in this part of the country that you really won't find any paved roads. Everyone was prepared for the next days ride - approx 70 km on extremely dusty roads. Geeeeee, I hope I feel better in time for this ride!

As bad as I was feeling physically, my mind was happy. It was in Cambodia that things started to click. I was actually getting what I wanted from this trip, some clarity, freedom from the stress that I was feeling, letting go of the drama of the past six months and a new goal (but I'll share that goal at a later time when I'm back in NYC and have more info ... but here's a hint - it has to do with Cambodia). I'm loving this trip!!!!

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