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You should never base your opinion on a place from first impressions; if we did we may have just jumped back on the bus and left. We took the early bus from Siem Reap and arrived around midday to check into Aisa Hotel (where Dennis & Nicole will also be staying). We took a walk to find some lunch and felt a little let down by Lonely Planets 4th highest tourist destination in Cambodia. The evening improved our spirits slightly with a nice dinner at a resturant that hires under privegled street children to help support their family.
Our second day involved a nice breakfast at the hotel, $1.50 per kg laundry that we couldn't say no to and the decision to hire bikes and take a ride around the town and get a feel for what attracts people to the area. Much like Siem Reap we seemed to pick the hottest time to explore, you always see a lot on bicycles and its great when you happen to ride amongst a group of school children heading home for the lunch break - always so happy and cheerful. We made it back to the hotel as the rain came over
and spent a few hours in the room waiting it out.
Dennis and Nicole arrived so we grabbed lunch and reminisced about pub street, we also purchased tickets for Phare Ponlue Selpok, which is Battambang circus. Not just any circus, this is supported by the French Government and takes in street children and gives them a home as well as all the skills to put on an amazing performance, a highly recommened night to take in.
To rewind for a second, Dennis and Nicole met a local Tuk Tuk driver when they arrived in Battambang who suggested going on a day tour with him to learn about the area (Bree and I were actually offered the same from another driver but we decided to stick together - and it was a decision we wouldn't regret), so we all rose and had breakfast and jumped in the Tuk Tuk with our guide 'Coco' for the day. Everything about the day was sensational, from our well dressed driver and his constant jokes through to the knowledge we had passed on to us about the area and its history. Our day went as follows. 1) King of Battambang statue roundabout, 2)
Cocos university, where he is studying tourism of all things, 3) Bamboo train, 4) The making of sticky rice, 5) Rice wine making and a take home sample, 6) Fish paste making, 7) Rice paper making, 8) Killing caves and bat caves. At a cost of $8 each it really finished our stay in Battambang with a bang!
The following day we all took a coach to Phnom Pehn to spend 2 days organising visas to travel onwards to Vietnam. We stayed back at Mad Monkey Hostel. It was so nice to walk in and each of the staff remember your face. Each couple did its own thing and as we had already been here we spent the time getting laundry sorted, swapping books and organising transport to Ho Chi Minh City.
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