A much quieter night last night. Decided to discover Kampot on foot today after being coupd up in a tuktuk all day yesterday. Walked the 2km into town and eschewed the usual breakfast of fried rice in favour of banana waffles and a cappuccino in a little place on the riverfront. Kampot's tree-lined waterfront promenade really can be described as elegant and a lot of the colonial shop houses are in very good repair. Took a stroll through the local market, there is an amazing variety of fish, vegetables, fruits and spices on offer. If the market roof had been 6 inches higher it would have been easier to negotiate the jumble of alleyways but it's only about 5'4" which is fine for the average Cambodian but otherwise a litle tough. Decided a haircut was in ... read more

I decided that I would designate yesterday as Sunday and had a lazy day reading my book, and packing my gear ready to travel today. Today should have been 8 hours on busses from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh then on to Kampot. The first leg was the long one at 6 hours and I was a little worried we weren't going good to get into Phnom Penh in time to make the onward connection but got there right on time. The buses between the major cities are very good with reclining seats, air conditioning, charge points for phones etc and WiFi. Waited 45 minutes for the bus to Kampot which was a smaller 20 seater type but also with air-conditioning, WiFi, charge points. This leg should have been a 2 hour journey but it took ... read more

A more leisurely start today and more temple hopping as I took in Preah Khan, Krot Ka, Ta Som and Pre Rup. These are all within the Angkor archeological area. From there it was a jolting ride to a boat ramp and a fast ride down river and out onto the Tonle Sap (which translates roughly to freshwater lake). The lake levels are low at the moment and given the villagers at Chong Kneas, the floating village I was to visit, use the lake as laundry, toilet and for drinking from, I don't think the water is particularly fresh. The boats are basically small, flat-bottomed sciffs with an engine and long driveshaft with a propeller on the end. The motors are deafeningly loud but the boats move along very quickly. At present there is only about ... read more

First a quick addendum to yesterday's post. Nit picked me up at 7.30pm and took me to yet another khmer restaurant and surprised me with an entre of boiled bats. I can safely say it wasn't quite the surprise I would have been looking for but when in Battambang etc... anyway the upshot is that boiled bat is, in my opinion at least, nasty, so poor Nit was left to finish the plate on his own. The lok lak, fried beef with tomato and onion and an egg on top, on the otherhand was delicious. And now for a bit of unashamed advertising, if you find yourself in need of a tuktuk driver to see the sights around Battambang then phone Nit 099 580655 and he'll see you right. So, on to today, I was to ... read more

What a full on day. Nit picked me up in his tuktuk at 9.00am and I was joined by Franco who is working for an NGO in Phnom Penh. Our first stop was the bamboo railway about 6km out of town. Each train consists of 2 sets of wheels (bogeys?) And a bamboo platform that seats about 6 with a little motor strapped to the back. It jolts along at around 25km/h on rickety tracks for about 30 minutes to a little village and then they dismantle the train, turn it around, and back you go. If you meet a train coming in the other direction the one with the least passengers stops and dismantles their train to let the other past then puts it back together and away you go again. From there it was ... read more