Wake up this morning quite excited. Breakfasted around 8am, the best we have experienced during our Cambodia travels so far. Eggs Benedict, delicious. By 9amwe are Tuk Tukking along and looking forward to our Big temple tour, today's driver having very passable English. Battling through the hectic Sunday Morning Market and all of it's madness, we soon find ourselves on quiet rural roads and sit back and enjoy observing local village life, complete with happy children, lazy dogs, even lazier cattle, roadside stalls selling silk scarves, coconut juice, palm sugar in jars and exquisite basket ware. First stop this morning is after roughly 40 km drive, taking one hour, through very flat but rural landscape to Banteay Srei. This temple is famous for its pink sandstone engrav... read more

Paula is a little under the weather this morning, and our room safe conspires to frustrate us by running out of power. By the time this is resolved we are too late for our planned trip and decide to defer things until tomorrow and as the Sun is still shining that's not too bad an option. We claim prime positions around the pool and enjoy a leisurely morning . A guest from Ireland gets permission from the hotel to strum a guitar and entertain us, he has a lilting melodious voice and good guitar skills. It is 2 pm before we realise the day is moving on. After a snack brunch and a swim in the gorgeous pool, we change, refresh and take a leisurely walk along the river and arrive at the center of the ... read more

Awakened by heavy rain, we worry our planned half-day trip by Tuk Tuk to Ek PhNom Temple may have to be aborted, however the sky brightens and we decide to risk it. Our driver is not Oeurm but a replacement, a friend called Somcat, apparently Oeurm had a more lucrative ride! As before, we head out of town via minor roads , following the river. After 20 minutes we meet a traffic jam and appear to join a procession of various vehicles whose passengers are all wearing white shirts/blouses etc. Somcat explains that today is the Buddhist Festival of Meak Bochea, one of the most holiest of the Khmer calendar. The name means 'Big Prayer', candlelit ceremonies follow the offerings of food and money, in order to gain merit. We could have bypassed the procession but ... read more

Incidentally, Battambang was named, but mis-pronounced by the French, it is actually Bat/dam/bong, which is something to do with their mystical ruler, who was black and had a magical stick, whose name was Ta Dumbong, anyway read it up! We are not won over by our hotel's lack of cleanliness. The Manager and Staff (currently family run by local Khmer) are friendly but have very poor English. This morning we breakfast outside our room. The food is adequate, however, the setting is very enjoyable and lifts our spirits. Our Tuk Tuk driver, who's name is Oeurm (sounds like Ian), arrives promptly at 10 am as agreed. He is a local Khmer who's Father survived the Pol Pot genocide regime because he was a Carpenter, and basically the Khmer Rouge kept him alive to knock down priceless ... read more

Thursday is Leo's Lake Fishing Day.Having checked out the lake on the previous day, we knew we were not in for a huge catch but Leo was hopeful of a few fish. Not to be, the Guilie and Leo tried every conceivable fishing method to no avail. It was a peaceful interlude with plenty of sunshine and not too much humidity, but even when floating baits for surface rolling fish they merely nudged the bait. Other Ex Pat fishermen said the late rains had made the fish confused and off their feeding, saying that the lake and nearby river were akin to Hot Chocolate, Oh well, not even a fishy story to tell, of the one that got away. Ravenous late afternoon, as the venue had no food we go to a local Khmer restaurant for ... read more