Siem Reap to Battambang

BAfter a delicious breakfast at our hotel in Siem Reap, Petit Villa Boutique and Sap we left by taxi to travel to Battambang. We had loved out time in Siem Reap, visiting the old maket and dinner at the Villa. The hotel was rustic with a great pool and the staff couldn't have been more delightful, would recommend it to friends. The taxi that we took was an uncle of one of the staff at the hotel and spoke NO English. After a false start, Jim left the credit card at the hotel, so the staff rang the taxi and wewent  back again, we headed out of the city, excited at the prospect of meeting up with Clare.

The trip was quite bumpy and in places the road was washed away, but it was made bearable by the amazing sights along the way.

Big hay covered carts,

Water buffalo,

Cars with boot loads

Pigs on bikes

Tractors and floods and so much more.

We had a little trouble finding our hotel, the Vimean Sovannaphaphoum Resort in Rattanak Commune but as we spoke no Khymer and our driver neither spoke nor read English, I think we all did remarkable well!

Our hotel is lovely although the futon bed is a bit close to the floor for my liking, still it is amusing to see me get out of it!

We stashed our luggage and headed for the pool. It is monsson weather so mornings start hot and then get hotter and the humidity is about 200%. Just when you think you can no long breathe the wet air the clouds burst and pour cold refreshing torrents onto the earth and every thing is crisply cool for alittle  while until the cycle begins again.

We were in this pool when Clare arrived after she finished work and joined us in the pool. It was so good to see her.

We couldn't get enough of her, wanting to hear all the stories and learn about her life here. We went out for dinner at Clare's most favourite noodle place and understood why she loved it.