After much deliberation between tuk-tuk, hiring a motorbike and cycling, we chose pedal-power and set off at dawn to avoid the brutal heat. It was the right decision, as the gentle pace allowed us to watch as Battambang woke up and breakfasted, and to admire the river and countryside.
While cycling, a butterfly flew directly into me, and looking behind to see if I had accidentally killed it I could find no trace. It turned out it had attached itself to my shorts, and I rode along for 20 minutes or so before inadvertently dislodging my passenger.
We arrived at Wat Ek Phnom temple around 14km from town and shorlty after taking this photo of a giant buddha, were approached by a fat man on a motorbike. He was wearing a helmet that said 'tourist police' and told us we needed to pay him $3 each to see the temple and buddha (which we could see from where we were standing) as well as $1 for each bicycle. This is the cost of a night's accomodation in Cambodia, so there was no way we were going to pay, and I said we didn't have money. He dropped the price to $1 each, but I stuck to my story and he soon left, so we continued unharassed.
Inside the temple there was a man chanting prayers into a microphone, which led to an enormous speaker outside, reconfirming our belief that Cambodia is the loudest country in the world, with it's complete disregard for standard volume conventions.
There was also a temple ruin in the complex, which was a small but interesting taste of things to come at Angkor Wat.
Our primary reason for going to Battambang was to take the boat ride across the Tonle Sap - an amazing lake because it drains south into the Mekong during the dry season, but the flow reverses during the monsoon and enlarges the lake to more than 5 times its previous size. In order to reach it we traveled for many hours along a winding river that flows right through Battambang, and it was a fascinating way to see Cambodians interact with the waterway.
Unfortunately, the size and power of our boat was sometimes too much for the people trying to fish and paddle on the water, and it was easy to see the damage being inflicted on the banks and the nerves of locals as they were slapped around by our wake. We had deliberately chosen a slow boat to attempt to avoid this problem, as there have been cases of capsizing and damage caused by boats traveling too quickly, but it still traveled too fast at some points
The children however seemed to really enjoy the sight of tourists sailing past, their smiles unbroken even as the wake caused their boats to dip and rock violently. They were not the only ones who ran into boat trouble though, as the increasingly narrow river was difficult to navigate on tight bends, and our driver ran into trees and shrubs on a number of occasions, nearly taking out tourists who were not paying attention.
It was very interesting to pass the 'floating villages' some of which were on stilts and others actually afloat.
We also saw a great variety of methods for fishing - the most impressive of which were cantilevered and were operated to rise and fall periodically, trapping any fish that happened to be above them at the time of ascension. It was a fascinating glimpse into life on the lake.
