ANA AND ANDY, PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA. 16th MAR 2014.

Back in Phnom Penh late afternoon and we headed back to the Diamond Palace for a 3 night stay. We arrived back in time for dinner and headed back to 'chillie noodle' the fresh noodle place again for a well known, tasty dinner.

The next day we headed down to the Lao embassy to sort our visa. These are available on arrival at the land border but there are all sorts of horror stories about bribery and corruption that we'd rather not have to deal with.

Lao embassy done and told to collect our passports the next afternoon. Once done here we headed to the Russian market, which is one of the oldest and busiest markets in the city, similar to a lot of the markets we have seen they have large open food areas which assault the senses in a good and bad way simultaneously, amazing variety and colourful exotic fruits but fresh meat in a sweaty hot small contained area covered in flies...

Back to the hotel after spending far too long in the heat and we headed to a local cafe for lunch. Another charity run place which employs local male and female sex workers as a stepping stone to help them out of the industry. Daughters was a great find and served brilliant food and had a video showing the development of its workers and the project, a great cause thats very easy to support by eating a tasty meal!

We'd been talking about trying to go for a swim for ages and finally found a suitable location... Phnom Penh's old Olympic swimming pool, yes a big ol' 50m swim a la Mountbatten centre crossed with a dilapidated version of Brockwell Lido. An old outdoor pool which was built for a games that never happened. We paid our fee and popped our belongings in a basket behind the counter and joined the gang of kids who were in there before afternoon school. We challenged ourselves to a 1km swim and managed to complete it! Once done Andy found his way to the diving boards... He's no Tom Daley by any means but he's far braver than I!! What score would you give to the below?!

No problem. This looks easy!

Oh, dear god, what have I done - close your eyes!

but a tiny splash - thats got to be worth a few points?

Ana lighting the Phnom Penh Olympic flame, stand aside London and Rio - this is where it's at!

Cool stadium - just deserted....

Lunch again at Daughters and a trek back to the Laos embassy to collect our visas.  Maybe a bit too much time in the sun today as I felt quite unwell and slept straight through when we got back to the hotel leaving Andy to head out and dine alone.

We were booked on a bus to Battambang at 10am so up early feeling much better and ready for food. We were collected by tuk tuk as part of the bus ticket and hopped on our coach to Battambang. We'd arrived after a relatively reasonable journey and checked into the Senghout hotel. This time we'd managed to book a hotel with a pool for only $15, great find! Once checked in we got straight in the pool to cool off. Not big enough for a good swim but nice for a dip. Whilst in the pool we met an Aussie couple -David and Joy who were travelling with her daughter Amanda. They'd been in Cambodia a short while and were making their way around before heading to the Malaysian Grand Prix the following weekend! Joy told us all about her travels with her daughters and the new adventures she was having with David and the girls. A great couple and a nice way to spend the afternoon.

A hotel with a pool for $15, bring it on! Spent more time here cooling off than in the room!

We headed out for food that evening to Cafe Eden and had another great meal :) Andy tried a new Korean dish Bibimbap ( mainly because its fun to say) like a beef stew. Got a good review!

The next day we wanted to explore Battambang under our own steam. So we set out for a good breakfast accompanied by this little fella... And strolled along the riverfront to see daily life in the town.

Hmmm...condensation

What? Me? I wasnt doing anything!

Riverside life, fishing, swimming, washing...

A little oasis - this garden is very small but makes it look like Battambang could be a jungle.

Upcycling - I love this - all the shops have bins outside made of old tyres to make up for the fact there are very few provided by the authorities

Battambang still resembles an old French colony and is littered with buildings from the 1920's and 30's when the French started to build during their rule ( taking over from the encumbent Thai rulers). We visited some of the wats around town and spent the afternoon by the pool and the computer.  When we came back from dinner we bumped into one of the resident tuk tuk drivers who offers local tours- Mr Kim. We wanted him to take us out to the Bamboo Railway the next day so negotiated a fee and a tour of the local area for the next day.

Ana liked this - a nice touch!

Old French colonial governers house, needless to say the grandest residence in Battambang.

Up early and ready for the tour we set off with Mr Kim after a bit of time trying to get his motor bike to work... Bike fixed and we set off around town for a tour and some history. It was great listening to Mr Kim talking about his country's history, the Khmer Rouge and how he sees the future. He was really knowledgable and spoke very honestly about his way of life and culture. We were then whisked to the Bamboo railway which is a few Km's out of town. Arriving at the railway we saw the bamboo platforms on two wheels and were asked to pay our fee and hop on! Our driver started his engine, fag in hand and we started gathering speed on a bamboo platform on wheels on the old railway tracks of Cambodia. The railway line is no longer used by trains in the country as they are in a state of disrepair so the bamboo railway serves to link a few towns in the local area, but it is now mainly used as a tourist attraction. With one line and traffic coming in both directions we were made aware that if you're a smaller load than that coming towards you, then you'd have to get off and dismantle your platform so the other can pass. Fortunately for our driver we didn't have to do this either there or back but we did help to dismantle the train once we'd reached our destination. When we arrived we were told to have a look around and then head back for the return. There are loads of stalls selling drinks, scarfs and TShirts so you have to fight your way through them before seeing the little town. We passed through a wedding and waved to loads of locals who were bemused to see us there but still waved excitedly. We then headed across to the brickworks where a young lad gave us a tour and info on the factory. A sweet lad who was on lunch from school (11-1pm) who had impeccable English and a good sense of humour.

"OK, so we start tour now" or when I figure out whats up with my tuk tuk!

And we're on our way!

Naga (snake god) statue made from scrapped weapons confiscated after the Khmer Rouge conflict

The Battambang roundabout - and that's the 'missing stick' he is holding. Hang on, its right there...

Bamboo 'train' Mr Kim does not seem to confident about our prospects of coming back.

The driver even concealed his fag for the photo - what a pro!

The 'straight' track, it is in some places literally stuffed with cloth and trainers where the tracks are coming apart, its OK though because by the time you see this - you're already on top of the makeshift repair.

Its great seeing them hop off and dismantle the train, I reckon Virgin could leran a thing or two here to make rail travel more convenient in the UK.

Bumped into a random wedding - Hello, congratulations. Don't wave back - concentrate on thew wedding!

Our driver had to come and find us to get us back on the train so we hopped back on the platform and cantered back to the starting point. The train easily reached up to 30mph and was quite unsettling at times when you're passing over the tracks which have been repaired with old bits of trainer and material (no exaggeration).

Back in Mr Kim's tuk tuk we were taken to a local Wat to have a look around and wave at the inquisitive monks and shown the Battambang statue and told the story of the 'missing stick' after which battambang is named (Battambang literally means missing stick) Back to the hotel and our thanks and fare given to Mr Kim we spent some more time in the pool. In the evening we headed to a place called Narys kitchen for dinner where we had tasty lok Lak and fish amok, rapidly becoming our Khmer faves.

Stopped in at a wat on the way back. I am pretty sure this many faced guy is Brahma.

What a wat (I have been waiting to use that one for a while)

Another early bus tomorrow and off to Siem Reap, site of the old Angkor city and its famous 'wat'