We are taking a few days to visit Battambang, the second largest city in Cambodia with a population of some 560,000 people. It lies 5-and-half hours drive to the north-west of Siem Reap about half way to the Thai border crossing at Poipet. The $7 tickets include pick up from our hotel to the bus depot on the outskirts of Siem Reap. Bus depot might be overselling the coaches that line up along the dusty road, with no signs, numbers or stands to give away their destinations to us English speakers. The pick-up driver on enquiry finds a man to take us to the bus for Battambang and we follow him through the crowds of travellers and hawkers to a bus parked on a piece of waste ground further down the road. This rather sorry looking affair with blue an purple plastic seat covers, matching chintzy curtains and dilapidated interior is a far cry from the Mekong Express that brought us here from Phnom Penh No frills like luggage tags, free water or cakes for us on this trip!
A large section of the journey is on an unsurfaced dirt road and the surfaced sections are not much better. This is a road in the process of being built and every so often we have to circumnavigate the new bridges that are being constructed across small pools that encroach into the path of this long straight road. The usual mixture of huts, shelters and houses line most of the route as do channels and pools of water in which men and boys are fishing using circular nets and women wash their clothes. We pass all manner of transport along the way – buffalo pulling heavily laden carts, pick-up trucks bursting with goods and people swathed in scarves to keep out the dust, two-wheeled engines with long handlebars, hauling carts behind them, motor bikes converted to carry livestock including live piglets in wire barrels and racks with scores of unplucked chicken hanging by their feet. Our bumpy journey passes quickly enough interrupted for a comfort break and a puncture. The latter involves an opportunity to stretch our legs and enjoy the cooling breeze in the shade of the bus. It takes the driver and his assistant about 20 minutes to change the rear wheel, replacing it with the completely bald spare. This the third puncture during our travels and judging by the laid back reaction of the other passengers it is not an uncommon event.
We arrive in Battambang in the early afternoon and after checking in to our hotel just by the central market we take a walk along the river side as far as the Riverside Balcony Bar, a rather charming old colonial house on stilts. This wooden house has a huge veranda at the back which overlooks the river – the perfect spot to relax with a cool drink and watch the sun go down.