Hotel Rattanak Battambang

... guesthouse. Signs were shoved in my face advertising the benefits of this or that hotel, and I could barely see to walk to the side of the bus to claim by bag. With all the shouting in my ear ("Sir, you need a room? Come to the International Guest House." “Mister, I take you to the Chaya Hotel! We have very nice rooms.”) I could barely hear myself think. Fortunately, McNeill and I had already decided to stay at the Royal ...

... take an arty panoramic shot but it look dire so quickly erased it! There are certain rules regarding women and monks so I wasn't sure if I should have engaged in conversation with this one particularly friendly monk who came over, he seemed ok with it so I stopped worrying. He eeked out of me that i was a teacher (or ex-teacher) and nearly got me teaching a class that night. Felt guilt lying to the man in orange cloth but really wasn't feeling the love. Made my ...

Today was an early start especially after having a big night. We were up at 6.30 to get a bus to Battambang. Leon was still drunk and I was badly hungover!!! We spent the 4 hour bus trip sleeping. By the time we arrived we both felt better so we set out on a motorbike to see what Battambang had to offer. The countryside surrounding Battambang was simply stunning. It was the first time we ...

... impressed with the Bus Stop, the internet was fast, and we did hire 2 movies from Brett ('The Goonies' and 'Uncle Buck'), but the rooms weren't very clean, the food was all western heart-attack food and the downstairs loo - next to the kitchen, was disgusting. We don't often slag off hotels, so this is saying something.

After 3 days of not very much we hopped on an air conditioned bus and traveled 4 hours back to Phnom Penh. Back to the Indochine 2 hotel - feels like home.

... cest encore pire. On peut deja se conter chanceux car en discuttant avec une genre de chinoise, celle-ci nous indique qu elle avait demander formellement si des toilettes se trouvait a bord car, celle-ci souffre depuis 6 jours de chiasses intenses et elle vomit non-stop. Bonne chance pour la ride, Miss Jackie Chang!!!! Et cest partie. Le bateau, dune rapidite incoryable, doit avance a 5 km/h. On simagine meme pas si on aurait pris le bateau non speed boat!!! On est assis ...

... we went to a Lonely Planet recommended vegetarian restaurant for breakfast which was a bit of an experience. In the end we plumped for noodles with egg, and the boys went for noodles with assorted vegetarian meats - well somebody had to! Ours were cold rice noodles with sliced egg, cucumber, peanuts and several spoonfuls of sugar. Bizarrely (and it really was) this actually works, as soon as you think of it more like sugar puffs than a noodle meal. Definitely room for ...

... good it had two acts. The first was by a teacher at the school and was very good. The second was done by the kids aged 15-20. It was very fun and did a great job well worth the $8. Early night tonight. Tomorrow I catch the bus to Sihanoukville, it's a 10 hour bus. Fun!! But I need a visa to Vietnam.

... rather limply on his back. There was a westerner who was a doctor who helped patch up three quite nasty cuts ... he must have been badly shocked as he was out of it for the rest of the trip ... Finally, a tropical storm arrived with strong winds driving the deluge straignt into the front of the boat for about an hour ... and everything got drenched, of course. It did at least stop for the last half hour ... and we finally ...

It's fair to say Vietnam is not a place for mans best friend. Yes, they're dog lovers alright but strictly in the culinary sense. We both hear a yapping gradually getting louder, closer. Yes its a dog in a bag under the arm of a guy on a moto speeding toward the local market. Vietnam has contributed heavily to our list of top 5 local foods we would least like to tuck into. Brand new entries at 1 and 2 in fact; 1. Dog 2. Peeled live frogs. Yes that's right they were still moving ...

... nik composing the updates thinking has she finished yet but I now realise it ain't that easy!


Anyway We did arrive at our destination except there was no room at the inn through some coercion of a local we checked in to a nearby hotel to be told 'No smoking and No Drugging' I think they didn't like the look of Nik
- I could be wrong!


Now for the local cuisine our bible told us to try the local ...