Siem Reap - Battanbang by boat

Day 85

Siem Reap – Battambang

After visiting Angkor temples, we have decided that Siem Reap is way too much touristy for us and we are ready to move to Battambang. There are several ways to go there, by bus or by boat, but boat trip was recommended to us by several people and by Lonely planet as a scenic impressive route. So finally we have decided to see some scenary - the rpice was 18 USD for a ticket and around 5-7 hours trip till Battanbang.

Pick up at 6am from the hotel in order to catch the boat leaving at 7:00.

And this would be the port :-D


And this would be the boat..


First we need to cross the Tonle Sap lake and then take the river and go all the way to Battanbang. During wet season (May - October), the jorney takes just 3-4 hours, but during dry season (Nov - May) ita can take ages...like in our case :-D

Firstly we needed to cross the lake. It was terrible, the boat was jumping on the ways like crazy and first rows got completely wet after fist 10 minutes.


That is why we decided to move to the back of the boat, closer to the bags.



After the lake, river seemed to be really quiet and peacful. In a while we started to see first floating villages.


and fisherman.










even a school bus :-D


Lots of children were yelling hello to us from the shore, it looks like our boat was the main attraction of the day :-D


After couple of hours we arrived to the first bar - to have some drinks and some food.


the toilet was really "green" - direct recycling into the river :-D


After lunch we moved on the top of the boat, it was not very hot and actually pretty comfortable to hang out there

more floating villages...







and even a UNICEF college.






huge fishing machines...:-D


Finally, after 9 hours we have arrived to Battambang. Tuk tuk invasion at the pier, as usual, trying to offer you to stay in their hotel. We picked one hotel from Lonely planet and went there.

It is called Hotel Chhaya, hot water, air con, wi fi - double room was just 7€.


After a dinner in ‘White Rose’ restaurant (another Lonely planet advice) we got some beers and had them in front of the hotel.