Khmer Rouge

Battambang was nearly as horrendous as Poi Pet.

But, everything was better when we hired two moto drivers. For $7 each, they showed us the sights of Battambang - mountain caves where the Khmer Rouge murdered hundreds of Khmers and abandoned their bones in a pit, an abandoned temple, a temple up more steps than I care to remember, a banyan tree full of bats, and the bamboo railway. Everything was extremely dangerous and would all have been banned in England. But in Cambodia, you can't worry, because they don't worry.

Cambodia is incredibly poor. You are railroaded into everything because you are Western and therefore rich and they need your money. It's incredibly frustrating sometimes, but necessity lies behind it. We had a fantastic day with our clever, funny, knowledgable drivers but at the end, it was hard to tell who was the more pleased - us to have our faith restored in Cambodians, or they to have had a day's work.