Paid for a Big - Fast ferry boat that turned out to be a Small - Slow boat!

I woke up early in the morning in Battambang and was greeted by a nice view of the sunrise as I stepped out of the hotel room where I stayed.  Hmmm what a lovely day to navigate the Tonle Sap Lake going to Siem Reap!  The night before, I bought the ferry boat ticket at the hotel counter.  I chose the "Big and Fast" ferry boat and paid for it after confirmation that there is going to be a big boat the following day.

As I arrived to the boat station, I overheard an older caucasian man making a complaint that he has been ripped off!  He was demanding for a refund and so he will just take the bus going to Siem Reap.  I initially did not understand what he was complaining about as I was still thinking that I would be riding a big-fast boat.

  I went down to check on the boat and saw this small wooden boat --- this could not be the ferry boat that I will riding! 

There was no turning back, I had to ride this small boat as the morning bus have left and it would take time to get a refund.  I did not want to ruin my mood, so I just let the incident pass without any complaint and just stayed quiet inside the boat.  (The guy who kept on complaining still rode with the small boat!)  The view along of the river was nice and the boat was moving slowly.  This kept me distracted and made me forgot that I was ripped off for this transportation.

At around 3pm (6 hours on the boat from Battambang), we reached the Tonle Sap Lake ... huge lake ... and the boat moved faster.

  I was told it would be another hour to reach Siem Reap boat station.  Suddenly our boat stopped in the middle of the lake!  We got stuck in the mud...  the water level was very low!  Got afraid - I had no wish to stay overnight in the boat as it was getting late in the afternoon.  The boat assistant went down the lake and tried to push the boat to get momentum but to no avail.  We, the passengers had a discussion that we should help out and jump off to the water and push the boat or else we all get stuck in the middle of this lake.  Luckily, there were two young German bikers who willingly went down and helped until the boat reached an area with a higher water level and went on with the journey.

It was already late in the afternoon that we reached Siem Reap.  Riding the small boat turned out to be a blessing because the bigger boat would not have been able to cross the low waters of the lake that time in May 2007.