Battambang

As I ride out the hotel alley I'm greeted at the intersection by a din of traffic; large trucks, lots of scooters and farm machinery crossing left and right in all four directions. I doublecheck the clock, 6:27am, the Cambodians get up early, school starts at 7am and everybody is busy working on something. There are lots of mom & pop shops along the way, everything is small scale, I love the feel of it. The human aspect is strong here.

Arrived at Battambang early, it's just before 10am. The weather forecast shows 7 days of rain calling for a plan change. Battambang is the second largest city in Cambodia (pop 120k), it is fairly gritty, poor roads, most of the infrastructure is old. The hostel is full of backpackers who haven't been outside their quarters yet. Strange to see westerners in contrast to the last few days.

Before the heat of the day I get to ride around some more in this town to discover it. Then I joined the backpackers at the pool and that led to an evening out on the town in a group of six, we meet a Dutch guy, Rick already 71, looking much younger who buys a round of shots for the table.Read more