August 12

Hey! Happy Birthday Skyler! I didn't forget! Hopefully you read our blog. Today has been a day of travel. Surprised? We travelled in style this time going by fast boat or we thought that's what it was supposed to be. Last night when we booked our tickets we were told the trip should be about 4-5 hours. It was 8! I don't know, maybe we got on the wrong boat, but we ended up in the right place and saw a few sights along the way. And we weren't cramped up in a bus (but we were breathing in exhaust fumes because we sat just behind the engine.) I just feel sorry for those who rode on the roof! There weren't any seats up there, but they cram everyone in so tight that people have to sit there. Bradyn and I just got lucky and we were in the first van that arrived at the dock so we got first pick of the seats, after that there was no choice!
We woke up early, as usual, and made it outside our hotel at six o'clock when our transportation was supposed to arrive. It showed up just before 6:30 so we thought we were the last ones to be picked up! Wrong! There were four more people to cram into that van! Bags took up the front seat and two people had to sit on the already "extra" seats. And there was no air conditioning. Luckily it was still morning. The morning weather was beautiful and turned hot quickly! Those up on the roof had no shade and got quite sunburned. So they had the sun beating down on them for 7hours straight, had the roar of the boat engine as constant noise and then to add to it all, it poured buckets for the last hour of the trip! Poor guys! And they still had to pay $20 for the trip!
On our boat trip we saw so much about life along the river. Lots of it was bare bottomed kids, mostly boys, swimming. But there was also people washing their clothes, their hair etc. in the river. People lived on the river and the rice fields at times looked like they were planted in the river! We saw them harvesting and preparing rice for storage. Fishing and lots of it! It was just so fun to watch! At times I thought it would be a great life. Live off the river and only be concerned about gathering food. When you're hot, just jump off your boat and swim a bit! The people sure seemed happy, at least up until the waves from our boat hit the little boats. None of them capsized but some came close. It was just a fun experience!
We arrived in Battambang and felt like celebrities. Handfuls of representatives from two hotels were shouting at us all in unison to get our attention. Apparently they are big competitors! They didn't even give us room to think. We walked over to a roped off section on purpose, but they followed us. A security guard did help us out a bit, but I felt bad because he smacked a guy pretty good. We got a hotel and ate a delicious supper complete with fruit smoothies and large bottled water all for $5! Good deal? We thought so! We also booked a cooking class for the day after tomorrow. Now we just need to figure out how to occupy our time until then. Hopefully we can find an orphanage. Keep fingers crossed!