Royal farewell to Phnom Penh

With a bus booked for half 11 to Battambang, we were up and out by half 8, wanting to visit the palace before we left. It was rather hot even at that time in the morning so the 20 minute walk tested out whether our new sun cream was genuine or not (we think it is). When at the palace I realised how much of an idiot I am as I was wearing short shorts. Everywhere we've visited so far have been fine with how I've been dressed but Cambodia are pretty strict. I had to buy some special trousers for 2 quid before I was allowed to enter. Apparently I looked hilarious but I rather enjoyed the trousers. They were some kind of linen material and fell just above my ankles. I've kept them for other uses although I did feel bad when I little boy begged me for them when we left the palace. I should have given him them. 

The palace grounds were quite large with many buildings, all with intricate gold detailing on the roof. The sky was also a lovely blue at this point so the palaces looked even more spectacular. I was rather in awe of it all. 

Our bus took a little over 6 hours to Battambang, stopping off a couple of times for toilet breaks and once we got some noodles like the night before (Cambodian noodles) with green veg and a fried egg. For some reason I thought the egg tasted amazing. I could have eaten at least 3 of them. Finally, we arrived in our desired destination and were instantly bombarded with men trying to offer tuk tuk rides and god knows what else. After asking for a minute to sort ourselves out (they ignored us) we went with one guy who charged us $2 for a ride to our hostel. 

Battambang is a small town with not much in it. The night market we found was tiny. We also got some food at a busy restaurant. I went for veg and pork with cashew nuts. It was quite nice but there was a lot of food and not enough cashew but flavour. Cambodian food seems exciting but I think I need to try out more intriguing meals.