We all met at the reception for the taxi to take us to the boat, well most of us were there, Steve and Lucie were late. For once it wasn't me, and I didn't let it drop all day.
we boarded to small river boat, smaller than i thought it would be, oh well it was only 3 hours, I could stand it. After 3 hours of sitting shoulder to shoulder, knee to knee with about 20 other people we finally stop. at the half way point. We got off the stretch our legs and have a drink. I decided to check out what the toilets were like. Bearing in mind this stopping station was just a floating pontoon, i wasn't expecting much, and that was just as well. I walked round the back to find 2 cubicles, inside of which was a hole cut in the floor and below.....was the river. Nice. This was the same river that we had seen kids playing in and a woman brushing her teeth in it.
The boat took another 4 hours to reach battanbang, the journey was the worst one yet, everyone was really tired but there was no way of sleeping, i think it was as close to hell as you could ever get.
We were bombarded with people from guest houses trying to get us to stay at their place, there must have been around 10 guys shouting at us, which considering there were only 2 places to stay was a bit much. We picked the cheapest, checked in and went for a drink.
The lonely planet recommended one place which turned out to be really nice, and apparently it's where Angelina Jolie goes for a drink when she's on the look out for another child.
The train was running it seemed, so we bought supplies, some snacks, hammocks and 24 cans of lager. naturally. Feeling pretty knackered we were all in bed by 8, we had to be up and out by 5.30am, as the train sometimes left early and the ticket office opened at 6, so we had to be there on time. I was really excited about the train, and I had every reason to be.
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