On paper, there's not much to see in Battambang. But we ended up enjoying our stay here more than Phnom Penh. It's a quieter vibe, with two small strips of development on either side of the Sangker River. Each night we were in town the grassy riverbanks filled with picnicking families and street vendors. And I won't lie, the milkshakes - Aaron's got Mango/Vanilla and I'll be downing Banana/Peanut Butter/Chocolate - at White Rose played a central role in our experience.Generally the food was better and cheaper than what we ate in Phnom Penh, which was another plus. The place across the street from our guesthouse had great spring rolls and served a fried egg and fresh mango with their pork fried rice:
Of the various Wats and other attractions we did visit in town the most notable were the morbid statues at Wat Tahm Rai Saw. So weird. 
The undisputed highlight of the stay was the day we spent riding north along the river from town out to Wat Ek Phnom. 
Along the way we passed small communities of stilt houses and rice farmers, children flying kites and doing wheelies on their bikes, roadside stalls selling petrol by the water bottle, and this girl drying rice paper in the sun:
This was one of those times when the journey was of greater value than the destination, but we assumed that going in and were pleased to find the ruins of old Wat Ek Phnom mangled by mammoth banyan trees and the statues around the modern Wat Ek almost as weird as those back in town.
So Battambang gets points for a chilled out vibe, some interesting surroundings, and a touch of the bizarre.xoxo Jessie
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