Boat Ride from Siem Reap to Battambang, Cambodia

Since I just posted on Cambodia, I can’t resist saying a little bit about our river boat trip from Siem Reap to Battambang. It remains one of the most incredible traveling I’ve done. Above is one of the two chug-a-lug boats going that way. We weren't exactly expecting to get on the 'speedboat,' but nothing could have prepared us for the 30 minute ride that led to the pier. The poverty I saw there with people living in open bamboo huts, their every move exposed, naked dirty children everywhere, rivals anything I've seen, even in Honduras. But evidently this was the worse of it, and things got better when we started our journey across the Tonle Sap lake toward the river.
Here's a map of the route.
There was a lot of natural beauty on the lake. First we passed through the lake, a protected bird sanctuary area with sunken forests (above). The lake also housed a number of floating fishing towns.
As always, I'm interested places of worship. I love the colorful blue of the small floating church above; below is what looks like the top of a Buddhist temple.
After the lake we steered into the narrow and windy slip of the river; throughout it we got a glimpse into the lives of some of the fishing families who live on small boats, were going about their daily chores.
These kids were quite friendly. I imagine that some of the children have yet to touch solid ground apart from the river banks. After 8 hours of maneuvering the narrow river, we arrived in Battambang. It was nice to visit Battambang, a small, quite little city on the economic rise with only a few foreign visitors, most en route between Bangkok and Phnom Penh. We enjoyed just walking around the city along the river banks and exploring the little shops before we headed off to Phnom Penh by bus. If you come this way and can stand the discomfort of a wooden boat, I highly recommend it!