No expectation weekend to Battambang = Great Success!

As like any other weekend we embarked on another Cambodian adventure away from Phenom Pehn. Only this time the destination being Battambang! Leaving with a group of 5 people we all had no idea what to expect in this city nor had we put any expectations on the short weekend trip. When purchasing the bus tickets we were told it was a 5 hour destination which we esoterically laughed about because with some experience now we tacked on another 4 hours which overall the bus ride was around 8 hours. Arriving very late in Battambang we decided to just grab some shut eye on the friday night, this time though we were treated to a very nice hotel room for 20 dollars a night! Waking up on Saturday morning around 8:30 already felt great no plans made and had no clue what to do! After breakfast we worked our way down to the lobby where we met a tuk tuk driver who was extremely enthusiastic and offered us a day tour of Battambang for $25 we couldn't help but say yes to Pou. First stop was the bamboo train about 40 minutes outside the city. Arriving to the train we were extremely excited because this was one thing we had come across at home prior to the trip over YouTube. After a boarding the bed of bamboo bound together which for some reason was called a train we really got a taste of how fast it can really go! Riding for about 15 minutes we suddenly came to a stop only to get off the bed of bamboo and disassemble our train so that the one in front of us, coming the other way could pass. Not thinking there were any rules to anything here we soon found out, that the more people you have on your car the better because you don't have to get off and dissemble if you have more than the other cart. After Reassembling our cart we soon arrived a little village where we met a older gentlemen who happened to be extremely clever. He was bilingual he spoke French, Cambodian and English learning all this through his training in the army. After returning from the bamboo train we arrived a small temple which happened to be on a fricken mountain! Let me tell you coming down the stairs and going up the stairs really made me feel like Jim Carrey in his first Ace Ventura movie! All I needed was a slinky! While recovering from our massive hike a part of our tour was a winery where all 5 of us enjoyed a lovely wine sampler which than soon turned into a bottle which was only $15 for freshly produced wine! Not being much of a wine drinker the 4 girls finished it up. Getting caught up in our conversations and laughing so hard with each other the time flew by and soon it wasn't 5:30 anymore it was 8:30 that Saturday being Angelica's birthday we decided to let her choose a place to go eat, after looking through the lonely planet book of suggestions she chose riverside. Peau drove us there in a hurry because he was very tired and wanted to get some shut eye, meanwhile we are pulling up the sign looked like it was about to fall off and the resteraunt looked like a run down building on stilts which was about to fall over,as the say though "never judge a book by its cover" walking up the stairs and seeing the venue was fantastic nothing but a few dimmed lights and the sound of the river right under us most beautiful place to eat in my opinion so far, relaxing and quiet after a long day! After a nice dinner we soon returned to our hotel room for one more night with the sights now set on the trip back to the volunteer house in Phenom Pehn and this time the bus was actually only 5 hours!
Thanks for all your support and interest by following!
-Jeremy