There I looked at the map and, behold, I found I was right by a foot/cycle suspension bridge that took me to the other side and thence, back to Battambang.
I visited a market on the outskirts and oranges and then cycled back to the hotel, ready for the afternoon's excursion.
This was by tuk tuk and started off retracing my cycle route to the suspension bridge. We then took a look at a fishing village on the river and the market gardens on its banks. These are incredibly well tended. As in Vietnam, there might be a lot of litter and mess but the farmers seem to make sure that their holdings are spectacularly neat and free of litter, weeds and mess.
....until the next stop which was a tree with dozens of fruit bats hanging in it, flapping their wings laconically to stay cool. It was a fascinating sight.
Passing up the possible visit to a wwinery, we headed on to Wat Banan,. This involves a climb up 358 pretty sheer steps to a small and ruined temple complex, reminiscent of Siem Reap's. It was very pleasant with few tourists.
Then we headed off to Phnom Sampeau, taking an amazingly straight road through the paddy fields and punctuated by some beautiful water lilly ponds.
Phnom Sampeau itself struck me as a bit scruffy with lots of thieving and copulating monkeys. Nearby are the killing caves that I decided to forego as time was running short and I knew the history from last year's visit to Phnom Pen..
Instead, I made my way back down to see the bats exiting from their cave - a spectacular sight that makes the job of the Red Arrows seem quite straightforward.
By the end if this, it was dark and the tuk tuk took no hostages on the way back, overtaking lorries and scooters and having one near brush with a car.
In the evening, I made the mistake of going to a 'fusion' restaurant that did not quite hit the spot. Dreary on the palate, unfortunately. Live and learn.
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