Battambang · Backpacking

Everything is quoted in US dollars, with riel handed back as change under a dollar at about 4,000 to the dollar. Beds and market meals are the small numbers — the day's real spend is a half-day tuk-tuk out to the bamboo train and Phnom Sampeau, plus the circus ticket at US$16 for adults and US$9 for under-12s.

The countryside starts about three kilometres out and the land is completely flat, so a bicycle reaches Wat Kor, Ek Phnom and the rice roads for almost nothing. Go at first light and be back before the middle of the day.

The Sangker boat to Siem Reap is one of the better journeys in Southeast Asia but costs several times the bus, takes most of a day, and gets shortened or cancelled when dry-season water levels drop. The bus does it in a few air-conditioned hours.

Guesthouses, markets and tuk-tuks are cash only and prices are in dollars. Bring small, untorn notes — worn or marked dollars get refused here — and expect coins to be replaced entirely by riel.

Almost everyone gives Battambang a single night between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, which is exactly enough for the bamboo train and nothing else. Three nights costs very little more and is the difference between a stopover and the reason people rate the place.