While Battambang isn't exactly a tourist destination, there are still lots of cool things to see. We decided to check out the Killing Caves, about half an hour out of town. First, a little background, abridged.

Back in the 70's there was this revolutionary leader named Pol Pot. As part of his master plan, he rounded up damn-near everyone from all over the country, especially doctors/teachers/etc, and imprisoned them in "re-education camps." Near Battambang lies a awe-inspiring mountain with some limestone caves up top, and these caves were used by Pol Pot's army. I'll spare you the details, but there were two ways one could be "re-educated" at the Killing Caves. The first was to be thrown from the mouth of the cave down 80 feet into the darkness, possibly after being beaten. The second was to be imprisoned with several other people in a dog-house sized cage inside the cave, without food or water, until you died.

To get to the mountain we took the scariest moto rides ever, blasting down rough dirt roads for half an hour until we arrived. I ride motorcycles, and I was freaked out. But hey, EVERYONE here rides a moto every day, sometimes fitting an entire family of four onto a small scooter (really, this is quite common).

The mountain was a large limestone (?) bluff rising out of the flats. We hired a local kid as a guide, and started walking up the road to the top while he told us about the history of the mountain. The hike up was short but brutal. There are two killing caves that we saw, one for throwing and one for starving. I may have misunderstood, but I think the cave passages that link the two have lots of body remains. A huge shrine houses tons of bones of Pol Pot's victims. Surrounding the caves are several temples and impressive Buddha statues.

A ten minute walk to the very top of the mountain brings you to a colorful and detailed temple, inhabited by monks and monkeys (heh). Seriously, the monkeys are everywhere, and they know it's their turf. The kids throw stones at the monkeys because they tend to bite people and steal things... perhaps a circular trend. The monkeys weren't afraid of us, and one went after Mike to try to get his water. Apparently there used to be a huge king monkey, but he kept biting people so the locals had to shoot him. Our guide also told me how he remembers carrying countless bags of cement to the top of the mountain when the temple was being built.

Another hair-raising moto ride got us back to town, where we ate and got ready to head down to Phnom Penh, the capital.

Most of you have probably seen Apocalypse Now, one of the definitive movies about Vietnam. I haven't been to Vietnam yet this trip, but I feel like I just experienced the boat ride.

We decided to pay a few extra bucks and take the boat from Siem Reap to Battambang instead of a bus. Sounded pretty cool, supposedly somewhat scenic. After leaving the dock we spent about two minutes on the river before turning down into what looked like a patch of weeds. That's actually pretty accurate. I remember thinking to myself, "Uhhh.... the river doesn't go that way. That looks passable for maybe a canoe, not a 50 foot boat." Ah, how naive I was. We spent the first hour of the boat ride going down a river that was literally about half as wide as the boat. If you were within 5 feet of either side of the boat, you were going to get slapped by bushes/trees. Absurd.

We finally got to Tonle Sap lake, where the travel was easy for another hour or so. Imagine a mud puddle the size of Lake Tahoe and you've got a pretty good visual. I'll admit it was a little sketchy crossing that on our boat, which looked like something out of a Vietnam war era movie set. The boat was also slightly overloaded, so it leaned a LOT from side to side as the boat rocked. Also sketchy.

After Tonle Sap, we resumed travel on another "river" for a while. Thankfully, it finally opened up into a real river. The whole way from Siem Reap we were passing locals in tiny wooden canoes, out fishing in the mucky water. As we crossed the Tonle Sap we began to see entire floating villages on the river, hence the Apocalypse Now reference. As with the cab ride from Poipet, everyone is very poor. This is probably the most impovershed country I've ever visited. Town after town, each floating in the river of mud. As we got futher up the river the small villages gave way to individual houses with simple crops along the river. Everywhere, from villages to huts, all the local children would run out and wave to the boat. The teens and adults did not... curious.

As we've heard from quite a few Cambodians, the government really doesn't care about the people. Filled with corruption and conniving politics, Cambodia has an unequal wealth distribution that reminds me of Brazil (though I've never been there). The government does literally nothing for its people. The day we visited Angkor Wat was actually a national voting day and many Cambodians expressed hope that the election would change the present course of the country. On top of the internal political strife, Cambodia is currently at war with Thailand over a temple near the border. You guys probably know more about this than I do, but my understanding is that both countries want the temple and the UN gave it to Cambodia, but Thailand still doesn't want to give it up. I'm visiting this country during a very volatile time.

Right now we're in Battambang, staying at one of the nicest hotels in town. After getting sunburned to hell on the boat ride we decided to splurge and get a room with AC and hot water - our first hotel with either this whole trip. We paid dearly for it though, as it cost an extravagent $15/night. Sometimes you just need to live like a king though, if only for a day.

Zoals afgesproken werden we vanaf 9 uur rondgereden en rondgeleid door de omgeving. Jarik op z'n eigen scooter en ik achterop bij onze 'guide'.

We gingen eerst naar Phnom Sapeau, een heuvel met natuurlijke grotten die door de Rode Khmer gebruikt zijn als martelkamers en afrekenplek. Slachtoffers werden vanaf de top van de heuvel in de grotten gegooid, die uiteindelijk vol met skelleten moeten hebben gelegen. Nu staat er een boeddhistische en een hinduistische tempel op, en zijn de skeletten opgeruimd en in een glazen kast geplaatst. Het was vrij indrukwekkend, vooral de verhalen van onze guide over zijn leven in die tijd.

Daarna zijn we nog naar een aantal tempels in de buurt gebracht en rond de stad het platteland op gereden. Als afsluiting zijn we naar een crocodile-farm geweest waar we nog wat van die beesten hebben gepest.

S'avonds wilden we nog uitgaan, en we gingen op weg naar de enige club, "sky" genaamd. We besluiten te gaan lopen omdat het niet zo ver is, maar dit is uiteindelijk een vergissing. Ten eerste is battambang helemaal verlaten en vrij donker. Ten tweede komen we, als we er bjina zijn, een groep dronken cambodianen tegen die het erg leuk vinden om mee te gaan naar "sky". De discotheek zelf was wel aardig, we waren er bijna de enige 'farang', maar het feit dat onze 5 "vrienden" de hele tijd oms heen hangen en steeds maar willen dat we wat gaan drinken staat ons niet aan en we besluiten om weg te gaan. Als we naar buiten lopen en een scooter-taxi willen nemen worden we aangehouden door de bewaking. De bewaking legt uit dat onze 5 "vrienden" een fles whiskey van $10 hebben bestelt en dat ze claimen dat wij die voor ze wilden gaan betalen. Gelukkig had de bewaking al gezien en gemerkt dat we niet erg gediend waren van hun aandacht en een paar minuten later word inderdaad bevesitigt dat we geen druppel gedronken hebben en niet eens in de buurt van de fles whiskey waren geweest en we kunnen naar ons hotel.

Bah.. Cambodia... ik zal het niet missen, al was de guide erg aardig en hadden we een interresante dag. Morgen racen we naar Bangkok, en dan door naar de eilanden.

Vandaag hebben we de boot naar Battambang genomen. Voor $20 worden we opgehaald bij ons hostel en naar de pier gereden waar een 'slowboat' staat te wachten. Het toeristenbootje zit helemaal vol en is verkeerd geladen, want ze hebben alle bagage aan 1 kant gelegd waardoor de boot gevaarlijk overhelt af en toe. De rit was wel aardig en het was zonnig weer, maar de boot zit zo vol dat ik de helft van de reis buiten in de brandende zon heb gezeten. Er stond een verkoelend windje dus dit was te prefereren tot de benzineluchten in de boot zelf.

Aangekomen in battambang worden we besprongen door cambodianen die hun guesthouse willen slijten. We besluiten om in het 'gratis' taxibusje van een van de guesthouses die ook in de lonely planet staat te springen. Uiteraard blijken alle goedkope kamers vol te zitten, maar voor $7 hebben we een redelijke kamer. Als we besluiten om wat te gaan eten barst er een enorme bui los. Terwijl we wachten komt er een cambodiaan met een australier achterop aangereden. We komen in gesprek en het blijkt dat de Australier de Cambodiaan had ingehuurd om hem rond te rijden en wat te vertellen over de omgeving. De Cambodiaan is een oudere man van rond de 50, een ex-politieman en belangrijker: een 'nieuwe mens' of citiboy, die door de rode khmer als slaven zijn behandeld. Met wat onderhandelen weten we hem en 2 scooters te regelen voor de volgende dag.

We willen eigenlijk de volgende dag richting thailand, maar de bus zit vol en het is de enige bus die gaat dus we besluiten om dan maar ons een hele dag te laten rondrijden.

   I had booked my bus to leave for Phnom Penh for 2pm so I was up at 7am to make sure I got to see the sights around Battambang. First stop was the Killing Caves where the Khmer Rouge took prisoners to execute them. It was a 40 minute journey along a terrible road with pot holes everywhere. I knew they were up on a hill but was not expecting my guide to drop me at the bottom to walk up, as a result I was wearing flip-flops. Slightly painful but it was so early that I was the only tourist anywhere in sight which made up for it. The only person I saw in the first hour was a monk outside the pagoda by the caves. There is not a great deal to the caves themselves but the fact I was alone and it was so quiet gave them an extra edge. From the caves it is a 10 minute walk continuing up to the summit where you get a wonderful view. There are several little pagodas up there and so many intricate path ways I almost got myself lost on the way down.

  The next stop was the bamboo train on the other side of town so it was back on the bike for about an hour. I wasn’t expecting anything from the driver other than transport but he turned out to be almost a personal guide sharing loads of really good stories and information, some of them horrific. His parents were killed by the Khmer rouge and he spent a few years in a refuge camp on the Thai border as a child. Such a personal account of what happened really emphasizes the fact these atrocities happened only 30 years ago! The bamboo trains are so named as before there were engines 4 men would load up the cart and one in each corner push it along with bamboo sticks. There are now small motors fitted and you can go on a ride for about an hour further out into the countryside. In the middle of nowhere there was guy selling drinks that surprisingly spoke perfect English and claimed to have studied in London many years ago. I don’t know if he was telling the truth and if he was why he was now selling drinks to tourists is a mystery. I got dropped of back in town and had time for some lunch before heading to the bus station.

I was up at 5:30 ready for my 6am pickup. I should know better by now as this actually meant 6:30. The bus that picked me up was a 7-seat and there were already 6 tourists with huge bags in there so the journey to the boat was not a comfortable one. The journey was impaired by the roads that were actually juts like dirt tracks that had been turned to soggy clay in the rain. Finally there 20 minutes after it was due to leave I was surprised at how small the boat was. As it is a highly touted route in Lonely Planet I was expecting a bigger boat and lots of tourists. It was actually only the 7 of us from our bus and about 7 locals. I had been too early for breakfast so happily bought some bananas and bread from the sellers as we boarded.

 In the guide book the trip was listed as 3-8 hours, so vague to say the least. It was not long before we left the narrow banks and were speeding along quite quickly in the open water when there was a loud splash and the Cambodians on the boat began shouting furiously at the driver to stop. I thought the worst and assumed one of our bags that had been precariously tied to the roof had fallen off. After a minute or two of deliberation between passengers and driver we just continued. A few people checked their bags but they were so pilled up I was not going to go up there and check incase I couldn’t see mine and would then spend the entire journey worrying about something I could do nothing about. The time spent out in the open water was just to cross Tonle Sap Lake and soon we were back meandering along between villages. At each village a canoe like rowing boat would appear from nowhere and a new passenger would jump on board until before long we foreigners were easily out numbered.  We made a brief stop about half way for a drink and food if you wanted but I did not. This gave me a great chance to get some photos of the local villages that had been difficult to snap when we were speeding through on the bumpy water. I spent my time either admiring the scenery or with my head in my book but to my amazement before long we were there. Battambang is one of the largest cities in Cambodia but just like Siem Reap we didn’t arrive at a port just a river bank with a steep set of stairs in the side.

  Upon boarding we had been given a leaflet about 2 hotels in Battambang and it was no surprise that representatives were there fro both offering free rides into town with no obligation to stay. I randomly picked one and it actually turned out to be ok. I got my own room with a private bathroom, AC and a TV for only $4. I resisted the persuasion of a guide in the hotel lobby and just decided on exploring the town on foot for this afternoon. I first needed some food but ended up with some disappointing noodle dish. There is not a great deal to see here but somehow I spent the next couple of hours wandering around Battambang town. I tried to visit the two main Watts in town but both seemed locked up. I know there must have been one open somewhere as there were plenty of monks wandering around by the river. Feeling pretty tired I wandered back to the hotel and watched some old Mel Gibson movie on TV. Lunch hadn’t really worked out so I was hungry again. I decided to turn to Lonely Planet for a sure thing and picked out one that sounded good. It was no surprise then when everyone there was a tourist but it did have good food. I had a Khmer special curry which was extremely hot, I needed an extra portion of rice just to handle the spice! I’d decided not to stay another night here but to push on for Phnom Penh so back at the hotel I arranged to go on a tour of some of the sights surrounding Battambang in the morning. To squeeze it in I arranged to meet my motor bike driver at 7am and booked the last bus leaving at 2pm. It’s sad to say but again I was fast asleep before 10pm.

Our driver, Mr. Wat, picked us up at our hotel at the crack of dawn. As promised he had brought our boat tickets.  He took us down to the river docks and helped us find the right boat among the 8 to 10 loading passengers. We paid Mr. Wat but he stayed on the shore waving unil we pulled away. We were assured by everyone we asked that the trip to Siem Reap would take only 2 or 3 hours. When the skipper and his one person crew started pointing at the propeller shaft and arguing in Khmer we began to have our doubts. Half an hour later, we noticed a worker lugging an arc welder down the steep bank of the river - another half-hour and the shaft was welded together. We were the last boat to leave that morning.
It soon became clear why the propellor shaft had broken and ultimately, why the trip was to take 12 hours instead of 2. We were at an extremely low water season and in certain places our skipper and his one man crew had to get out of the boat and push it through when it ran aground on the muddy bottom.  Sangker is a busy fishing river lined with all sorts of fishing gear from simple thrown nets to huge dip nets raised and lowered by A-frame cranes. The fish that are caught with these diverse gear are placed in the hulls of fishing boats where they are allowed to ferment and later a fermented fish sauce is decanted from this mix and used as a food flavouring throughout Asia. With all the fishing traffic and boats passing us, we ran aground regularly and our crew spent more time in the water either pushing our boat free or helping passing boats - including many rank-smelling fermentation hulls full of rotting fish. The whole trip was an amazing sense-experience  that I will never forget

Contributing to our sensory experience was the continually changing vista on life on the river banks. The river was highway, water source, laundry, food source, bathing facility, and sewer for the thousands of households visible from our passing boat. We saw children herding ducks along the banks and women washing clothing and dishes at the waters edge.  Others operated bicycle and passenger ferries across the water.

As we approached the mouth of the Sangker River, the water deepened and we were able to increase our speed although the crew had to manoeuvre around fishing weirs fixed to the bottom that extended out into the Ton Le Sap. We stopped on the Battambang side for a restaurant break and to discharge our remaining Cambodian passengers before crossing to the Siem Reap side. As we walked up the muddy trails of the Siem Reap boat harbour area we were relieved to encounter our driver who had been waiting for us for hours and drove us back to the Salabai Hotel just as the sun was setting.

I could've eaten a duck embryo and well, I did! Yes, this time around I didn't chicken out.

I woke up early in the morning in Battambang and was greeted by a nice view of the sunrise as I stepped out of the hotel room where I stayed.  Hmmm what a lovely day to navigate the Tonle Sap Lake going to Siem Reap!  The night before, I bought the ferry boat ticket at the hotel counter.  I chose the "Big and Fast" ferry boat and paid for it after confirmation that there is going to be a big boat the following day.

As I arrived to the boat station, I overheard an older caucasian man making a complaint that he has been ripped off!  He was demanding for a refund and so he will just take the bus going to Siem Reap.  I initially did not understand what he was complaining about as I was still thinking that I would be riding a big-fast boat.  I went down to check on the boat and saw this small wooden boat --- this could not be the ferry boat that I will riding! 

There was no turning back, I had to ride this small boat as the morning bus have left and it would take time to get a refund.  I did not want to ruin my mood, so I just let the incident pass without any complaint and just stayed quiet inside the boat.  (The guy who kept on complaining still rode with the small boat!)  The view along of the river was nice and the boat was moving slowly.  This kept me distracted and made me forgot that I was ripped off for this transportation.

At around 3pm (6 hours on the boat from Battambang), we reached the Tonle Sap Lake ... huge lake ... and the boat moved faster.  I was told it would be another hour to reach Siem Reap boat station.  Suddenly our boat stopped in the middle of the lake!  We got stuck in the mud...  the water level was very low!  Got afraid - I had no wish to stay overnight in the boat as it was getting late in the afternoon.  The boat assistant went down the lake and tried to push the boat to get momentum but to no avail.  We, the passengers had a discussion that we should help out and jump off to the water and push the boat or else we all get stuck in the middle of this lake.  Luckily, there were two young German bikers who willingly went down and helped until the boat reached an area with a higher water level and went on with the journey.

It was already late in the afternoon that we reached Siem Reap.  Riding the small boat turned out to be a blessing because the bigger boat would not have been able to cross the low waters of the lake that time in May 2007. 

Battambang, founded in the 11th  century has a current population of around 140,000. It is Cambodia's second biggest city but it has maintained its very local atmosphere.

Bat Dambang (or Bat Dambong) literally means "lost staff": referring to an episode in Khmer history when the King Kron Nhong threw his wooden staff from Angkor and it landed in present day Battambang, a fact commemorated by the huge golden statue in honour of the staff-throwing king, erected in the town.

It is a spacious town situated at the Stoeung Saen river, a tributary to the Tonle Sab. It still looks pretty much the same as it did when the French colonial era ended in the early 1950’s.

 Along the riverbank you’ll see some of    Cambodia   ’s best-saved examples of the French colonial architecture. Few buildings are over three stories high.

Battambang has grown through trade, a fact that has undoubtedly been abetted by the city's relative closeness to Bangkok. Chinese traders for centuries have played a notable role in the city's history.

Battambang's small municipal museum, situated on the river north of the post office, hosts some interesting carved lintels and some stone and wooden Buddha statues.

One of the most interesting activities for visitors is to watch the sunset along the banks of the river and to enjoy the cool river breeze.

The town is the capital of Battambang province, with some 850,000 inhabitants one of the most populated provinces of Cambodia. This province is situated along the upper western part of the Tonle Sab river bank and is popular for its natural resources and fertile soil, producing rich rice crops of outstanding quality, more than enough to feed the people of the whole country. Other crops include corn, beans, oranges and sesame.

Ruby and garnet mines are the natural treasures found in this province. A visit to Poipet will allow the traveller to purchase these precious stones at the most competitive prices.

The province was part of the territory that fell under Thailand's jurisdiction in the 1790s. This was the result of the political manoeuvring of various Cambodian leaders who sought either the support of Vietnam or Thailand. Battambang and  Siem Reap provinces would remain under Thai control until 1907 when France, having established its protectorate at Cambodia's request, insisted and obtained their return to the country.

The Khmer Rouge rebels continued fighting and plundering in the province  after the civil war in the seventies and eighties until the end of 1998.

Many temples dating back from between the 10th and the 15th centuries are worth a visit and provide an interesting cultural pleasure.

A number of Angkor era temples and sites in the province can turn a stopover in Battambang into a most fascinating experience. The 11th century temple of  Ek Phnom, the temple, grottoes and Buddhist shrines of Wat Sampoeu and the 11th century mountain temple of Phnom Banan are the most famous historical tourist attractions to be mentioned.

A popular picnic place for the people from Battambang and Pailin is the Kamping Puoy reservoir, situated between the mountains Phnom Kol and Phnom Kamping Puoy. It was build as a gigantic engineering project by the  Khmer Rouge for the irrigation of Battambang province and the production of dry-season rice. Thousands of people died as a result of overwork and malnutrition while working at this project.

Today we went with the World Vision staff to go and visit our sponsor child Sao. It was a 2 hour ride out there in their truck. It is a very isolated area with one bumpy little red, dusty road and it's one of the most heavily mined areas of the country.

For safety World Vision no longer lets people go to the childs actual village so you meet at the World Vision's office in her area. She's 11 with an 8 yr old brother  and 2 year old sister plus her mom and dad were there. It was so awesome to meet her and her family! It was a little awkard trying to ask questions through an interpreter but I think it went really well. We had a little impromptu photo session where everyone kinda relaxed a bit and the family seemed glad to have their photos taken as they probably don't have a lot of pictures of themselves. I also found out that they had received a box I had put together for Sao on my last trip to Cambodia so that was awesome- I think they were able to list off every item that was in there! She had even made me a thank you card- with the pencil crayons in the box and everything but with all my moves I guess it was sent to the wrong address.

Her parents are farmers and she helps take care of her brother and sister and helps do some work around the house and farm. They are very poor- but everyone seems healthy- the kids are so cute. The older ones go to school- most kids around here only go part days because there are too many kids and not enough school/teacher to go around. They are at a fairly big disadvantage even compared to those that live in Battambang 2 hours away. Battambang is the 2nd biggest city in Cambodia and has a university, hospital and there are better schools including English schools.  It is a huge advantage here to speak English as it is far easier to get a job with all of the tourists/NGO's in the country.

Where Sao lives most people have tiny little thatched huts, most farm- rice mainly but also corn, soya beans, peanuts, etc. Saos family has 2 cows, chickens, dogs, cats, etc. The dad has to go to Battambang a few times a month to sell/buys things but it sounds like her mom/kids may only go once every year or two due to the expense. We were struck by the poverty when we came to Battambang and then after visiting Sao and seeing how much poorer that area is Battambang seemed wealthy when we got back.

After having luch with Sao and her family we had to say goodbye and went on a tour around with the world vision staff to see their projects in the area. I wasn't really to interested in this initially but it ended up being pretty interesting. We walked around a canal they had dug that provides water for farming and other use to farmers in the area. While touring around this we walked just beside an uncleared minefield. There were signs all over to mark the area as dangerous but everyone is so poor here that the area is still being farmed by rice farmers. Sounds like amputations are fairly frequent still and some farmers were also killed a few months ago. Many people here are missing limbs- some multiple. We also seen some women clearing the mines (this is all done by women for some reason). They use metal detectors to find them and then explosives to destroy them. I think they had so far found about 110 in this minefield over the last year. It's very slow work too- it has taken over 1 yr to clear 3 hectares and this field alone has 14 hectares so you can understand the poor farmers not wanting to wait 5 years to make money for their families.

After the canal we visited a World Vision school- this was a bit uncomfortable as the director of the school and a number of members of the community came and we all sat awkardly at a meeting and heard how this new school was doing and what was still needed and lacking in the area. We felt a bit inadequate- but definitely the projects in the area do look like they make a big difference in the lives of people here. We ran out of time unfortunately to see the health centre and headed back to town.

PS:When Sao's dad asked when we would be back Wes told them we loved Cambodia and the people here and that we would be back sometime...YAAY!

People i met here, who contributed to and improved my trip: Juliana (Russia)

We arrived into a rainy Battambang on the back of a hellish 10 hour bus ride. We had landed the tickets on the back seat of the bus and rather than sharing with 3 other people, we discovered the 5 seats would be split between 7. It soon became apparent that the little leg room going would be occupied by 3 small children in the aisles! The situation worsened as the journey progressed, with the mother to my front right, with the 3 mentioned kids all of whom were on the bus under 1 seat, starting to have problems with the smallest child. The first incidence was the little girl doing a number 2 over Mummy and the second was a number 1 all over Mummy and the seat. Next bodily lapse to occur was the child sat next to me on the back seat, as she began vomiting, which made me want to do the same! As if this wasn't all bad enough, i had another large child on my right (Julia), head on my arm, mouth wide open, occassionally snoring and drooling all over me! Oh how time flew by!

After a good nights sleep, we were once again ready to take on the World and hired a motorbike and driver to take us around the interesting sites, hidden away around Battambang. Our first stop was Wat Ek Phnom and the 13km ride north of the city was a real stunner. We passed along dirt roads and through palm canopied villages, as the local kids came out to wave and shout 'Hello'. It felt for the first time that we were really discovering what Cambodian life was all about. The site itself contained one new temple and large Buddha statue, with an 11th century temple at the rear. We were all alone with the exception of a few monks, woman sweeping and friendly ticket man. Although the site is only a small ruin in the grand scheme of the Khmer empire, it made for a nice stop.

Back on the bike, we headed southwest to Phnom Sampeau. The challenge here was to climb a pretty steep hill, in midday temperatures hovering in the high 30's. We were again the only tourists, but by no means the only people here. Infact the hill had hundreds of Cambodians climbing their religiously significant mountain, many of whom wafted themselves and smiled in acknowledgement, that it wasn't only the weterners suffering! At the summit, their were beautiful panoramic views to reward us, along with a small wat and golden stupa. There were also a couple of caves where the Khmer Rouge had carried out their monstrous deeds. Back at the base of the hill, we checked out another modern temple, similar to the one at Wat Ek Phnom, although a little bigger.

Last stop for the day was Wat Banan, with the torment of another mountain to climb to receive the reward! This time there were 359 ancient Khmer stone steps, leading to the summit and temple. Once again the site was blissfully quiet and devoid of tourists as we took in the views and ancient stone work.

Back in Battambang we went to the cafe we had eaten in the previous night and ordered a huge Banana Split, what better way to cool down after a tiring day! We took a brief walk along the river and took in some of the old French colonial buildings before we retired to our room, exhausted but indulged.

This temple, located on the top of a mountain in Kanti II commune in Banan district, was built during the Angkorian reign in the 11th century, consisting of five prasats. It was started under king Udayadityavarman II (1050-1066) and finished by king Jayavarman VII (1181-1219). At the foot of the mountain, there is a moat and two natural wells: Bet Meas and Chhoung Enjoy from this peaceful location a great view over the area and the L'Ang Prut Meas caves. The active pagoda, located at the foot of the mountain is over 150 years old.

Phnom Sampeou means 'Ship mountain' because its peculiar shape reminds of a ship. This legendary 100 metres high mountain, topped by Wat Sampeou, contains 3 natural caves, lined with Buddhist shrines and statues: Pkasla, Lakhaon and Aksopheak. Pkasla cave is full of uprooted stones and is considered important because Sampeou inhabitants go there to celebrate after a marriage. Some caves were used by the Khmer Rouges as killing caves. Skeletons of their victims still remain in the caves. The wat is approached by a flight of 700 stairs. It is not exceptional but the view is spectacular. Next to Phnom Sampeou are several important mountain clusters.

Ek Phnom was built in the 11th century as a Hindu temple by King Suryavarman I. It is located in Tkov village in Peam Ek commune, about 14 kilometres from Batambang town. The temple consists of prasats on a platform with some carvings in good condition, but Ek Phnom pagoda is a modern pagoda. It has one of the most complete collections of Buddhist wall and ceiling paintings in all Cambodia. There are 18 bodhi trees around the temple. Outside the temple to the south, you will see a moat that is now a pond. Along the road that takes you from Battambang city to Ek Phnom, you will pass through some outstanding scenic countryside.