What to see in Cambodia in Battambang besides the bamboo train, here is the review of the trip to Asia, the things to do and see in Cambodia, read here.
Battambang welcomed me with the lights off and a great silence. It was only eight in the evening when I finally arrived but the first feeling was that of being in a ghost town and forgotten by everyone.
Being that evening, however, very tired because it took me a full day of travel by bus to reach it, I didn't pay too much attention to first impressions and I did well.
Personally, I liked it very much and I'm sorry I didn't spend an extra day there.
Here everything is very slow and quiet, the city has a along relaxing river and pleasant to walk in the cooler hours of the day or in the evening after having dinner at the night market.
If you are imagining Bangkok's night markets, forget them! Set up along the river, with an area for street food and one for shopping, the Battambang night market it's tiny and it will take you half an hour to go around it without stopping.
I liked it for this very reason; there is some peace here, which you won't find in Siem Reap and if like me you don't like chaos, enjoy these moments, but don't buy anything. The undisputed kingdom of low cost shopping is Siem Reap. This applies to every city you visit. If you see anything that seems unique and original to you, don't listen to yourself, your instincts are deceiving you: you will find everything and more in the Siem Reap night market.
I loved Battambang: the silence of its streets in the evening when I walked back to the hotel and I felt like I was in a quiet village; the surrounding ocher and dry countryside, at times green; the "best ever" mango milk shake from the night market that I dreamed of all day; the fair trade shops with colored stuffed animals, incense and frangipane soaps; the rice sheets hung out to dry on the side of the road; children who say “Hello!” to you; the traditional houses outside the city; the riverside by day with tin rides for children and early twentieth century French buildings; the river-view benches that when I saw them I thought: “If I lived here, it would be my favorite place to read“; Cambodian mothers who cradle their children in a hammock in the shade and meanwhile do something else; the monks passing from one bank of the river to the other using the boats and to my European eyes they became an enchanting saffron stain; the mango milk shake, did I mention that already?
What do you do in Battambang? Many come here to take a ride on the bamboo train but I chose not to; you will find a lot of information on the net about this tourist attraction.
In this town I concluded my visits to the places of the genocide by visiting the "Killing Caves“, The caves where the bodies of the victims were thrown during the Pol Pot regime. We are about 12 kilometers from Battambang, in Phnom Sampeau and today this place is a place that can be visited in silence, which has become a pilgrimage destination.
The tuc tuc will leave you in a street full of stalls and restaurants for tourists, you have to pay a ticket (3 dollars) and then choose whether to get to the top by motorbike (paying additionally) or on foot.
If walking is not a problem, I recommend you go on foot, a 20/30 minute easy climb and then go down using the stone staircase instead.
Once you reach the top you will find yourself in front of a temple from which, following a very simple path, you will descend down to the cave where there is the statue of a reclining Buddha with a small commemorative stupa next to it containing the bones of some of the victims.
Looking up at the ceiling you will clearly see the opening from which the bodies were thrown.
Of this moment I remember clearly: the silence, the humidity of the cave, the soft lights and the shivers.
If you plan your visit to this place just before sunset, know that at that time from a cave not far from the ticket office, for twenty or thirty minutes, uninterrupted bats.
A real spectacle of nature: if you are a lover of the genre, bring a binoculars. Waiting for the bats to wake up to go out around dusk turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
My initial approach was “I'm here now” but I had to change my mind… because there are many, many and they create long and harmonious trails in the sky.
At that point I became a little girl frolicking with amazement.
Two lines apart deserves the Battambang central day market: it is authentic. It is Asian, it is everything that for me is the essence of Asia: the orgy of bright colors, the filthy stinks, the locals trying to sell you a piece of meat even if you have a camera in your hand, the strange fruit, women chopping fresh ginger in front of you and, above all, an entire area dedicated to seamstresses with lots of Singer machines, like the ones I see every now and then in our flea markets.
Do you want a dress? Said. Done. Choose the fabric you like best, have your measurements taken and after a few hours go to collect your dress. I did it in Myanmar.
Do you want to get a face mask or a quick blow-dry: maybe the 80s frisé that will make you feel very trendy here? Very well. Among fruit and vegetables, hairdressers appear and while one irons a strand, the other puts nail polish on it.
Isn't this the paradise of every traveler looking for authenticity?
