Battambang secrets

Battambang is the second largest city in Cambodia, located 180 kilometers from Siem Reap. The cozy central part of it, which is a vivid example of colonial development, can be walked around in about half an hour. In the vicinity of Battambang there are several temples of the Angkor period, one of which - Wat Banan - we will definitely visit. There is a railway near Battambang. There have been no trains in Cambodia since 2009, although the government has promised to restore rail service every year. However, the locals, tired of waiting for the promised, came out of the situation. They use so-called bamboo trains, which are two wheel pairs on which a light bamboo platform is mounted on top. On such trains they carry rice, household utensils and other belongings.

And of course, you can ride on such bamboo trains - a heap of vivid impressions is guaranteed! Near Battambang is Mount Phnom Sampou. The Khmer word Phnom translates as mountain. This mountain is permeated by caves. In the largest of them during the Khmer Rouge regime, the corpses of dead people were dumped - now it is a place of memory. Next to this cave there is another, the entrance opening of which can be seen from the driveway. Every evening, as soon as the sun sets, bats fly out of this cave to hunt. About forty minutes pass until they all leave the cave: the spectacle is frightening and fascinating at the same time. Elastic, as if an intelligent stream, consisting of many living beings, streams over the mountain and now moves almost vertically, then deviates by ninety degrees, and woe to him who turns out to be sweating this stream! Locals say more than a million bats live in the cave, but who ever counted them?