Things to do in Northwestern Cambodia
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bamboo train
The bamboo train is one of the world's all-time classic rail journeys. From O Dambong, on the east bank 3.7km south of Battambang's Old Stone Bridge, the train runs southeast to O Sra Lav, via half an hour of clicks and clacks along warped, misaligned rails and vertiginous bridges left by the French.
Each bamboo train - known in Khmer as a norry (nori) - consists of a 3m-long wood frame, covered lengthwise with slats made of ultra-light bamboo, that rests on two barbell-like bogies, the aft one connected by fan belts to a 6HP gasoline engine. Pile on 10 or 15 people or up to three tonnes of rice, crank it up and you can cruise along at about 15km/h.
The genius of the…
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Banteay Chhmar
Originally enclosed by a 9km-long wall, the temple housed one of the largest and most impressive Buddhist monasteries of the Angkorian period. Today, it is one of the few temples to feature the enigmatic, Bayon-style visages of Avalokiteshvara, with their mysterious - and world famous - smiles.
On the temple's east side, a huge bas-relief on a partly-toppled wall dramatically depicts naval warfare between the Khmers (on the left) and the Chams (on the right), with the dead - some being devoured by crocodiles - at the bottom. Further south (to the left) are scenes of land warfare with infantry and elephants. There are more martial bas-reliefs along the exterior of the…
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Killing Caves of Phnom Sampeau
About half-way up the cement access road to the summit, a turn-off leads 250m up the hill to the Killing Caves of Phnom Sampeau. An enchanted staircase, flanked by greenery, leads into a cavern where a golden reclining Buddha lies peacefully next to a glass-walled memorial, dedicated in 2007, filled with the bones and skulls of some of the people bludgeoned to death by Khmer Rouge cadres before being thrown through the overhead skylight.
Nearby is the old memorial, a rusty cage made of chicken wire and cyclone fencing.
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temples
At the summit of this fabled limestone outcrop, 12km southwest of Battambang along NH57 (towards Pailin), a complex of temples - several built recently thanks to donations from overseas Khmers - affords gorgeous views of the surrounding plains and, to the south, Phnom Banan. Some of the macaques that live around the summit, dining on bananas left as offerings, are pretty ornery.
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Sunrise Coffee House
Caffeine is blended into a variety of delicious forms here and can be enjoyed with fresh-baked goodies, California-style snacks, pancakes, sandwiches and salads.
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Prasat Preah Vihear
Prasat Preah Vihear, an important place of pilgrimage during the Angkorian period, was built by a succession of seven Khmer monarchs, beginning with Yasovarman I (r 889-910) and ending with Suryavarman II (r 1112-1152), builder of Angkor Wat. Like other temple-mountains from this period, it was designed to represent Mt Meru and was dedicated to the Hindu deity Shiva.
For generations, Prasat Preah Vihear has been a source of tension between Cambodia and Thailand. This area was ruled by Thailand for several centuries but retroceded to Cambodia during the French protectorate, under the treaty of 1907. In 1959 the Thai military seized the temple from Cambodia and then-Prime…
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Preah Khan
Preah Khan's history is shrouded in mystery, but it was long an important religious site and some of the structures here date back to the 9th century. Both Suryavarman II, builder of Angkor Wat, and Jayavarman VII lived here at various times during their lives, suggesting that Preah Khan was something of a second city in the Angkorian empire.
Originally dedicated to Hindu deities, it was reconsecrated to Mahayana Buddhist worship during a monumental reconstruction undertaken by Jayavarman VII in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. The central structure, which included libraries and a pond for ablutions, has been devastated by looting in recent years. As recently as…
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Ta Mok's House
Ta Mok's house, on a peaceful lakeside site, is a Spartan structure with a bunker in the basement, five childish wall murals downstairs and three more murals upstairs, including a map and an idyllic wildlife scene. About the only furnishings that weren't looted are the floor tiles - on these very bits of ceramic, the men who killed 1.7 million Cambodians planned offensives, passed death sentences and joked with friends.
To his former supporters, many of whom still reside around Anlong Veng, Ta Mok (Uncle Mok, AKA Brother Number Five) was harsh but fair, a benevolent builder of orphanages and schools, and a leader who kept order in stark contrast to the anarchic atmosphere…
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cremation site of Pol Pot
At the pass (a few hundred metres before the frontier), turn right (east) next to a new, cream-coloured, three-storey building and then, after 50m, hang a left. In front of you, under a rusted corrugated iron roof and surrounded by rows of partly buried glass bottles, is the cremation site of Pol Pot, who was hastily burned in 1998 on a pile of old tyres and rubbish - a fitting end, some say, given the suffering he inflicted on millions of Cambodians.
Bizarre as it may sound, Pol Pot is remembered with affection by some locals, and people sometimes stop by to light incense. According to neighbours, every last bone fragment has been snatched from the ashes by visitors in…
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Sambor Prei Kuk
Sambor Prei Kuk, Cambodia's most impressive group of pre-Angkorian monuments, encompasses more than 100 mainly brick temples scattered through the forest, among them some of the oldest structures in the country. Originally called Isanapura, Sambor Prei Kuk was the capital of Chenla during the reign of the early-7th-century King Isanavarman and continued to be an important learning centre during the Angkorian era.
The main temple area consists of three complexes, each enclosed by the remains of two concentric walls. Their basic layout - a central tower surrounded by shrines, ponds and gates - may have served as an inspiration for the architects of Angkor five centuries…
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Koh Ker
Koh Ker is one of the least-studied temple areas from the Angkorian period. Louis Delaporte visited in 1880 during his extensive investigations into Angkorian temples. It was surveyed in 1921 by the great Henri Parmentier for an article in the Bulletin de l'École d'Extrême Orient, but no restoration work was ever undertaken here. Archaeological surveys were carried out by Cambodian teams in the 1950s and 1960s.
But all records vanished during the destruction of the 1970s, helping to preserve this complex as something of an enigma. Several of the most impressive pieces in the National Museum in Phnom Penh come from Koh Ker, including the huge garuda (mythical half-man,…
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Phnom Yat
The southern gateway to Pailin is marked by a tree-covered hillock, Phnom Yat. From NH57, stairs lead through a garish gate - the naga are bubblegum pink, spearmint green and sunflower yellow - up to the equally psychedelic Wat Phnom Yat. The temple is centred on an ancient po tree and a life-sized cement tableau showing butt-naked sinners (about the only nudity you'll see in Cambodia) being heaved into a cauldron, de-tongued (for liars) and forced to climb a spiny tree (for adulterers).
Medieval European triptychs never made hell seem so uninviting! Nearby, the repentant pray for forgiveness, a highly pertinent message given who lives around here. There are clear views…
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Phoum Kandal & Chong Kos
A short sail from Kompong Chhnang's waterfront takes you to two colourful floating villages, Phoum Kandal to the east and Chong Kos to the northwest. Much less commercial than Kompong Luong, they have all the amenities a mainland village would have - houses, machine tool shops, veggie vendors, a mosque, a petrol station - except that almost everything floats. Many of the people are ethnic Vietnamese.
From the Tourism Port, you can charter a big wooden boat with space for eight (around US$8) for a one-hour excursion. A cheaper, quieter and more ecological option, available about 300m to the west, is to get around like the floating villagers do: on a narrow wooden boat…
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Prasat Krahom
Most visitors start at Prasat Krahom, the second-largest structure at Koh Ker, which is named for the red bricks from which it is constructed. Sadly, none of the carved lions for which this temple was once known remain, though there's still plenty to see - stone archways and galleries lean hither and thither and impressive stone carvings grace lintels, doorposts and slender window columns.
A naga-flanked causeway and series of sanctuaries, libraries and gates lead past trees and vegetation-covered ponds. Just west of Prasat Krahom, at the far end of a half-fallen colonnade, are the remains of an impressive statue of Nandin.
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Wat Ek Phnom
Wat Ek Phnom an atmospheric, partly collapsed, 11th-century temple situated 11km north of Battambang, measures 52m by 49m and is surrounded by the remains of a laterite wall and an ancient baray (reservoir). A lintel showing the Churning of the Ocean of Milk can be seen above the east entrance to the central temple, whose upper flanks hold some fine bas-reliefs.
Construction of the giant Buddha statue next door has been stopped by the government because, they say, it mars the site's timeless beauty. This is a very popular picnic and pilgrimage destination for Khmers at festival times.
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bamboo trains
Pursat's own bamboo trains - much less tourist-oriented than their Battambang cousins - stop at the train crossing 800m south of NH5 along the road to Kravanh. A three- or four-hour private excursion costs around US$10, or you can hop on with the locals; departures are most frequent in the morning.
For the best scenery, head towards Phnom Penh. One option is to get off at the village of Chheu Tom and catch a moto to Chhuk Laeng Cascades (Chroek Laeng Waterfall; one hour), situated 73km southeast of Pursat and 41km south of Krakor (on NH5 near Kompong Luong).
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old train station
In the area around the old train station - where the time is always 8.02, according to the clock - and along the tracks just south of there, you can explore a treasure trove of crumbling, French-era repair sheds, warehouses and rolling stock, evocative of times long gone. Check out the wagons' constructor's plates: some read '1930 Köln' (Cologne, Germany).
German reparations from WWI, perhaps? Or maybe the wagons were confiscated after WWII and shipped out here in the last days of French Indochina?
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Ta Mok's Grave
From the turnoff to Ta Mok's house, driving a further 7km north takes you to Tumnup Leu, where a right turn and 400m brings you to Ta Mok's grave. Situated next to a modest pagoda and the concrete foundations of Ta Mok's sawmill, it is protected from the elements by a blue roof. The tomb has no name or inscription of any sort but this doesn't seem to bother the locals who stop by to light incense sticks - and, in a bizarre new local tradition, hope his ghost grants them a winning lottery number.
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Prasat Thom
The principal monument is Prasat Thom, a 55m-wide, 40m-high sandstone-faced pyramid with seven tiers that's just west of Prasat Krahom. This striking structure, which looks like it could almost be a Mayan site somewhere on the Yucatan Peninsula, offers some spectacular views across the forest from its summit. Look out for the giant garuda under the collapsed chamber at the top of the vertigo-inducing stairs. Some 40 inscriptions, dating from 932 to 1010, have been found at Prasat Thom.
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Pepsi bottling plant
From Battambang by bicycle or moto, it's possible to make a number of interesting stops. About 1.2km north of Battambang's ferry landing is a 1960s Pepsi bottling plant, its logo faded but otherwise hardly changed since production ceased abruptly in 1975. You can still see the remains of the old production line and, in a warehouse out back, thousands of dusty empties - bearing Pepsi's old script logo - whose contents quenched someone's thirst back when Nixon was in the White House.
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Khmer Rouge Statues
About 2km before the frontier, where the road splits to go around a house-sized boulder, look out for a group of statues - hewn entirely from the surrounding rock by the Khmer Rouge - depicting a woman carrying bundles of bamboo sticks on her head and two uniformed Khmer Rouge soldiers, since decapitated by government forces.
Now a macabre place of popular pilgrimage, local people come here to leave offerings of fruit and incense to honour the souls of dead Khmer Rouge soldiers.
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Phnom Santuk
A visit to Ondong Rossey can be combined with Phnom Santuk, a rocky hillock behind Wat Santuk, a few kilometres southwest of Kompong Chhnang. The boulder-strewn summit affords fine views of the countryside, including the Tonlé Sap, 20km to the north.
By bicycle or moto, combining Ondong Rossey and Phnom Santuk makes for a truly magical circuit, especially early in the morning or late in the afternoon. There are no road signs, so it's a good idea to go with a local.
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Gopura of the Third Level
The place to start a visit is at the monumental stairway, if possible from the bottom (near the market and the crossing from Thailand). As you walk south, you come to four cruciform gopura (sanctuaries), decorated with a profusion of exquisite carvings (eg lintels) and separated by esplanades up to 350m long. At the entrance to the Gopura of the Third Level, look for an early rendition of the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, a theme later depicted awesomely at Angkor Wat.
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Phnom Santuk
Phnom Santuk has an active wat and the local monks are always interested in receiving foreign tourists. For travellers spending the night in Kompong Thom, Phnom Santuk is a good place from which to catch a magnificent sunset over the rice fields, though this means coming down in the dark.
The parking fee, which is clearly not being spent on litter pickup, depends on who's collecting it and who you are. There are food stalls and lots of beggars around the car park.
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Ondong Rossey
The quiet village of Ondong Rossey, where the area's famous red pottery is made under every house, is a delightful 7km ride west of town through serene rice fields dotted with sugar palms, most with bamboo ladders running up the trunk. The unpainted pots, decorated with etched or appliqué designs, are either made with a foot-spun wheel (for small pieces) or banged into shape with a heavy wooden spatula (for large ones). Artisans are happy to show you how they do it.
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