Battambang, Cambodia

 Notes from the journal:

7/20

  • Arrived in Battambang and met up with Sophia, checked into hostel (we were the only ones - perks of traveling during the offseason) and went to lunch
  • Went to Battambang Central Market where I bought a papaya
  • Went back to hostel and accidentally took a 2 hr nap
  • Went out to dinner at Jaan Bai down the block, which was amazing and we split a lot of dishes.

7/21

  • Ate my papaya at the hostel
  • Rented some nice city bikes from the friendly shop owners across the street and rode to Wat Samrong Kong. Sophia and I had the temple all to ourselves but had to ride through a crazy market on the way.
  • Found the famous black bean and sticky rice desert cooked over coals in the bamboo chutes at a stand along the road, so stopped and bought some. The stand owner was very kind and showed us how to peel it like a flower, and gave us a place to sit and rest.
  • Kept biking through small towns and villages until we reached Ek Phnom Pagoda (kind of underwhelming) where there was some sort of event going on
  • We had so much fun waving at locals on our bike ride through the countryside, because that area hasn’t become overrun with tourists yet so locals were still excited/curious to see us and were waving from the back of motorbikes and the side of the road
  • Stopped at a donut stand and the lady tried to charge us 5x the local price so we didn’t get any
  • Went back to Jaan Bai and got Thai tea and we went to a bakery so I could get some cake
  • Returned bikes, took a nap, then took a tuk tuk to the Phnom Sampov bat cave outside of town around golden hour to see millions of bats fly out of the cave at dusk. The area was very crowded but we found a nice spot and watched the bats until it was dark. The cliff also has giant carvings so it’s very beautiful. The tuk tuk driver kindly waited for us and tried to undercharge us significantly (he only asked for half of what he was due) but we gave him the full amount plus a tip, for all his time spent waiting for us
  • Ate dinner next to our hostel and then went back to Jaan Bai to exchange some leftover cash (USD is an official currency in Cambodia so Sophia wanted to get rid of some of her Riel)

7/22

  • Walked to bus office and got in a nice empty van with snacks until we reached the Thai border, where we went through the border crossing process. It went very smoothly despite horror stories online.


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Aside from Angkor Wat, Battambang was my favorite spot in Cambodia. Although there are tourist pockets, it’s a lot less overrun so we felt that interactions with locals were a lot better (people were incredibly friendly). We had amazing food and overall it’s a very pleasant/relaxing stop for a couple days. I would recommend the countryside bicycle ride to the two places described above, plus a trip to the bat cave at sunset. Jaan Bai is also worth a stop, and you can confidently eat fresh food there without worrying about food poisoning.








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