Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
skulls of bodies found scattered across the ground have been collected and placed inside
a small glass memorial, while further down the hill is a large reclining Buddha and a
second memorial, with more bones of those killed here piled up inside a metal cage.
Prasat Yeah Ten
Sneng, about 25km west of Battambang (and 10km beyond Phnom Sampeu)
West of Phnom Sampeu along the road to Pailin, in the village of Sneng, are the
remains of the tenth-century
Prasat Yeah Ten
temple. There's not much left of the
temple itself, although three doorways have survived topped with beautifully carved
lintels, one depicting the ubiquitous Churning of the Ocean of Milk (see p.169). A
couple of hundred metres further down the road, in the grounds at the back of a
modern wat, are three extremely old
brick sanctuaries
, perhaps also dating back to the
tenth century.
2
Wat Banan
20km southwest of Battambang • $3; ticket also valid for Phnom Sampeu (see p.123), Kamping Poy (see below) and Wat Ek Phnom (see
p.122) • Return from Battambang to Phnom Sampeu and Wat Banan around $18 by tuk-tuk or $12 by moto
Wat Banan
, the best preserved of the temples around Battambang, makes a rewarding
half-day trip combined with Phnom Sampeu (if you don't mind the horribly bumpy
45min ride between the two, following a backcountry dirt track through the paddy
fields); you could also include Prasat Yeah Ten (see above) in the same trip. The temple
was consecrated as a Buddhist shrine, although scholars are uncertain who built it or
exactly when it was completed, which could have been any time between the tenth and
thirteenth centuries.
From the car park at the base of the hill, it's a steep climb up some 360 steps to the
temple, with five sturdy towers poking up out of the trees (which, alas, largely obscure
the views). Numerous carvings survive - those on the central tower are the best
- including a number of apsaras (most of them now headless), various figures bent in
prayer a and couple of finely carved, if rather eroded, lintels.
Kamping Poy
Around 30km west of Battambang by road • $3; ticket also valid for Phnom Sampeu (see p.123), Wat Banan (see above) and Wat Ek
Phnom (see p.122) • Take NR57 west from Battambang, then turn off north at Phnom Sampeu; return from Battambang by moto around
$15-20, tuk-tuk $20-25
The prettiness of the lake at
Kamping Poy
belies the fact that it was created by the Pol
Pot regime using slave labour - more than ten thousand people died of overwork,
malnutritition and disease during the construction of the 8km
dam
that bounds the
lake. Completed in 1977, the dam lay at the heart of an extensive irrigation system and
still allows dry-season rice cultivation. At weekends and holidays the place is packed
with Cambodians messing around in the water, but during the week you'll have the
place to yourself. The rim of the dam is navigable by moto or on foot for several
kilometres, so even at busy times you can get away for a quiet swim; there are also
rowing boats ($1/hr) to rent.
Pailin
Ringed by hills near the border with Thailand, the sprawling and haphazard frontier
town of
PAILIN
was once the gem-mining centre of Cambodia, although it's now a
downbeat sort of place with not a lot going for it. The town is mainly interesting for its
role in the later history of the
Khmer Rouge
; however, unless you've a particular
