Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
family workshops, you'll see rice paste being steamed and then placed on a bamboo frame
for drying in the sun. The coconuts grown in this area are said to be especially sweet. Wat
Ek Phnom is 5.5km further on.
from Battambang, provides free English instruction to local kids and is always looking for
volunteer teachers (the Khmer staff are all volunteers too). For details contact
Racky Thy
(
092 301697; rith_gentleman@yahoo.com)
.
Wat Ek Phnom is 11km from Battambang's ferry landing by the shortest route and
21km if you go via the Pepsi plant and Pheam Ek. Combining both routes makes for a
nice 32km circuit.
Kamping Poy
Also known as the Killing Dam, Kamping Poy, 27km west of Battambang (go via NH5
and follow the irrigation canal), was one of the many grandiose Khmer Rouge projects in-
tended to re-create sophisticated irrigation networks that helped Cambodia wax mighty
under the kings of Angkor. As many as 10,000 Cambodians are thought to have died dur-
ing its construction, worked to death under the shadow of executions, malnutrition and
disease. These days, thanks to the dam, the Kamping Poy area is one of the few parts of
Cambodia to produce two rice crops a year - although at least one crop was ruined in
2013 when severe floods breached the dam's walls.
Despite the lake's grim history, and the fact that there's little to see except the dam and
its sluice gates, the area's eateries, dining platforms and row boats (10,000r for two or
three hours) are a popular destination for Battambangers on weekends and holidays. It's
easy to combine a visit here with a stop at Phnom Sampeau.
Sneng
This town, located on NH57 20km southwest of Battambang towards Pailin, is home to
two small yet interesting temples.
Prasat Yeay Ten
, dedicated to Shiva, dates from the end
of the 10th century and, although in a ruinous state, has above its doorways three delic-
ately carved lintels that somehow survived the ravages of time and war; the eastern one
depicts the Churning of the Ocean of Milk. The temple is situated on the east side of the
highway, so close to the road that it resembles an ancient Angkorian tollbooth.
