Battambang

BAMBOO TRAIN is located 20kms outside Battambang at Banan Mountain.  The train consists of a bamboo platform on train tracks, powered by a small motor and driven by a lorry driver. These days you may have a woman lorry driver which is a sign of how the culture in Cambodia is changing.  Your train journey offers beautiful mountain views, great for wonderful photos. 

WAT EK PHNOM is an 11th century ancient temple, 13 kms north of the city. This temple was a Hindu style temple under the rule of King Suryavarman and has some interesting sandstone carvings.  On the top of the mountain is a Buddhist Pagoda where Buddhist monks meditate and practice the rules of Buddha.

PHUM PRAHOK (FISH PASTE) This is on the way to Wat Ek Phnom so we can make a short visit to one community where fish paste or Prahok is made. Prahok is much-loved by the Khmer people and they look forward to the beginning of the dry season, while harvesting the rice, when Prahok is most plentiful.  It is usually cooked for lunch or dinner and shared with relatives when they eat together.  It’s probably a bit smelly for you and if you’ve never eaten it before, you’ll probably thing the taste is disgusting.  But for almost all Khmer people the taste is delicious especially when eaten with salad greens, cucumbers, French beans, banana flower and much more. You can experience the daily lifestyle of local people and compare the differences with your home country.

A must-visit mountain in Battambang, Phnom Sampov is a natural and historical site situated about 12 kilometres away from Battambang city. Its name, meaning 'Ship Mountain', is due to its ship-like shape when viewed from a distance. Phnom Sampov has got bats's caves and killing fields on the top of the mountain and you will see the cave and left the sadness histories behind of Pol Pot's regime. On the top of the moutain has a few buddhist buildings were built before Khmer Rough and many places on top are very interesting to see with amazing views on top. Later in the evening if you would like to see the bats fly out from caves, you can come down to watch them. It's hightly recommend to vist this mountain.

Rice Paper in Cambodia is made in Daun Teav village, Ek Phnom district, Battambang province located northwest of Cambodia. The province is known for the rice bowl of the Kingdom; therefore, the supply of rice is enough for the making of rice paper. Natives of Battambang cook the rice paper by using the steamer which is traditionally made of Cambodian buffalo skin while now villagers only use clothes steamer, where the rice bran is flattering over boiling water. The hard buffalo skin helps to protect the small grains of rice from getting burned.

Rice paper is used for making the famous and delicious spring rolls. Due to the high demand of these thin leafs of edible paper, most of its production takes place in factories. In Battambang, a few families still make a living by producing them by hand.The process starts by soaking rice in water for the night. The next morning the soft rice is ground and hung in a cloth to drain the water out. The ground and dried rice is mixed with salt water so that the rice paper can be conserved up to three months.