The weather continues to be hot and sunny and we hire some bikes ($4) and take a ride out into the countryside. It is difficult to spot where the countryside starts and the town ends as houses line the road which follows the river out of Battambang. It is only glimpses of rice paddies stretching out behind the houses on the left that indicate we have left the town behind. The road soon turns to gravel as we enjoy the peaceful beauty of this lush green lane. After an hour or so following the river we decide to retrace our steps and visit a few of the pagodas in Battambang, of which there are many. All are well kept and some house monastic communities. At Wat Kampheng we chat to a young man who is keen to practise his English. It turns out that he has been living with the monks for only three weeks and is intending to become a monk himself. There are 60 or so monks living at this pagoda which consists of several residential and administrative buildings, statues depicting the conversion of one of the Khmer kings as well as several shrines in addition to the pagoda itself. None of the pagodas around Battambang appear to be short of money as work is under way to to extend or improve most of them. Some of pagodas are beautifully decorated with frescos on the veranda ceilings.
Battambang is situated either side of the Stung Stanker river. Despite it being Cambodia’s second largest city it only has a population of some 560,000. At it’s centre is the not very clean central market, the Psar Nat. This is the liveliest part of town, where sellers of fresh food congregate around the outside whilst clothes, shoes, fabrics, and household stalls occupy the interior. The Psar Nat is also the place to go for cheap eats – if you dare! This is a sleepy town with dusty, unswept roads and what little traffic there is, is mainly mainly motor cycles and the occasional cars or tut-tut. The buildings are low rise – not a tower block in sight – and with a considerable number from the French colonial period. The latter boasting first floor verandas and shuttered windows. Further out of town there are also examples of wonderful old wooden colonial houses on stilts with wide verandas. One of which houses the Riverside Balcony Bar which we visited yesterday.
We are staying at the Royal Hotel just by the Psar Nat. It’s small entrance belies a huge and airy interior with tiled floors, wide corridors and a great view of the city from it’s roof-top balcony restaurant. We have an enormous, well furnished and spotlessly clean room on the first floor for S10 a night. A real bargain.