Go to Battambang & What to Do There

After a week in tourist-flooded Siem Reap, I wasn’t so sure what I thought about Cambodia. The temples in Siem Reap were impressive in their own right, but the flood of tourists wiped out an sense of local culture or life. My time in the capital city made me wonder, Why Are There So many Old, White, Single Men in Phnom Penh, Cambodia? I didn’t feel like I was getting an authentic sense of the country. Until I went to Battambang.

Battambang is the third largest city in Cambodia, but it is noticeably less congested as Phnom Penh and less touristy as Siem Reap. It has some of the best-preserved examples of French Colonial architecture, an impressive food scene, and tons of localized activities and history.

After a few pretty wild hours on a bus from Siem Reap, (Cambodia has some of the craziest roads and drivers I’ve ever seen) you’ll find yourself in the middle of the most underrated and overlooked, worthwhile destination in Cambodia.

Battambang has been a magnet recently for expats looking to open new businesses and has resulted in a special mix of boutique hotels, innovative restaurants, street food stalls, artsy hostels and rural living.

The Best of Battambang

Eat at Restaurants in the City and at Roadside Stops in the Countryside

Battangbang is the leading rice-producing province of the country, making the region a mostly agricultural one, focused on food. In the city you can find small, specialized restaurants cooking up traditional Khmer, French, or Western grub.

Nowadays, the talk of the town was all about Jaan Bai, a Khmer, Vietnamese and Thai influenced menu serves tapa-style. The seven-course set menu runs $15 per person, high end prices for Cambodia, and includes dishes like Kampot pepper crab with chilli jam and a papaya and shrimp salad.

While city food is convenient, I spent most of my time cruising the outskirts of the city, checking out some of the more rural, local fare. Every road you go down and corner you turn, you’ll see some kind of food. Whether it’s drying fish, rice paper or bananas, bamboo filled rice cooking over coals, fish being chopped up or families enjoying their dinner outdoors. Here are my favorite roadside snacks in Battambang.

Kralan

A common roadside snack that you can find throughout Cambodia. It’s delicious. It’s especially delicious in Battangbang, the “rice bowl of Cambodia.”

Nom Krok

A bite-size, gelatinous sweet made from coconut milk and rice.

Slicing and drying bananas

Rice Paper

The village of Pheam Ek, about 6km north of Battambang, is known for making rice paper for spring rolls. All along the road, in family homes, 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, too.

Prahoc Factory

At this fish factory, about 7.5km north of Battambang, you can take a peek into the Cambodian prahoc (fermented fish paste) industry. It's about the smeliest place I've ever been, but super interesting. Truckloads of fish being thrown to the ground, just to be picked up again, gutted and sliced.

Aaaaaand...

Get Whatever you Need at the Battambang Central Market

Right in the middle of the city, is the Central Market. It has everything a traveler could need, at a backpacker’s budget to boot. My sandals broke on the walk from the bus station to my hostel. I made a quick stop and picked up a sweet pair for cheap that lasted the rest of my travels. I also needed some clothes altered and found one of the many clothing booths with a sewing machine. The woman shortened my pants in 15 minutes and the best rate in town. Worth cruising through just to take a peek, I promise you’ll find something you need.

Ride a Bamboo train through the countryside

The bamboo train is the main tourist attraction in Battangbang, but still isn’t that touristy. It was originally built as part of a UN mission in the 1990s to help transport goods to rural villages after the devastation they endured at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. It was going to be replaced by a legit train but the government stopped those plans after the locals protested the idea. Since then, it has become a tourist attraction.

Calling it a train is a bit of an overstatement. It is really just a bamboo platform, called a norry, covered by a mat with some pillows for comfort. Locals own the norries and charge $5 for a ride through the countryside and a stop at a “village”, really just a makeshift tourist shop where children pull at your heartstrings to buy a necklace for $1.

Climb to a Mountaintop Temple Filled Run Monkeys

At the top of Phnin Sampou, a limestone mountain 12 km from Battangbang is a colorful temple filled with macaw monkeys. The journey up the mountain can be rigorous. I nabbed one of the motor bike guys at the base of the mountain, paid him $4 and hitched a ride up and back down, stopping at the killing cave on the way. You pretty much have free reign to explore the temple. The view is pretty amazing.

Learn Some Dark History at the Battambang Killing Cave

More than the temple, Phnin Sampou has natural forming caves that were used by the Khmer Rouge to kill Cambodian citizens. It’s possible that as many as ten thousand people were thrown to their deaths here from the opening at the top of the caves.

As you near the cave’s entrance, local children will approach you and offer their services as tour guide. Whatever price you agree upon, expect to get pressured for more. But how can you say no?

Watch Millions of Bats Flying Overhead

After you experience the killing caves and wandered the mountaintop temple, stay at Phnin Sampou until sunset to see millions of bats fly out of the caves for the night. Go to the backside of the mountain, away from all the tables and other people, climb partially up the mountainside to get the best view of the bat escape.

Enjoy the Views of Battambang From the Back of a Tuk-tuk

The best way to get around the city is by bicycle, which you can rent throughout the city. But there's not much to really experience in the city, you gotta get out into the countryside. The best way to do that is to grab a tuk-tuk. I arranged a tuk-tuk tour through my hostel that took me to all the sights I reference in this post. I highly recommend it. Beyond the convenience of all inclusive transport, the open air tuk-tuk allows you to really see what’s passing you by.

Where to stay

This traveler highly recommends Pomme Hostel. It’s super close to the bus station and the central market. The rooms are amazing. It’s not just the typical dorm style accommodations at Pomme, nope, you get a private room at hostel price. It’s a small room, just enough space for the twin bed, a side table and some space to stretch, but the privacy is invaluable when you’ve been traveling on a budget for an extended time. They also have a good bar area with pretty delicious food.