Battambang Bamboo Train Tour

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.

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.

The killing caves of Phnom Sampeau are a Khmer Rouge execution site on Phnom Sampeau, a hill 7 mi (11 km) southwest of Battambang in western Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge killed their victims on top of the cave at the rim of a daylight shaft or ceiling hole and then threw the dead body into the cave. Men and women were placed in separate caves and clothes in another. There are a number of caves at Phnom Sampeau (Sampeau Hill) that have traditionally served as Buddhist temples. Today there is a large glass memorial in the cave next to the skulls and bones and a golden reclining Buddha, that can be reached via a staircase. A memorial, assembled from cyclone fencing and chicken wire contains human bones at the base of the stairway. Also you can spend your evening to watch million of bats fly out from caves.

Khmer Prahok Market
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.

Rice Paper - Spring Rolls
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.