After visiting Siem Reap I headed to Battambang before continuing on to Phnom Penh. The days spent in both cities were both fun and very informative as I learned more about the history of Cambodia.
To get to Battambang from Siem Reap I took a nice, quick, and easy four hour bus ride with Louisa, whom I met in Koh Samui. Once in Battambang we both checked into our hostels which happened to be located close to each other. After getting settled we met back up for dinner and to wander around the town. The next morning I met Louisa at her hostel and we decided to walk to what was supposed to be a cool ancient house. It was a long walk in the hot sun and once we got there we were disappointed to say the least. What was supposed to be a cool ancient house ended up being what looked like an old abandoned house behind a fence. Once we made the disappointing realization that we had walked so far in the heat for basically nothing, we got a tuk tuk back into town and then got lunch. After lunch we had a tour booked through Louisa’s hostel to visit a Bamboo Train, the Killing Caves, and Bat Cave. We headed to her hostel to wait for the tour and to wait for Naomi, whom I met in Chiang Rai as Naomi was also arriving in Battambang that same day. Once again I’d like to note that backpacking can be a really small world. On the same tuk tuk that Naomi arrived on was Emma, whom I had met at the beginning of my trip in Serbia. It was such crazy timing. Since both Naomi and Emma arrived before the tour, they both decided to join us so, at the start of the tour the four of us got in the same tuk tuk and we were together for the whole tour.
Our first stop of the day tour was to the Bamboo Train, which is a big tourist attraction in Battambang. The train “car” is a bamboo platform on top of salvaged railroad wheels and is run by an old motor. While simple in construction, it was a lot of fun. We rode the bamboo train for seven kilometers (4.35 miles) until it reached where an old “railway station” used to be. At the end point were small local souvenir shops where we were brought to one person and sat for a short period of time before going back. Along the ride we were able to see the countryside and whenever we encountered another bamboo train, the train traveling towards the souvenirs would get off and the two drivers would quickly dismantle the train. After dismantling, the one headed back to the start would pass, without even having had to stop, and then the drivers would reassemble the train and continue. While it doesn’t sound like much it was a ton of fun riding the bamboo train, seeing the countryside, and how the trains are built.
The second stop of the day tour was to the Killing Caves where the Khmer Rouge brutally murdered thousands of Cambodians and left their corpses there. To get to the Killing Caves we first had to go up a mountain. Our tuk tuk driver told us that the mountain was too steep for the tuk tuk and that the walk to the top takes a while and since there are other caves and temples to visit on the mountain he suggested we hire a driver with a jeep to take us to the top. Since it was cheap for the four of us to hire a driver we decided to do that option. It was a lot of fun riding in the back of the jeep and having to hold on to make sure we didn’t fall off. It wasn’t that dangerous, but we did have to hold on tight. The first stop on the mountain was the Killing Caves. On the walk to the caves there were graphic sculpture depictions of the different horrific torture methods the Khmer Rouge used on Cambodians. It was a sobering start to a depressing cave. After the sculptures we continued to the largest of the caves and down the steps into the cave which has been turned into a mausoleum where there is a reclining Buddha and also a case containing some of the bones found in the cave. The next stop on the mountain was a temple built into multiple caves. Once there, a local girl took us through the caves. Some areas of the cave were large and open and at other times we had to get out and climb through small, dark areas. It was cool going through the caves, but at some points it was stressful because of how tight, dark, and slick the caves were. The third and final stop on the top of the mountain was to a temple where there are a lot of monkeys. Before arriving we did not know that there would be so many monkeys and we were surprised by how many there were. It was fun but also slightly scary at points because the monkeys are curious and came so close to us. The local ladies selling food and snacks at the top would sometimes bang loud sticks to get the monkeys to go away. Other than the cool, but also slightly scary monkeys, there was also an amazing viewpoint. After spending a while at the three stops we made our way back down to the Bat Cave before 6:00 pm when the bats all started leaving the cave en masse in what looked like a large black cloud of millions of bats. It was so cool to see them all leaving at once and that they left exactly at 6:00 pm sharp, which is when our tuk tuk driver said that they would leave. After watching the bats for a while we finally decided to leave, especially since we were told that it would take another hour or longer for all the bats to leave the cave. Once back into town, the four of us went out for dinner.
On my second morning in Battambang, Louisa, Naomi, Emma, and I met up for brunch and hung out for a while before splitting up until later that evening. I ended up going back to my hostel to get some admin work done and to beat the extremely hot midday heat. After resting and being productive I met up with my friends for dinner. When I arrived at dinner I noticed that two girls sitting at the table next to ours were people I knew and had met in Koh Samui. Backpacking really is a small world. After dinner, the four of us headed out to wander around the main part of town and then got a beer at my hostel's restaurant where we stayed and hung out for the rest of the evening.
The next morning I packed up and headed to Louisa’s hostel where we were being picked up by a bus that would take us to Phnom Penh. It was a longer bus ride than the ride to Battambang and ended up taking most of the day. Once in Phnom Penh and checked into our hostel, Louisa and I headed out to wander around the town and found a good place to watch the sunset. After sunset we headed to a well known noodle shop in Phnom Penh. It was good, but overhyped. We then headed back to the hostel and called it a night. On my only full day in Phnom Penh, we started the morning by walking to the S21 Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. At the Genocide Museum we both got audio guides and made our way through the former Khmer Rouge torture prison and learned more about the Khmer Rouge and the atrocities that were committed there. It was a very heavy day full of information. At the S21 Toul Sleng Genocide Museum we learned that when it was still a prison the Khmer Rouge would take prisoners there and torture them until they got “confessions” about spy connections or any other information they wanted to hear. It started with prisoners who used to be a part of the Vietnamese backed Cambodian Government but as time went on even high ranking Khmer Rouge leaders were arrested and killed. The people who worked at the prison and tortured the prisoners were under strict orders not to kill them as that was to happen after they were transported to the killing field a little ways outside of town. One thing that hit extra hard when walking through the different buildings, was that in some of the rooms you could see blood stains on the floor. In the rooms where the final twelve prisoners were found dead you could still see blood stains on the floor from where they bled out. History can be very sobering.
After the S21 Genocide Museum Louisa, a girl from our hostel who we met up with at the end of the Genocide Museum, and I all got a tuk tuk and headed out to the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center, also known as the Killing Field. Across Cambodia there are hundreds of killing fields, some of them near towns and others in very remote areas. The Choeung Ek is one of the most well known. At the Killing Field we got audio guides that walked us through the site. While there aren’t any of the structures remaining, the audio guide told about where the few buildings used to be and what their purpose was. It also stopped at some of the different mass burial graves and told about the groups of people found at each. One of the hardest stops was the killing tree. Even though I had been told about it from others before arriving, seeing it and hearing on the audio guide what happened there was still hard to hear. The Khmer Rouge used the killing tree to beat babies. At Choeung Ek they found almost nine thousand remains within the mass graves they exhumed. Even now, many years later, as you walk through the site you can still see bits of clothing and human bones that have resurfaced. While I had been told you could still see these pieces, I was not prepared for how much clothing I saw while walking through.
Overall, it took the whole day to go to both the Genocide Museum and the Killing Field. It was a very heavy day. It was difficult to hear and see remnants of the sad history of the Cambodian genocide, however it was important to learn about it so that hopefully history isn’t forgotten and that it doesn’t repeat itself.
Once I got back to my hostel I rested for a short while and then Louisa, two others I had met at previous hostels, and I headed out to walk towards the Palace neighborhood and river. We ended up walking along the promenade for a while and stopped for dinner as we walked. After dinner we went back to the river and hung out for a little while before going back to the hostel for the night. The next day I had a morning pickup from my hostel and was taken to my bus. I parted ways with Louisa and headed back to Siem Reap where I had an uneventful two days of rest before getting another bus back to Thailand.
My time in Cambodia went by so fast. It was full of meeting up with so many people from past locations and meeting new people. Before going to Cambodia I was told I only needed two weeks there, but in my opinion that was very wrong. If I had the time I would have loved to spend a full month in Cambodia and to have visited the islands which I’d been told amazing things about. While I wasn’t able to spend as long as I wanted in Cambodia, I had a great time and will definitely go back again someday.
“To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong
about other countries.”
- Aldous Huxley
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