Talk about visiting Cambodia and a lot of individuals might think about three areas, that of the world renowned temple of Angkor Wat, the capital city Phnom Penh, home of the killing fields plus some of the darkest monuments of the Khmer Rouge days, and then finally the seashores by Sihanoukville aka Kompong Som. To this collection one could squeeze in a fresh destination, the régional capital of Battambang.

The area has become a magnet for visitors, who come to see a more authentic version of Cambodia, away from the tour groups and clicking cameras that have come to define the more well known destinations.

The initial thing which will strike anyone regarding Battambang will be the wealth of colonial era French buildings which makes up most of the old city, with anything from lines of terraced shop houses which are everywhere you go throughout the grid arrangement in the heart of the area, to some bigger privately owned villas previously lived in by the colonial elite and many imposing community complexes, all of these produce a really interesting walking excursion. The most wonderful as well as imposing of those can be the former governors’ household, the city hall, train station and also the primary post office.

Positioned on the shores of the Sangker waterway , the city center is on the eastern side, with the improving western bank home to several big hotels. Go for a walk round the Art Deco period central market where you can grab a liunchtime bowl of soup

Further away from town centre there are many idiosyncratic and different things to find, the main one of those would be the bamboo train also known as the norry. Cambodia’s train system is these days in a condition of disrepair and no longer offers any locomotives operating in it, therefore the villagers located around the train tracks chose to put this to their benefit and developed their personal locomotives. Nothing at all like real size locomotive, the bamboo train is really a easily portable wooden wagon driven by a gasoline motor which has small wheels and can operate along the older train lines. You can go to the train set off point by taxi and take a trip for several kilometres, this costs 5 bucks, which will ultimately arrive at a brick manufacturing facility prior to making the returning trip. Battambang stands out as the location of Cambodia’s only vineyard and wine maker they usually welcome tourists with a wine sampling event. One other unconventional sight is the old Pepsi plant, that was left behind by its proprietors as soon as Khmer Rouge occupied the region. It is possible to step indoors and discover the systems and also countless empty Pepsi bottles just as these were left in 1979.

In addition there are Angkor period wats close to Battambang known as Wat Ek as well as Baset temple, which are worthy of an outing, even though undoubtedly lack the dimensions of Angkor Wat. Baset temple rests atop a hillside that additionally contains two big caverns. Prasat Banan is a present day temple that's on the peak of a four hundred metre high mountain and the cliff top scenery of the rice farms of outlying Cambodia are an amazing vista to view.

After going through Battambang, a good number of visitors' following destination will be siemreap, quickly gotten to on a coach in 5 hrs, or even on a motorboat down river.