Northern Cambodia

Our move to the north of Cambodia showed us another, very different side to the country. Our first stop was the lovely town of Battambang. It was on a river and had some lovely shops and cafes along the riverfront. This is the arts centre of the country, and it has plenty of French colonial buildings, including a large Governor’s Residence, which looked like a Mairie straight out of any French country town.

We enjoyed our time here, except for the weather. On consecutive evenings we were caught in torrential downpours which threatened to ruin our day, but fortunately didn’t. One night we went out to dinner in our all-weather gear wading knee deep through the water. But after a lovely meal, we walked back with all the water gone – things change quickly here.

We had a lovely tour of the local countryside by tuk tuk. On our tour through the villages, paddy fields and jungle, we saw temples and a “killing cave”, which the Khmer Rouge used to hide its victims. But perhaps the highlight was the last thing we saw. As the torrential rain stopped we sat under some umbrellas in a makeshift café as one million bats emerged from a cave above us. This incredible spectacle takes forty minutes as they all stream out and head off to feed, snaking their way like dragons into the distance. This was a real miracle of nature, and wonderful to see.

We then took a great ferry ride to Siam Reap. Going down a river with the sun glinting down was great, and then we crossed the might Tonle Sap Lake in this rickety old boat, with the driver trying to find the best route through submerged trees and bushes. After seven hours we arrived in the town of Cambodia’s Crown Jewels – a place so revered it appears on the national flag.

Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples make up the remains of the city of Angkor built in the tenth to twelfth centuries. At its peak, the city had one million inhabitants, at a time when London only had fifty thousand. All that remains now are the temples and religious buildings, but there are well over one thousand of these. The furthest temples are forty kilometres from Siam Reap itself, so exploring the area takes time, a handy tuk tuk driver and planning.

There are some superb sites. Ta Prohm is an overgrown site where the trees have grown into the walls of the buildings, which gives it an eery feel as it was reclaimed by the jungle. Angkor Thom is a whole complex of temples in itself. At one point it has a 400 yard wall carved with elephants in all their roles from working to fighting, but the highlight is the mighty Bayon. With 54 tall towers, and a large face on each side of each tower, it is really imposing as it looks out in all directions.

But the highlight is the biggest religious building in the world. We got up at 4.30am to see the sun rise over this magnificent building. With a perimeter moat of around seven miles it is awe inspiring, and probably in the best condition of all the sights, some of which are little more than ruins. Siam Reap was a great place to stay too, and we could just dip in and out of the sites at will, in between laying around a convenient swimming pool in our hotel.

After the culture of northern Cambodia it was time to move on to the rural, and remote, east of the country.