Battambang

5th – 6th January

The town was pleasant enough as a stop off, but certainly doesn’t make for a destination of it’s own. We’d originally planned to call here on our motorbike circuit around Cambodia as the town is a convenient distance between both Siem Reap and P.P. In hindsight we probably should have headed directly back to P.P. on the route we’d come as it was a mission to get to Battambang by bus!

We only stayed 1 night, and we did enjoy a fun half day thrashing around on a dirt bike, taking in some of the surrounding countryside. A proper off road bike and proper Cambodian ‘roads’ gave us a real feel for the country, much more so than you can appreciate from a bus or minivan on a highway. The split of wealth in the country was more evident now, as we saw the poorest people working their land in the most archaic of ways. The poverty, particularly in the nearby villages, was immediately apparent and quite distressing.

Don’t expect to find anywhere decent to stay in Battambang if you’re on any sort of budget. Likewise for eating, which was unexpected as this was a typical town undominated by tourism. The one thing we will take away from Battambang is seeing a side to Cambodia that wasn’t obvious from the tourist hotspots of P.P. and Siem Reap.