Battambang - Temples and Bats

From Siem Reap, we continue our journey to Battambang, a small town that is perfect for a stopover on the way to Thailand. After sweating so much in the past few days and wishing for a cool pool, finding a hostel with a swimming pool was our top priority this time. So, let's go to the Blue Diamond Hotel with a swimming pool!

The hotel even organizes a pick-up service from the bus station, so we clatter through Battambang's streets in a tuk-tuk. Our accommodation is located a bit outside the town, but as long as we can jump into the cool water, it doesn't matter. When we arrive, our choice proves to be right, as the outdoor area with the pool is really nice and invites us to relax. Our room has everything we need as well. Without the air conditioning, we would probably be in trouble, as the temperatures here reach around 38 degrees. This calls for a lazy day by the pool.. oh yes, finally! We quickly put on our swimwear, have a little snack at the hotel's restaurant, and jump into the pool. More precisely: Lisa jumps into the pool, Sebastian sits next to it and reads, the old landlubber.

We think it's a successful program for today. After three exciting days between the temples of Angkor Wat, we definitely need some time to process the new impressions and recharge.

Now let's see what Battambang has to offer. Despite the 20-minute walk, we head to the city center armed with hats, sunglasses, and cold water. Unfortunately, we don't see much of the wonderful French colonial architecture that the Lonely Planet praises. The picturesque location by the river is only partially picturesque. Yes, there is a river, but like most rivers here, it is brown and not particularly clean. But well, we keep walking and strolling through the streets. At a coffee stand, we drink a delicious frappuccino and chat with the young man who mixed it for us. He insists that we visit the bat caves. Battambang may not have much to offer, but the surrounding landscape is very beautiful, he says. Wonderful, then we know how to spend tomorrow. During our further stroll, we discover a beautiful temple complex where a friendly monk lives and carries a whole bunch of puppies into his small house. At least some dogs have a home...unfortunately, the same cannot be said for most here. But we have been used to that since South America. However, it doesn't make the sight any easier.

Back at the hotel, we cool off in the pool first. In the distance, there is a dark rumbling - could it be a thunderstorm? Indeed, it gets really dark in the sky, but we are already in our room. During our weather check, Sebastian even finds a thunderstorm warning. Great, then we probably have to eat at the hotel again...

The next morning, the sky is clear again and the temperatures are as usual, approaching 40 degrees. Today, the Killing Caves and the Bat Caves are on the program. Both are located outside the city, but our nice tuk-tuk driver from the bus station is willing to take us there for a few dollars. Similar to the Killing Fields we visited in Phnom Penh, the Killing Caves are a place where the brutal Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, held and killed countless people in a cruel manner. The bat cave houses countless bats that all leave their sanctuary together around 6:00 pm to fly out into the evening.

We set off, leaving the city, crossing railway tracks and narrow rivers, passing houses on stilts, temples, and fields with emaciated cows. With the temperatures here, it seems that very little thrives in the fields. The country road is quite a roller coaster ride, as it is also full of potholes that we have to skillfully avoid. But that is almost impossible, so we jolt and bounce through rural Battambang. It's kind of fun, though.

When we reach our destination, we find ourselves in a strange in-between world consisting of touristy restaurants and stalls on one side, and private residential areas, broken huts, and yards on the other side. They sell in the front, they live in the back. It once again makes us realize how fortunate we actually are.

The temple, where the Killing Caves are also located, is built on a hill that we have to climb first. So, we work our way up step by step and have an increasingly wider view of the landscape. At the top, we find a small temple complex with its residents, the monkeys. Two particularly relaxed individuals are lying in front of a shrine and diligently picking lice off each other. Beautiful. We also discover a huge plaque, probably a memorial plaque? Unfortunately, we don't know for sure, as it only has a Thai inscription. Evening is approaching, so we descend, as the bats will be flying out of their cave soon - we don't want to miss this spectacle.

Once we reach the bottom, we find a good spot and wait. Let's see how punctual these bats are. We sit together with many other spectators below the cave and stare up. There is a lot going on here: skewers and coconuts are being sold, children and dogs are running around among the tourists, and the tuk-tuk convoy is already waiting to transport the spectators after the performance. 6:05 pm, the cave opening remains empty. 6:10 pm, all eyes are directed upwards, but nothing moves. Wait, what's that over there? A few scattered black dots fly out of the opening. But the scattered dots quickly turn into a black mass that slithers into the evening sky like a moving snake. Millions of tiny bats fly out of the cave together, forming a constantly changing snake-like line in the dark blue sky. A few drops fall down, but it certainly isn't rain. The bat snake is also accompanied by a slightly pungent smell - no wonder when so many animals sit together in a cave. However, this cave must have an enormous size, as the stream shows no sign of decreasing even after 15 minutes. Later, our tuk-tuk driver tells us that it takes a solid hour for all the bats to leave their domicile. What a powerful sight! Then we rumble out into the night, together with all the other tuk-tuks, until we reach our hotel.

Battambang was our last destination in Cambodia, even though there are certainly some exciting places to discover in the north. We would have liked to go hiking in the Cardamom Mountains, but it might not be the perfect plan with temperatures reaching nearly 40 degrees. But it would also be a shame if we didn't save some places for future trips. So, off to Thailand.