Unfortunately we don't really have much to report from Battambang. We were pretty exhausted after a few hot, long days exploring Angkor Wat and since Alex was still battling a cold we were content to sit around the pool at our hotel after arriving on Monday.
Not a bad place to relax.
We did head into town for dinner at Café Eden, and enjoyed a great meal by the river. We walked around town for a bit, but there really wasn't much to see in the dark.
Battambang is touted as a more remote location to view the authentic Cambodian landscape as well as a handful of historic sites. While we definitely got a chance to see some of the countryside - and how much of the population lives - the sights weren't nearly as impressive as the mighty Angkor Wat.
On Tuesday, we spent the morning lounging at our hotel again but decided to venture out to Phnom Sampeau in the afternoon. The hill is home to a couple of temples as well as the Killing Caves, another area that the Khmer Rouge used to torture and murder innocent Cambodians.
A somber depiction of how the Khmer Rouge pushed people off the cliffs to their deaths inside the caves.
Entrance to the temple at the top of the hill.
Looking up at Phnom Sampeau Temple.
These monkeys were not messing around - they stole food and chased people around!
After a sobering experience exploring the caves, we walked down the hill to the infamous "bat cave." A phenomenon that no one can really explain, over a million bats leave this one cave right before sunset, every day. We gathered with a handful of other tourists - and tuk tuk drivers - to watch the bats and were amazed as they all flew out of the cave right on schedule.
Apparently this scene continues for 45 minutes but after about 15, we felt like we had experienced the phenomenon!
All of the bats flying together at once created the image of a black snake crossing the sky!
While the bat cave was a pretty cool experience, I'm not sure it warrants a special trip to Battambang, especially after seeing Angkor Wat.
This morning I went for a quick run and was treated to quite an amazing sunrise. We're getting another taxi to take us back to Phnom Penh in an hour or so - we're both looking forward to getting back to a bigger city and seeing some of the sights we missed on our first few days in Phnom Penh.
Pretty great start to the day!