Battambang's original cooking school, and still highly popular. Hotel pick-up, market tour to buy ingredients. US$10 (4 separate dishes; vegetarian available; free cookbook to take away).
The shows are fun, energetic and exciting and include a range of circus disciplines. The ticket price helps support the NGO school which works with disadvantaged children and teenagers.
A hill with the killing caves of the Khmer Rouge, a few others caves adorned with Buddhist statues, and a monastery with two Buddhist stupas on the hilltop. The admission charge also includes Wat Banan. It takes about 1 hr to climb the circuit to the monastery on top, with a short-cut leading back down to the shops and restaurants which line the approach road.
The so-called mini-Angkor Wat, an impressive flight of stairs lead up to a dilapidated Angkor-style temple which is still in use as a Buddhist shrine.
The most famous of these statues (Lok Ta Dambong Kra Nhoung) is on the main road from Phnom Penh and is of an ancient Khmer King holding a stick which he used to quell rebellions in the Battambang area. The name of the town and province derives from this legend.
Angkor-type temple ruin. The road runs along lovely small rivers flanked by trees and small villages making it a generally nice area. Approaching Wat Ek Phnom, you suddenly encounter a giant Buddha statue in the wat, which is certainly picture-worthy. The grounds of the wat also have an Angkorian-era temple which is in relatively good shape and with some interesting carvings.