//
Photo: No(0)GoodNamesLeft, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
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 killing caves of Phnom Sampeau are a Khmer Rouge (KR) execution site on Phnom Sampeau, a hill 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Battambang in western Cambodia. KR killed their victims on top of the cave at the rim of a daylight shaft or ceiling hole and threw the corpses into the cave. Men and women were placed in separate caves and clothes in another. Phnom Sampeau has multiple caves that traditionally served as Buddhist temples. A large glass memorial in the cave next to the skulls and bones and a golden reclining Buddha mark the massacre. A memorial assembled from cyclone fencing and chicken wire contains human bones.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
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.
Established in 1963, the Battambang Provincial Museum houses a small but impressive collection of Khmer artifacts. The core of the collection is statutes and temple pieces dating from the advent of Hindu and Buddhist religion in Cambodia all the way through the Angkor period. There is also a notable collection of neolithic artifacts from the Laang Spean site. The museum has been renovated, and all artifacts have English-Khmer signage.
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.
The term "train" is here used loosely: a large bamboo platform mounted on train axles powered by a small go-kart engine. A trip on the train can be booked in most hotels or arranged with a motorbike/tuk-tuk driver. It is regulated by Battambang's Tourist Police, with a standard rate of US$5 per person, minimum 2 people or US$10 for one person, with discounts for larger groups. Ask the driver to pause at scenic places. The old Bamboo Train service was terminated as the tracks were rehabilitated for the reopening of the line to Poipet and Phnom Penh. The current Bamboo Train runs on a new purpose-built track: it takes about 10 minutes to get to a stop where you can buy drinks and t-shirts; it then returns along the same route.
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.