Fake tanning the Cambodian way

This morning we started early to try and beat the heat out to Phnom Sampeau, just outside of Battambang. It is a wat (a what?) on a hill. The motorbike ride out was nice, except for the fact that the roads are not sealed and we arrived at Phnom Sampeau with self-tans no amount of money could replicate. At least it was on the front anyway. Also on the mountain are a few caves where hundreds of skulls and bones were found. The area was used as a killing field by the Khmer Rouge. They killed mainly intellectuals and children at this site, tossing their bodies down into the caves. The temple at the top is in the process of being renovated and expanded. They had to paint the walls and floors inside because of all the blood stains from when it was used as a prison (and where they killed people). We had a local 18 year old as our guide, who helped explain what we were seeing. The views of the surrounding countryside are beautiful. We are surprised at how flat a lot of Cambodia is. We could see another small mountain a few miles away called Crocodile Mountain, once an important place for Khmer Rouge officials. At the bottom of this mountain, they are currently carving a huge Buddha into the mountainside. The bamboo scaffolding constructed for this purpose would not pass a retrofitting inspection. In fact, we were nervous that a breeze from a passing bird would send the whole contraption tumbling down.

We hopped back onto the motorbikes and went to Wat Banan, ruins of a temple built in the 11th century. We hiked up the many stairs to the top and had the whole place to ourselves. Again, good views of the countryside, but stinking hot. We rode back to Battambang, tried to find a pub, found it but it was closed, then tried to find a recommended restaurant and finally settled on a random place after walking around in the dark for 45 minutes. We walked through the ghetto of Battambang, a neighbourhood of REALLY small, poor homes and received quite a few curious looks.

That's all we really need to say about Cambodia's second largest city.