The well-kept secrets of Angkor Wat

If you look beyond the smiling Buddha faces of Bayon and the towers of Angkor Wat, you might stumble upon a sleepy district lost somewhere in the shadows of its more popular neighbor Siem Reap.

Battambang, surprisingly the second largest city in Cambodia, is where I finally found the bona fide flavor of the country and which doesn't adhere to rules laid down for its tourist-centric trail.

Initially, I wanted to take a boat to Battambang from Siem Reap, despite knowing that the journey time would be doubled. The water levels of the Tonle Sap River were quite low, so that made sure I stuck to the three-hour road journey. To my surprise, this town that came across as a laid-back settlement, was actually the second-largest in Cambodia and has witnessed its fair share of tumultuous events in Cambodia's long, mutinous history.

 

A walking distance away from the Bayon is the temple-mountain of Baphuon
 which was undergoing extensive renovation.

The bamboo train

Apart from the past that it still retains, Battambang has also held on to its ancient bamboo train system. Extremely impatient for a ride, I left the very same day for Odambang, the village from where you can 'board' the train. The train is nothing more than a large bamboo platform mounted on train axles powered by a small go-kart engine, and as mundane as it looks, the journey atop is nothing short of exhilarating.

Cambodia: The Unexplored Tourist destination

Ancient temples, empty beaches, mighty estuaries and rivers, distant woodlands and also (outside Angkor) only a couple of vacationers. But the phrase is going — Cambodia offers surfaced through many years regarding war and also isolation and is also well and truly back around the Southeast Oriental travel guide.

Through Phnom Penh we fly to be able to Siem Experience. From Angkor we have three whole times to research the complicated; from your elegance regarding Angkor Wat towards the enigmatic confronts with the Bayon as well as the haunting Ta Prohm temple, enveloped inside the clutches of the jungle. 

 

Angkor Wat

Go to of the primary wats or temples regarding Angkor Wat about the small, and great circuit. Walk through the particular woodland regarding Angkor, steering clear of the key highway upon unpaved roads to become listed on the actual temples.