The Best of Cambodia & Laos

142
BATTAMBANG & NORTHERN CAMBODIA
7
BATTAMBANG
Food Stalls by the Riverside
On both the east and the west bank of the Sangker between the Old Iron
Bridge and the New Iron Bridge are lots of stalls selling local food. Fried
chicken, steaming soup, and other staple dishes are served under florescent
tubes. It is a jovial Khmer scene and you will be made welcome. Learn a few
words of Khmer and you will become popular as you are questioned in depth
about your family members and financial liquidity. Open daily 5 to 9pm.
selection of Tex-Mex offerings and pasta. Come here for the perfect place to enjoy a gin
and tonic, soda water, or glass of wine as the light fades, the crickets chirp, and the
tropical night begins to fall.
St. 1. & 053/730-313. Main courses $3.50. Tues–Sun 4pm–midnight.
Smokin’ Pot KHMER This is a cooking school as well as a restaurant (p. 143), and
a great place to sample authentic Khmer cuisine. They serve all the Cambodian classics
such as amok or stir-fried beef with morning glory and peanuts. The fried chicken is
delicious. Eat it the Khmer way with a simple dip of pepper mixed with lemon juice.
Don’t come here for the ambience, since the restaurant has a functional feel to it.
Btw. St. 1 and St. 3 opposite the White Rose Restaurant. & 012/821-400. Main courses $1.50–$3. Daily
7am–11pm.
White Rose ASIAN The popular White Rose is a no-nonsense Khmer restaurant with
an encyclopedic menu embracing Chinese, Thai, and Vietnamese, as well as Cambodian.
The soups are excellent and they also offer delicious baguette sandwiches crammed with
pâté, omelets, or cream cheese. The White Rose also serves decent Lipton tea as well as
the Cambodian and Chinese varieties. The Terrace at the front of the restaurant on the
corner is a good place to sit and watch the world go by (this being Battambang, it goes
by slowly).
St. 2. & 012/536-500. Main courses $1.50–$4. Daily 6:30am–10pm.
ATTRACTIONS
A wander among Battambang’s classic crumbly colonials, all of which are colored a deep
yellowish tan that lights up in the morning and evening light, makes for nice city walking.
There are a few Buddhist temples scattered around town, and south of the city is the
large statue of a kneeling Ta Dambong, the legendary founder of peace and stability in
the region, holding the “Disappearing Stick” for which Battambang gets its name.
The real sights in this area are the rural temples and beautiful countryside. A 1-day
trip can get you to all of them, and as much fun are the rural stops in between, a visit to
a farmer’s field perhaps or to roadside juice stands; you will see real rural Cambodia in
all its richness and variety. There are rice paddies in shades of deep green, flocks of kids
cycling home from school, old folk pottering about their business, their heads swathed
in kramas, their baggy black pants billowing around their legs. A trip to Wat Phnom
Sampeou and Wat Banang is a good circuit, beginning at Rte. 10 on the west end of town
and then returning along the river. For $5, most motorbike drivers will try to talk you