Central Cambodia - Battambang

Deuxième ville du pays, Battambang a su conserver une atmosphère conviviale et une architecture coloniale et traditionnelle. Située au bord du Tonle Sap, le plus grand lac du pays, son riz est réputé pour être le plus fin du pays. Bien qu’il ne soit pas cultivé à cette saison, la campagne environnante offre de jolies scènes de vies le long des petits chemins de terre.

Nous nous rendons tout d’abord au temple Prasat Banan dont les tours ressemblent curieusement à celles d’Angkor. A l’entrée d’une grotte voisine, nous nous postons pour observer le serpentin interminable de plusieurs centaines de milliers de chauve-souris s’envolant à la tombée de la nuit.

Battambang is Cambodia’s second largest city and is renowned for its colonial architecture and urbane conviviality along the waterfront. Located along the Tonle Sap shoreline, the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia, the countryside is green and lush even during the dry season. Apparently the finest rice and tastiest oranges are produced in the area.

On our first day we visited some hilltop temples in the surrounding area. On our way to “Phonm Banan”, we passed a lot of small villages and stopped at a local vineyard. We can now truly confirm that there is a good reason why Cambodia is NOT renowned for its local wine or Brandy! The temple with its five towers resembled the layout of Angkor Wat. At  “Phnomh Sampeau” we observed how millions of bats 

 

Même si la nourriture est moins variée que dans les pays voisins, nous suivons un cours de cuisine khmère d’une demi-journée. Après une brève visite du marché et quelques explications sur les produits locaux, nous apprenons, entre autre, la recette du Fish Amok, un poisson cuit à la vapeur agrémenté d’une sauce aux épices et au lait de coco.

Enjoying the Asian cuisine, we took another cooking course. This time I was lucky and Olivier did not screw up within the first few minutes of us being there! After a short visit to the local market and some explanations of some local products we cooked three traditional dishes. Our favorite was the “Fish Amok”, fish in a coconut sauce steamed in banana leaves. Yummy!

Still eager to learn more about the local food, I convinced two sisters in a small vegetarian restaurant (where we went several times a day!) to let me watch them cook. They were very sweet and explained all the different steps of the dishes, offered me fresh soy milk and made me feel very welcome. Loved it!

 

Créée il y a une petite vingtaine années à Battambang, l’école « Phare Ponleu Selpak » est un centre d’art pour enfants défavorisés accueillant chaque jour près de 1400 élèves. On y enseigne la musique, les arts visuels, le théâtre ou encore le cirque. Nous observons une matinée les répétitions du spectacle « Putho » auquel nous assisterons avec émerveillement la soirée du lendemain. Un impressionnant et savoureux mélange d’acrobaties, d’humour, de théâtre et de musique.

Another highlight in Battambang for us was our visit to the “Phare Ponleu Selpak”, an association created to promote the cultural identity of the Cambodia on a national and international level. The school has specialized in music, visual arts, theatre and circus, teaching over 1500 students. Accessible for everybody, the school focuses on supporting children from poor backgrounds. We visited one morning the exposition of the visual arts school and the repetition of the circus school which we watched perform the following evening. The show “Putho” was an impressive and very funny show, bringing music, theatre and acrobatic together.