One Perfect Battambang Travel Day

The view from from the summit of Phnom Sampeu

Cambodia Travel Has Changed

The trip from Cambodia into Thailand used to be the stuff of legend. Travelers spent all day bouncing around in pickup trucks on muddy tracks that didn’t deserve the name "road."

Now, buses and minivans speed along a paved road, whisking travelers from Cambodia into Thailand and onward to Bangkok.

The trip isn’t too bad anymore — even though we got stuck for a few hours at the Thai border, it was manageable.

But when you're traveling with teens, it's always better to be safe than sorry. So I planned us a great day in Battambang to fill everyone's tanks before spending a travel day getting to Bangkok.

Morning: Kayaking on the Sangker River

We started the day with a kayaking trip through Green Orange Kayaks, part of a great NGO helping rural Cambodia — help them if you can!

Green Orange picked us up at our hotel, drove us into the countryside, and put us on the Sangker River. We had two kayaks: one double and one triple. It took us a few lazy, wonderful hours to paddle back toward Battambang.

We floated past stilted villages and kids on the banks shouting "HELLO!" We shouted "sousaday!" ("hi" in Khmer) back at them.

It was hot, and so we only paddled halfheartedly. Sometimes I dangled my legs into the refreshing river. We weren't in it for speed. We were in it for fun. For splashing. For laughing. For shouting "sousaday!" at the top of our lungs.

We felt free on a river far from home — and we loved it. By the time we returned to Battambang, it was time for lunch and a quick nap.

Afternoon: Hiking Phnom Sampeu and Watching the Bats

By mid-afternoon we were ready to go again.

Close-up of a baby macaque clinging to its mother's arm

We hired a tuk-tuk to take us to Phnom Sampeu, a mountain dotted with shrines, caves, and sobering Khmer Rouge history. We hiked up many, many stairs to the top, explored a "killing cave" (more subdued than what we had seen in Phnom Penh, but still . . . ), and admired the stupa at the summit.

The view from the top was stunning:A checkerboard of green fields, dotted here and there with with trees, stretching to the horizon. Monkeys (macaques) jumped and played around us.The kids were torn between watching the view and watching the monkeys.

Macaques sitting on an ornate stone temple wall

Before sunset, we scrambled back down the stairs to wait at the cave entrance. As dusk fell, a thin but steady stream of bats poured out of the cave — a living ribbon against the fading sky.

We sat and watched, and watched, and watched, as the bats flew out by the thousands.

It was the perfect ending to one perfect day. We were set and ready to pack into a minivan and spend a whole day making our way out of Cambodia, and into Thailand.

It’s a day we still talk about, even years later.

A day that prepared us for the boredom to come.

Because travel is a game of balance.

Practical Details

Kayaking: We didn’t pre-book anything. After arriving in Battambang from Siem Reap, we simply asked our hotel manager to set up kayaking with Green Orange Kayaks for the next morning.

Tuk-tuk to Phnom Sampeu: Just walk outside. The drivers will find you.

Bargain hard!