Buddhas, Bats and Killing Time in my Bedroom in Battambang


Advertisement
Cambodia's flag
Asia » Cambodia » North
August 28th 2017
Published: August 28th 2017
Edit Blog Post

Battambang, Cambodia



August 28th 2017



“It is better to travel well than to arrive”

Buddha



“Few things are as exciting as the idea of travelling somewhere else. But the reality of travel seldom matches our daydreams”

Allain de Botton






My smartphone weather predictor tells me there is 70%!c(MISSING)hance of rain today. And as I conclude my pre-dawn rituals, I discover that the 30%!c(MISSING)hance of no-rain is not going to come true.



Even so, I decide to go ahead with my plan to rent a motor-scooter at 8 am and head out to Phnom Sampov. I already have a premonition that in my weird state of mind I am not going to be swept off my feet by any 'attractions' that all media about Battambang tells me are 'must do' things here. But it's just in getting out and about... traveling a road in the countryside..... being on a bike.... that I know is going to put a smile on my face and help me pass my last day in Battambang.



Phnom Sampov is a natural and historical site located 13km from the provincial town of Battambang. On top of the 100-meter-high mountain stands a pagoda. There are a series of limestone caves on the mountain. One is considered important because it's where Phnom Sampov residents come to celebrate after a marriage. Another is full (some say with millions) of bats which emerge each dusk. Then there are those known as the 'killing' caves as it's where the Khmer Rouge bludgeoned to death many locals and then tossed them into holes which served as the skylights to those caves.



I ride for about 40 minutes and come to a town which I figure ought to be about the distance I need to have traveled to get to Phnom Sampov. I check my google map on my smartphone (I have only realised quite recently that if I do a google map search before I leave a wifi area like my hotel, I still by some magic... probably called satellite GPS.... get to see where I am on that map even though I am not connected to the internet. Oh the marvels of modern travel). I discover to my amusement that I am in a place in completely the wrong direction to where I should be. Never mind.



After retracing my route and getting onto the correct road I finally arrive.



The place seems sad and run-down. I park in the monastery grounds and decide to walk up the mountain instead of ride. I have loads of time... I like the exercise.... and I can pretend I am a pilgrim. I get stopped by a woman who wants me to buy a U$3 ticket to go up. She mentions the killing caves and the bat cave. I tell her I only want to visit the pagodas. I turn back and talk to a local about this business of charging to visit a holy site. He tells me I should only be paying US$1 in that case. I go and reach a negotiated settlement with the woman, telling her I am not at all interested in the killing caves.. and it being 9am I am not about to wait another 7 hours to see the bats. She sells me a US$1 ticket. A bargain by any measure.



I take my time... walk around... and in the end I quite like the little buddha grove at the place of the marriage cave. On the way back I come across yet another Ganesh statue amidst all this Buddhist stuff. I need to find out what this is all about. I realise that the Angkorian stuff in Cambodia is Hindu in origin... but what is it about Ganesh in particular that has crept into the Buddhist iconography?



So..... apparently.... Ganesha appears in the form of the Buddhist god Vināyaka. His image may be found on Buddhist sculptures of the late Gupta period. As the Buddhist god Vināyaka, he is often shown dancing, and was adopted in Nepal and then into Tibet, and it seems, into south-east Asia.



By the time I get back down to the bike it's about 11.30 am. I ride back to town and go to my room for a shower. And now it really does start raining... hard and long. I am again going to spend the afternoon in my bedroom here. It's become a bit of a 'thing' these past few days in Battambang... in between going out for the occasional meal and little walk around town. I have even gotten into watching not so great movies on my computer... which is a new activity for me. Hm.... better watch this, it could become a habit I think I would not be so enamored with.





But for now, why not? I'm allowed.

Advertisement



Tot: 0.152s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 12; qc: 29; dbt: 0.0506s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.1mb