Buses run regularly but
for a more comfortable
and faster ride, a private
taxi can be hired in
Phnom Penh (four hours)
and Siem Reap (two
hours) for about US$45-
50. Most hotels in either
city can arrange taxi
transportation.
Battambang Resort is
a 15-minute tuk-tuk ride
from town (the resort
provides one free of
charge). The boutique
hotel grows its own
rice, vegetables, herbs
and fruit and is studded
with stylish bungalows
that fan out from the
resort’s large pool (some
also jut out over a lake
covered with fuchsia lotus
flowers).
Wat Kor village,
T: +855 (0)12 510100,
battambangresort.com
Tourists can visit the
Phare Ponleu Selpak
campus on any day of
the week, while circus
performances are held on
Mon, Thu and Sat (they’re
held nightly under the Siem
Reap big top).
Anh Chanh
village, T: +855 (0)77
554413, phareps.org
LUSH LANDS
A farmerharvesting
hercrop in
Battambang, therice
bowlofCambodia
40
FAHTHAI
CLOSEUP
battambang arts
Sammaki, farther south on Street 2½, I meet a group of
energetic young Phare students who are taking part in an art
history workshop. On the same street is first-generation Phare
graduate and curator Mao Soviet’s Make Maek gallery, which
looks especially lovely at night when a light installation strung
up outside lends it a pleasing glow.
Opposite is one of the latest additions to Battambang’s art
scene, Lotus, a restaurant and bar that hosts exhibitions and
independent film screenings. It’s run by Battambang expat and
documentary filmmaker Darren Swallow and his artist wife
Khchao Touch – also part of the first generation of Phare’s
visual artists. The pair met at Phare while he was working with
the group on a project for the French Film Festival. “The effect
of Phare on this town has been quite profound,” he says. “It’s
much more serious and structured now but the energy has
really spread out over the entire town.”
My base for the trip has been the Battambang Resort,
located amid rippling rice fields, lush tropical gardens and
flourishing orchards on the southern fringes of town. During
my visit, vivacious owner Phary takes me on a food tour that
winds along the Sankhae.
We stop at a small roadside stall for piping hot
nom kruok
(steamed rice cakes), feast on Khmer beef skewers hot off the
grill and top things off with Cambodian melon, which has a
texture similar to that of avocado. The streets are alive with
Good to
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