Battambang caves 5 - Phnom Kdaong

There are several limestone hills in the Battambang area of Cambodia. The most famous hill is Phnom Sampeu, where the "killing caves" are located.

Phnom Kdaong is the hill immediately to the south of Sampeu. When driving from Battambang you turn left just before Sampeu.

On the east side we had to climb a long flight of steps to reach the small caves. The first cave, Laang Kess has brightly painted statues

apsara on stal

Spot the non Buddha!

For some reason there is an old toilet in a side passage


The next cave had a tree growing over the entrance

and there were some human bones in a side chamber

We continued up the stairs and there were some beatiful frangipangi

The next Buddha had a small cicak on his hand

This tree is well protected by thorns

The cave at the top of the hill, Laang Tabalkan, was really small, and there were some baby squirrels outside, which presumably had been abandoned by mum and were dying

When we got back down the hil the children greeted us with smiles

After lunch we drove to the quarry on the other side of Phnom Kdaong, opposite Sampeu. Some boys led us and we walked to one cavity which was 9m long,

then to a long rock-shelter

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Battambang Caves 4 - Kampong Poi area

Kampong Poi (Puoy) in in the Battambang area of Cambodia. It is reached by taking the only junction when driving from Sampeu towards Sdao, on the road to the border town of Pailin. The area is famous for its large manmade lake.

We stopped at a wat but there was no cave, so we drove through the village

to another part of the hill. We climbed some stairs to the monks’ place, and found a small cave Muy Chung (Muk Chniang)

with an open roof at the back and horizontal bedding. An older monk arrived and said “how are you” a few times, but that was the extent of his English.

From here we drove into a quarry

but it seemed to be dolomite rather than limestone.

We went back into Takriem village and wanted to get to a cave high up in Phnom Ta Kriem with an entrance visible from the road.

We got a local boy to guide us and with about 10 kids had a 20 minute walk along the edge of the fields and then climbed a very steep track

The kids ran up the hill like mountain goats. At the top there was a good view over the plain

There were 2 entrances. The right side hole had a ladder and the kids swarmed up this.

The cave was just It was one small chamber with 2 linking holes in the floor, and some concrete linga bases.

I didn't realise so many kids had joined us and there was a queue

on the ladder to get back down.

The left side cave was the bat cave Roung/Laang Prakiu,

but we couldn’t go in because of the stench of guano produced by many bats.

It was so strong, absolutely pure ammonia, which is rare. Michael braved a quick forage to find a dead bat (Tadarida plicata) - we were collecting cave fauna for identification.
I don't know if the kids thought we wanted to eat it, but one boy went into the cave and came out with a live bat which I was able to photograph before releasing. It was a free-tailed bat.

For me going down the hill was as hard as going up

Back in the village the locals were able to drink from water containers

but we preferred to stick to safe cans

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission

Battambang caves 3 - Crocodile Hill area, Phnom Krapoeu

Phnom Krapoeu is north of the main road from Battambang to Pailin, opposite Phnom Sampeu.

and as seen from main road

Wat Kantoy is a cave temple at Roung Kantoy Krapoeu, also known as Crocodile Cave

After surveying that cave, we drove back to a rice mill, and a local led us up the hill to Laang Khla, Tiger Cave. This is very short and we didn't descend a drop. There were nice views over the plains and across to Sampeu.

On another day we went to Phnom Truang Muang (Taroung Moan). This hill is east of Phnom Krapoeu and is known as Chicken Hill. There is a wat,

There is a cave by the footpath at the back of the wat. A fixed metal ladder leads down into the cave,

where I spotted a Striped Kukri Snake (kait meas)

The cave is quite short and has Buddha statues.

I think this is a cannonball tree

Walking down the hill we looked at a small 6m shaft entrance covered with netting. Apparently 3 people died in here, maybe from CO2.

On another day we went to the Vipassana Centre on Phnom Trung Tee, opposite Sampeu. It is a small hill. We were shown a 37m long cave which had been artificially opened, probably for the calcite crystals.

© Liz Price
No reproduction without permission