The name Battambang or Batdambang, literally mean "loss of stick" referring to a legend of the Preah Bat Dambang Kranhoung (Kranhoung Stick King). The population is nowaday around 250,000 people . It's a riverside town, home to some of the best preserve, French colonial architecture in the country.
Until recently Battambang was off the map for road traveller, but facilities have recently been improved and it makes a great base for visiting the nearby temples, such as Phnom Banon and Wat Ek Phnom, as the closedby villages.
It's a secondary hub on the overland route between Thailand and Vietnam if the National Highway No 6 from Poipet to Siem Reap is ever upgraded it'll become an even small hub. The network of charming old French shop hous clustered along the riverbank is the real highlight here, and there are number of Wat scattered around the town.
The small museum has a collection of Angkorian-era artifacts, and beyond the town there's a number of hilltop temple, yet more Wats and a pretty large lake. One of the more famous hills is Phnom Sampeau with the notorious killing caves.
Battambang did not give way to the Khmer Rouge movement after the fall of Phnom Penh, but it? been in the centre of the ongoing government Khmer Rouge conflict ever since the Vietnamese invasion in 1979 push the genocidal regime out of Phnom Penh and to the Northwest. Until the surrender deal of Ieng Sary,Battambang was the Khmer Rouge stronghold in the region.
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