Greetings from Granny Sampov

Somehow this elderly lady reminds me of some certain members of my family. Namely the ones who always wonders why younger family members haven’t called lately, and why they’re not married yet. With an added advice to settle down and start a proper family.

Met this not easily impressed lady macaque in the temple complex on top of Phnom Sampov, outside Battambang.

More than bat caves
These hills are well known for its bat cave and sunset departure of hundred of thousands of bats for the night hunt. But there is much more to the “ship mountain” Phnom Sampeau/Sampov than bats. There are several sites in the hills worth a visit.

Two larger monasteries with pagodas and stupas, monkeys and large caves are worth visiting both for cave fans and people of all parts of Cambodian history. The caves on this and the other small mountain hills in this cluster carry with it stories of tradition, happiness and deep tragedy.

It is worth spending some time walking these hills. For the well fit, there is an opportunity to trek the stairs and tracks up the hill. The fast alternative is to pay a driver to take you up to the sites by car.

Phnom Sampov is north-west of Battambang city in the west of Cambodia. It takes about 30-40 minutes by car to get there from the city.

Do not feed the monkeys
The monkeys are a part of the pagoda experience. These longtail Macaques are normally very friendly because they expect to get, or steal, food or items for play from the visitors.

Please, do not feed the monkeys. It reduces their ability to hunt and gather their own food. It may lead to malnutrition.

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Colourful food in colourful fields

Looking for bright colours is easy in a tropical area. But finding exciting colour contrasts are the real fun.

Along the small inlets and in between the rice fields along Siem Reap river down to Phnom Krom and the Tonle Sap lake, some local restaurateurs build these small huts on stilts in the background. A family or travel party can order food and drinks, and relax in the shadows with a view to this tranquil landscape.

It really is a soothing experience with the hammocks provided.

Or maybe guests can have a small walk pre or post lunch, just to look for colours, shapes, flowers or plants, and birds or other animals.

Alive or not.


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Now, that is a ladybird beetle with an attitude

This large ladybird beetle was a visitor on the plant next to me enjoying morning coffee in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

I consider such visits as a forecast of a lucky day. Well, I was in Siem Reap, heading out to visit the Angkor Archaeological Park. That is always a happy experience.

Lucky biodiversity
There are 15 registered variants of Ladybug or Ladybird beetles in Cambodia. Probably there are many more. Neighbouring Viet Nam has 220 variations of Ladybugs registered so far. And the nature, flora and fauna of those two countries are equally rich and exciting.

When it comes to biodiversity, Cambodia is a well known hotspot in Southeast Asia. And there are still discoveries to be made.

Like in most of the world, these Ladybugs are considered to be a sign of good luck here too.

Natural pest control
Unless of course you are one of the insects lady bugs like to feed upon, as they are natural pest control animals. Aphids, scales, mealy bugs, white flies, mites and thrips which often is a threat to flora and micro fauna can be effectively controlled and kept at an acceptable level when lady bugs are taking action.

They are an amazingly effective natural way of handling and reducing the threats from pests.

The family Coccinellidae is a large family of lady beetles. Globally there are 6 000 variants divided into 360 under groups.

And this one was on the larger side.


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The Ponhea Yat stupa at Wat Phnom

Ponhea Yat was the last ruler of the Khmer empire and the first king ruling the kingdom of Kampuchea/Cambodia from Phnom Penh.

The old Khmer capital in Angkor Thom was abanded in 1431 CE. The smaller kingdom needed an easier defendable city, closer to trade routes and waterways. This new Cambodian Kingdom was a Buddhist kingdom and the Hindu god king status disappeared with the Empire.

City of many names
After Ponhea Yat had completed the new royal palace, he gave the new capital the short name Krong Chaktomuk Serei Mongkol, ‘City of the Brahma’s Faces’. It refers to the four rivers that meets and flows in the capital area.

The full name of the kings capital was “Krong Chaktomuk Mongkol Sakal Kampuchea Thipadei Serei Theakreak Bavar Intabat Borei Roat Reach Seima Moha Nokor”. That is translated loosely to “The place of four rivers that gives the happiness and success of Khmer Kingdom, the highest leader as well as impregnable city of the God Indra of the great kingdom”

Several stupas
The main large and lesser smaller stupas contains the remains of the king and members of his royal family. His remains are kept prominently in this stupa behind the main pagoda in Wat Phnom. This is the central, artificial sacred hill on the southwest riverside of Tonlé Sap being the namesake and origin of the capital city.

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Noodle nests in scale


Like many large Asian cities, the sheer number of people living in a relatively small space is a trademark. No difference in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia and the largest city in the kingdom.

But as this is the Khmer capital, good food is just as important here as in the rest of the country. And making unique products is essential if you want to stand out in the competition for hungry stomachs.

Fresh made for the soup sold, dried for take away
This business produces egg noodles on a large scale, and whatever they don’t use in their own breakfast restaurant is sold as these dried noodle nests.

In this narrow side street between Orussey Market, Olympic Mall and the Central Market, there’s a steady flow of tuktuks, bicycles, cars and people. Fresh noodles served hot and fresh in a big bowl of rich broth with meat and vegetables street side: That is a rewarding start of the day. Listening to the city wakes up is audible spice.

When I asked the price was one and a half dollars per kilo of dried noodles. That’s a lot of noodles for the money.

Over the years, the business has expanded. The first time I saw this place, there was only a single row of drying racks. Last time, they had started with the double row in the background.

But the woman on the bicycle passed by unbothered both times.


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When your home is a temple

Some of the temples you see in Cambodia are marvels of intrinsic details, but sometimes the cohabitants are, too. Like this one at Phnom Sampov/Phnom Sampeau near Battambang.

The monkeys at most of these temple sites around Asia are peaceful, knowing they are safe and have access to food and water. But they are also nosy and cheeky, and any seasoned traveller know to keep their belongings, food and water well contained or hidden around these rascals.

No feeding or fighting
Even if they are small, they are strong and have sharp teeth. So there is no use try picking a fight.

And never, ever feed the monkeys. It reduces their ability to hunt and gather their own food, leading to malnutrition and they become more aggressive in close contact with humans.

Small gene pools
Another challenge for these monkeys are the limited numbers of members in each family group in each temple. That is causing some problems with inbreeding due to small gene pools.

We are talking severe Habsburger jaw and bulbous lips, to use a European reference to tragedy and disaster when science is absent. I have observed this inbreeding problem to become lesser over the last few years in Cambodia, as the caretaking of these cultural heritage sites improves. Including for the animals.

But the monkeys also ad personality and scale to these photos. So I would miss having them around, if they where to disappear.


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The white Phnom Bros pagoda

Between Kampong Cham and Kampong Thom in central Cambodia there is an interesting twin pagoda complex. It is very discreetly placed on the north side of the shortcut road between National Road 6 and National Road 7.

These two sites is situated peacefully on top of a lower hill and a taller hill with a view to rice paddocks and forest.

They are called Phnom Bros and Phnom Srey, or Men Hill and Women Hill.

The Men Hill is the lowest hill, and have the largest pagoda, a large protector statue and a monastery. It is easy available by car, too.

One kilometre to the north is a taller hill, the women hill with a smaller pagoda and some shrines.

The story related to these sites explains why the woman and her family are the one who finally decides on a proposal in Khmer culture.

Reasons for visit

The Phnom Bros is interesting not only for the temple buildings and monastery. It also includes a bunch of monkeys, cheeky, naughty and hungry macaques, and there are some cat families charming the visitors.

You will find some small stalls selling street food, and drinks. And there are some monks. Sometime the youngest of them would like to practice their English on visitors.

After been introduced to the origin story of the two temples, you may want to visit the Phnom Srey.


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Girls’ night out

The Royal Square in Phnom Penh, between the Royal Palace and the riverside where the rivers Tonle Sap and Mekong meet, are among the nicest public areas in the Cambodian Capital.

The area is ordinarily bustling with people, both locals and tourists from early morning. In the late afternoon/early evening families arrive for picnic, and later in the evening young people join for meals, drinks and friendly activities.

Late arrivals
Many of them arrives after the ordinary shops and daytime cafes are closed.

Like this group of Khmer ladies in their late teens having a late evening picnic at a nearly empty square.

When you have one of those soft, velvet dark blue nights it becomes a nice ending of a day visiting the capital city.

Top travel goal for 2026
Both in 2025 and for the upcoming 2026 Phnom Penh has been recommended as one of the ten hottest cities to visit in Asia.
Latest this recommendation comes from BBC in London.
The recommendations comes from Phnom Penhs combination of history, culture and architecture from the ‘Pearl of Asia’ period. And the modern vibrant metropolitan capital city of a nation in rapid economic and cultural development.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20251209-the-20-best-places-to-travel-in-2026

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The real heroes of Angkor Park

Early morning at by the moat of Angkor Wat. This Apsara maintenance crew is doing the vital cleaning of the moat.

This moat is a 1.5 km by 1.3 km rectangle, with a width between 190 to 200 meters. The max depth is 4 meters. It is enclosing the whole Angkor Wat and symbolizes the cosmic oceans surrounding the Hindu god’s home.

It provides a crucial foundational stability for the largest religious monuments in the world. The old Khmer excelled in hydraulic engineering, and the old Angkor core capital was a hydraulic city. Angkor Wat was built at the midpoint of the 630 years of the Khmer Empire. The construction clearly demonstrates how advance their technology and engineering had advanced.

Modern heroes
This is a small shoutout to the modern heroes of Angkor; the largest part of the approximately 3000 staff that maintains, secure and restore this world cultural heritage.

It is a monumental task, pun intended. The Angkor Archaeological Park is about 420 sq. kilometres large. There are over 70 larger temple sites, and more than 1000 smaller sites and remains in the extended park.

The Apsara (Authority for the Protection of the Site and Management of the Region of Angkor) is the organisation established to run this task. You meet them first at the Angkor ticket office, but that is only one of the 15 departments.

Say hi, please
First time I visited, the ticket office was a small shack in the middle of thick jungle. Now it is a stately building with all the facilities needed to cater to thousands of tourists a day.

And then you have these maintenance guys working everywhere.

Remember to greet them with a smile and maybe a Sampeah greeting when you meet them.

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Night at the beach

The city of Kampong Som, or Sihanoukville, is the largest city on the coast of Cambodia.

It is most known for being the main ferry and speedboat port for the transport going to the vacation islands along the coast.

Kampong Som was for a long time the only deep-sea harbour in Cambodia, and as such a hub for export and import. A new, dedicated deep sea harbour to the northeast has taken over that task.

The last ten years, there has been a massive urban development of the city, and modern resorts, hotels and entertainment centre has taken the place from the older industrial and trade city centre.

This photo was taken an evening after dinner, on a roadtrip that would take me to Bokor mountains, Kampot and Kep the next few days.

A really nice look into another part of the variations of the Kingdom of Wonder.

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