Losing Our Way Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing. --------------------------------------------------------- Arundhati Roy (Indian author, advocate, activist)

CAMBODIA: Siem Reap; Phnom Penh; Battambang; Kratie.

CAMBODIA | Tuesday, 16 February 2010 | Views [211]

We also spent some time at Battambang's wats (Buddhist temples). Here, at Wat Phiphataram, we were toured around by a 20-year-old monk who had temporarily taken robes, as is the tradition for all young males in Cambodia. It is a way to transmit to young men Buddhist concepts, to instill customary values, and to provide them with other education.

– Although you'd hardly know it by its quaint, small-town feel, Battambang is Cambodia's second largest city. One if its claims to fame is some of Cambodia's best preserved French colonial architecture from the days of French rule in Indochina.

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The wats are another of Battambang's claims to fame. Most of Cambodia's wats were destroyed by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s – but apparently the governor of Battambang defied the order to destroy them, preserving some of the only pre-1978 wats in the country. This is some of the décor of Wat Damrey Sac.

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Losing Our Way Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day I can hear her breathing. --------------------------------------------------------- Arundhati Roy (Indian author, advocate, activist)

CAMBODIA: Siem Reap; Phnom Penh; Battambang; Kratie.

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