RURAL LANDSCAPES

The countryside around Battambang is essentially a very green rice plain until November. From December, it gradually turns yellow. After the harvest, the countryside becomes dry and looks like a savanna. After the first rains and the beginning of the ploughing, the ground becomes brown and starts to find the pretty emerald color of the young rice plants. Around Battambang, there are less sugar palms than in other provinces: there are nevertheless beautiful rice fields towards Sneung, Kamping Pouy, towards Tapon (going towards Baset). This plain is interspersed with darker green ribbons that follow the rivers or canals. These are not forests but orchards. Schematically, from the river bank, there is usually a row of houses, then the road or track on top of the dike, then a second row of houses surrounded by orchards and finally the rice fields. As the river level drops, the banks are plowed and cultivated with great care: market gardening. Naturally the habitat is much denser near the city, but as soon as you move away from a few kilometers you can observe this type of landscape. If you like traditional rural landscapes, you can follow the Stung Sangker and its small tributaries (O Trahoul to Ek Phnom, O Kdol, the Stung Chas, the roads to Samrong Knong or Wat Snor). In the orchards, one will notice the arequier trees which look like slender but very fine palm trees.