Tonle Bati Tonle 1 On such a bright Saturday morning around 9am (August), I was bored, and so were my friends, Seila and Vannsan. So we talked on phone and quickly decided to drive to Tonle Bati. Seila was very kind to give me and my boyfriend, Anirudh, a ride in his Prius car which consumes gas worth of $20 for a week. Such an awesome deal for a car, right? Seila relaxing under the hut Vansan on her iPad It took us about one hour to drive from the city centre of Tonle Bati, about 30 km south of Phnom Penh. We arrived at the location at around 10am. I shouldn’t be surprised to see some visitors already occupying their own huts with a few hammocks tied to the poles. It is such a popular place among the locals. Anyway, here’s the new rule: locals don’t pay to enter Bati, but foreigners now pay $5 to get in. Anirudh had to pay $5 to get inside. Tonle Bati is a popular lake resort as well as a picnic area that has bamboo shacks built out over the water. Visitors can rent any shack out for eating and whiling away the day. It’s generally a weekend get-away spot where they can enjoy serenity and some fresh air after a long week of work. Because all the shacks are located close to waters, from time to time you will see a few people rowing boats to your shack and offering some snacks for a few thousand riels. Tonle Bati – a quiet place Cambodian visitors are shy and often swim there fully clothed. Youngsters aren’t shy however, and like splashing around, but the water does not look real inviting for me. Nearby, there are wooden stands that sell all kinds of food and drinks or just everything you need for a picnic along the lake. As we arrived at the nice location that enabled us to see everything around, we sat ourselves down on the bamboo shacks and purchased some refreshing drinks from the shack sellers. Later, we ordered lunch – we had rice and some chicken soup. If my memory serves me right, it didn’t cost each of us more than $5 each. Anirudh under the thatched roof at Tonle Bati Note that many shack owners will keep following you non-stop when you arrive and try to get you to go to their own place. Sometimes its annoying, so what I did was making a not pretty face at their offer. They finally gave up. We politely refused their offers and found ourselves a spot to spend the next two or three hours chattering away. Check prices beforehand on everything; shack owners there are notorious for handing you an outrageously expensive bill when you are about to depart from their place. About a few hundred meters away from the shacks, we can see two temples. Besides the resort, Tonle Bati is a place which people worship and that features two ancient temples, Ta Promh and Yeay Peov, and also a pagoda called Wat Tonle Bati, which was built in 1576. Wat means “pagoda” in Khmer. I chose to seat myself at one of the bamboo huts first because it was very warm during the day. After the generous sunlight faded, we left immediately for the temples nearby. Ta Promh is the main temple, and constructed in the late 12th century by arguably the greatest of the Khmer builders, King Jayavarman VII. That means, you can find some similarities of the carvings on the wall with those at some temples in Siem Reap province. During holidays and weekends, the site is heavily visited by the locals. Tonle Bati doesn’t lack any souvenir seller. When I was there, small kids tried to clinch sales, but we politely refused. Churning of the Ocean of Milk Outside at the main east gate, a carved lintel depicts “Churning of the Ocean of Milk” or “sakmot kou teuk dos”, a famous bas-relief also found at the contemporaneous Angkor Wat. It was however surprisingly in mint condition. Ta Prohm was also built to venerate Brahmanism and later Buddha. And, its smaller sister temple is Yeay Peau. The unrelenting sun beating down overhead. It seems like the two temples were only maintained by a group of nuns who were eager to place incense sticks in our hands to offer the spirits and hopefully get some monetary contribution back from us. Under the scorching sun, kids who were trying to sell us incense sticks and lotus flowers still kept following us from all directions. It was pretty sad to keep saying no especially when they didn’t get that we couldn’t buy the same things from all of them. After checking out the two ancient temples, I sat myself down on a big rock outside. Suddenly, I happened to see a familiar face of a man reading a book in his hands. Ian, a British national, is a drama script writer for Loy9 drama, and now he travels between Cambodia and Sri Lanka. I quickly said hi, and conversed a little bit. He told me that it was such a pleasure to be able to spend some time at a quiet place only just one hour’s drive from the city for quite awhile before going back to work the next day. I couldn’t agree more, I thought. Then, we bit goodbye. Bati is a popular lake and picnic area that has bamboo shacks built out over the water that people can rent out for eating and whiling away the day. It’s generally a weekend get-away spot, which means it?s nice and quiet during the week. Locals swim there, but the water does not look real inviting. There are all kinds of food and drink stands that sell everything you need for a picnic along the lake. Note that there are tours that follow you when you arrive on weekends and try to get you to go to their own place. It?s best to pass right by them and find a spot on your own. Check prices beforehand on everything ? they are famous for handing you an outrageously high bill when you depart.Tonle Bati is a place of worship and features two ancient temples, Ta Promh and Yeay Peov, and a pagoda, Wat Tonle Bati, which was built in 1576. If you are looking for a nice, local place to chill just outside of Phnom Penh, we definitely recommend getting a bungalow on the Bati River. Getting away from the craziness of Phnom Penh can be hard, and unless you are interested in water born illnesses, diving into the Mekong River is not advisable. That said, you should definitely check out the rivers that you can swim in and with the blistering heat of the non-monsoon season you will want to. Cool off the Khmer way, on the Bati River in Tonle Bati, just a short ride out of the city. Activities Bungalows, Boats, and Kayaks Walking out onto your personal thatched bungalow over a river and perching yourself on a hammock to relax is not only culturally acceptable in Tonle Bati – it is highly encouraged. The locals are doing it too, so if your skin isn’t too pasty, you’ll fit right in . Never mind the rickety about-to-cave-in floor – that just adds to the excitement. The private bungalows are cheap too. At $3 a person for full-day access to the swimming area, you might as well also splurge on the $1/$2 bungalow hang-out, complete with hammock. Renting inner tubes on Bati River is common and if you forgot your life preserver at home or just love chilling on the water, renting one for the day. You can also rent a paddle-boat or a kayak, among other floatables, insuring there is always something new to try to sink. A good thing to remember is that Tonle Bati and other river spots don’t make their money on entrance fees and bungalow rentals – they make it on selling snacks and drinks. So make sure to pack a lunch if you want to save a couple riel as prices are a little steeper at the river. The Tonle Bati river experience really is something that will get any traveller close to what it feels like to be a Khmer person on vacation. With ample amount of Khmer food, english speaking children wanting to chat you up, and plenty of locals to keep you entertained, this is one experience you will be talking about for a long time after it’s over. How to Get There This river experience is only a short ways out of Phnom Penh and makes for a great day trip. To get there, go south on the national highway 2 from Phnom Penh for about 25 kilometers. You will then turn right (west) on a large dirt road after a sign that says Tonle Bati, along with a sign pointing to the river. Just follow the signs and you will be there in no time. Special Note As with most places in Cambodia there are hidden 11th century temples in the area that are fairly large and magnificent. Just ask, and almost anyone there can point you in the right direction.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 05:08:34 +0000
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