Any seasoned backpacker will tell you the same thing; pick a few key places and focus on them. This is advice that is well worth taking to heart. There are so many factors that you just don’t think about, or just wouldn’t know about until you have actually gone backpacking. Here’s a few things to deeply consider before you pick how many places you will be visiting.

1.Transportation- You may have everything strategically planned out, but things don’t always go as planned. Maybe it’s just my bad luck but about half of the flights I book end up being delayed in some way, or weather prevents things from going as planned. In some cases this might tack on an extra day to your travel time. Availability can be another hurdle. If you are taking boats, trains, or buses there will be times when they are booked up and you just can’t get on on your desired dates. This often leads to another extra day to your travel time. I’d say adding an extra day of transportation hiccups per week would be realistic. On a 6 week trip that would be nearly an extra week that you should allocate just for bumps in the road.

2.Lost luggage- Every travellers nightmare with this one. You get to point B an your bags are not there. I will tell you from experience this does not just happen on air travel. I have had bags lost while taking ferries and minibuses as well. Now if you weren’t planning to be in point B for more than a day or two before you move on then you can expect that there may be times when you will just have to wait till your luggage arrives. This happens with the most reputable of companies, and most don’t guarantee that all your shit will end up where you are. Just look at the lost baggage disclaimers. I once had my bags left on an island that I was leaving from and ended up having to travel all the way back to get it. Not a huge problem, unless there is only one ferry per day. That set me back a full day.

3.Falling in Love/Too much to see- Although you may have good intentions about spreading your time evenly throughout these equally deserving cities the truth is you just might end up loving one more than the other. It happens all the time, you get to a place that you just seem to click with, meet a great bunch of people and become attached. Now you’ve decided to cut out a couple cities completely. Once this happens you realize you are willing to sacrifice quantity of locations for higher quality experiences. On the flip side some cities just simply have more things to see. There may be more attractions and activities, or be a lot more highlights to check out in surrounding areas.

4.Unexpected illness- Bacteria, viruses, food born illnesses do not realize that you are on vacation and you have a timeline to adhere to. Unfortunate, but people get sick, that’s life. And it may slow your life down a day or two.

5.Theft/Loss of items- We all try to be careful and cautious while traveling but criminals have a way of getting around this. Petty theft and pickpocketing is a problem no matter where you go. If it’s the case where you lost your passport this can be a huge set back. Usually you can get an emergency temporary passport issues, but in some cases it may take weeks to replace it.

6.Have a drink on me- Even if you’re not a big drinker you gotta understand that getting sauced is a huge part of the backpacking culture and chances are you will be partaking in the night to night festivities. There will be times when you plan to go and have a big night on the town, and there will also be times that it just creeps up on you. A couple drinks in the afternoon with lunch turns into a marathon. Result, a unrelenting hangover that destroys your ability to function the next day. Now if that next day happens to be a day you were supposed to be in transit,  it might just cost you another day.

Your best option is to choose a few places that are at the top of your list and stick with those. If you have some extra time to explore a few other cities then great, but don’t get your heart set on doing everything in one shot. I would suggest a week at each major city. Personally I don’t like to go to any country for less than a month, but if you have a shorter time frame a week at each major destination should do the trick.

Let me tell you how you can get a free language tutor while teaching yourself in the comfort of a restaurant on your own time.

1. Get Your Supplies

The first thing you’re going to need is a Thai language book (imagine that) and some flash cards. Now, I found it impossible to find flash cards as we know them in the states—those sturdy index cards—so I had to improvise. If you go to the nearest Tesco Lotus and wander around like a lost farang until you find the stationary section, they usually have a convenient little box of colored paper.

They look like post-it notes except they aren’t actually sticky.
Take these little cards and your book back to your guesthouse, sit down, and do a little reading about Thai language and how it works. Now, you can’t really learn just from the book because it’s a tonal language, but the book will give you a good sense of what to expect.

Pick the 10 most important words—meaning the 10 you think are vital for you to know at this point, and make card for them. The English word on one side and the Thai on the other.

2. Get Your Teacher

Now you need to find your teacher (or teachers). This is how I did it. I was staying in Lamai on Koh Samui, and it’s a bit of a girlie bar area. Not really my thing, but I did find one bar/restaurant combination that had a movie projector and played 2 movies every evening.

This became my daily hangout for eating and watching movies, and I got to know everyone there really well, partly because of language studies.

Here’s the thing about Thai restaurants. Any time you go to a restaurant here, you’ll notice that they usually have more restaurant staff than customers. They’ll have about 3 people eating and then 5 or 6 employees standing around talking or watching TV.

So it’s easy to get these people to help you and they have plenty of time. Just sit down at the bar and show them your cards—they’ll be very pleased you’re learning their language. And in fact, if you just break them out and start studying, they’ll get pretty curious.

I found that one of the girls was always willing to help me. I would hold up my 10 words and have them pronounce them for me so I could hear the sounds, and then I’d repeat it, making an effort to memorize. Then they would go back to work (or watching TV), and when I felt I had all 10 words memorized, they would come back and test me.

3. Make a Plan

The trick is to add 10 more words or phrases to your vocabulary everyday (if that’s too ambitious, try 5). I found that if I memorized about 5 words and 5 phrases, after a while I really started understanding the structure of the sentences.

The stack grows pretty quick, and I’d have them test me each day, so what I did was I would go through my stack everyday while studying and any words that had become second nature or “common sense” to me, I would pile up and give to the girls (since they were interested in learning more English too). That’s another thing—you can actually test them while they’re testing you to make it beneficial to everyone.

With 10 new words in your vocabulary every single day, you’ll really gain some ground quickly. It will take a while to make sense of how they go together, but as long as you’re willing to try and use it everywhere—at the store, at the bars, at the markets—you’ll find your comprehension getting better, and people will love you for the effort.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So there you have it—free Thai language. Chok dee khrab!

That said, I love that kind of thing—which is why I should probably pack my bags and head back to America before I get myself seriously hurt. Well, that’s not really my style, so here’s 5 favorite Thailand experiences in case you decide you want to push the envelope too.

1. Driving a Tuk Tuk

Ah, the tuk tuk. Everyone loves a creaking, exhaust-spewing, noise-polluting tuk tuk. But how many visiting foreigners have actually driven one?

Well, I’m just gonna come out and brag and say I’ve driven two. The first was a drunken night in Bangkok, where a trusting tuk tuk driver agreed to let me drive his tuk tuk down the last street on the way to the bar. Let’s just say that he and the crowd standing outside looked pretty relieved when I climbed out of the driver’s seat.

My second tuk tuk experience was more like driving a big Hog with a wagon attached to it. A fellow traveler from Canada and I were making our way to the Laos border one morning when I got the driver to agree to this one, and I spent 20 minutes driving this bad machine across town. I almost killed us at one particular stoplight, but hey, who’s keeping track, right?

2. Driving a Longtail Boat

You want to see a crowd of conservative Thais pretend they’re not about to have a heart attack? Put a farang in the driver’s seat of their longtail boat on the way back from their peaceful lake holiday. I’ll tell you one thing, the longtail boat is not the most stable contraption on Earth—it’s a good thing the driver was sitting there giving me hell every time I started getting ambitious with the throttle or who knows what would have happened that day.

3. Sleeping on Top of a Boat

This was a pretty low key one compared to the rest. I took an overnight boat from Koh Tao to the mainland once and instead of staying down in my bed with all the other tourists, I climbed up top and sat by myself on the top of the boat. Watched the stars and look out over the moonlit water.

After a while, the Burmese boat workers came up and joined me—I guess I was sitting in their bedroom—nd they gave me a blanket. They didn’t speak much Thai—and no English either—but we managed some laughs before I crashed out.

4. Driving With 3 People on a Motorbike

Three people on a motorbike. There’s nothing like it. You’ll see families of Thai people driving like this all the time—you’ve got a dog, a wife, a husband, and a kid or two. Then someone’s holding a baby and the driver is on a cell phone. Haven’t tried that one yet, but I have been through a few motorbike-pool (as opposed to carpool) experiences in my time. Interesting to say the least.

5. Getting a Ride on a Motorbike Taxi in Bangkok

Finally, I recommend the motorbike taxis in Bangkok for a real thrill. Not only is it the fastest mission across town in that deadlocked grid they call streets, but it’s an amusement ride in its’ own right. Prepare to see some flashes from your life en route. For some, it’s a one-time-only kind of thing, but you gotta at least do it that once.

So that’s some of my experiences defying death in Thailand. Not for every Western stomach, but for me it’s been nothing but fun. Just to be sure, if you try any of these, you’re putting your life at risk, so you’re on your own there. That means I’ll sleep just fine if you don’t make it, knowing I told you so. So you can try it all you want, but take responsibility of your own decisions, folks.

Carpe diem.

Learn to cook Thai food for myself.

Thai food isn’t for everyone, I’ll admit that. The flavors are characteristically strong—sour, fishy, salty, and of course spicy—the cuisine always makes itself well known. But I love it.
If you’re the same and coming on a holiday to Thailand, consider taking a Thai cooking class to learn how cook your own dishes—I can’t think of a better way to bring a little bit of each culture home with you than learning to cook their food.

And this is a fantastic way to introduce yourself to the country as soon as you get off the plane. The food is certainly a huge deal in this country.

Every big tourist venue will have plenty of cooking schools to choose from. I personally went with Chiang Mai Thai Cookery, a school run by international TV chef, Sompon Nabnian, who has been featured on BBC, National Geographic, and various other programs.

In addition to his celebrity status, Sompon has lived in England, which gives him an edge in teaching foreigners because not only does he cook fantastic food but he knows which ingredients are available abroad and what can be used as a substitute for those that aren’t.

Oddly enough, for the first day of my course, I was the only person in class. This was because of the recent political situation in Thailand which led to a lot of the tourists cancelling trips and even long-term expats leaving the country. But what may have seemed unfortunate turned out great for me because I ended up having 3 teachers to myself in a class that typically consists of 60 students.

The overall course is broken up into 5 different classes that you can take any time you like, and each class is packed into one day, so you can just take just 1 if you like or take them all but pick and choose your own schedule. There are also advanced private courses you can get afterwards if you like.

And in every course you learn a new skill as well as 5 or 6 dishes, typically including a soup and a dessert. And of course you get to eat everything you prepare. Mmmmm…

Here’s a breakdown of the skills:

Class 1—You are introduced to Thai ingredients and how to prepare them.

Class 2—You learn to pound and grind your own curry pastes.

Class 3—You get orientated to the traditional Thai markets.

Class 4—You go to the markets again and purchase all your own food—time to haggle.

Class 5—You learn to do a little bit of fruit carving.

Of course, this schedule is strictly the Chiang Mai Thai Cookery School, but I imagine other schools do something a bit similar.

What really struck me is how simple Thai food is to cook, which will make it easier to remember how it’s done. Of course, one day in a course where you learn five new dishes isn’t going to exactly stick in your memory, but you get a small cookbook you can take home with you, and once I get to my new country and settle into a house with a kitchen, I plan to break it out and refresh my memory.

And bring some of those memories of this great country with me.
In the end, I learned to prepare some really amazing dishes, from my favorite curries to papaya salad to my new favorite guilty pleasure, sticky rice with mango. Hmmm…I’m getting hungry now.

Red curry with duck, anyone?

But here are 5 things you’ve all wrong about Thai ladies.

1. Not All Thai Girls Are Working Girls

Not by a long shot, and most guys are probably at least have enough common sense to realize that much. Yet they still apply the same lens to every other woman they meet and assume they’re just like those girls they meet in the bar. Which brings up the other 4 points.

2. Not All Thai Girls Want Your Money

This is a myth that goes well beyond the bar, and sure, money is a definite real factor in Thai relationships. That doesn’t mean, however, that it is the defining factor of ALL relationships—just look at how many women in Thailand fall in love with a Thai man their age who isn’t so well off.

Not to mention that there is a whole class of society in Thailand that would look at your money and scoff. Rich Thais have more money than you could ever dream of having, and the most elite women would not be caught dead, let alone allowed, dating a farang. I’m not saying the reasons are just or right, but it helps to keep a little perspective and realize you’re not the prize you think you are.

3. Not All Thai Girls Are Easy

While younger Thais have certainly become a little more promiscuous over the years, many men in Thailand consider it common knowledge that they’ll have to spend a long time courting a decent woman before she’ll ever consider sleeping with you. For many, it could still mean waiting for marriage.

And even if there is a chance of sleeping together sooner, for Thais the most important thing is keeping up that public image. Touching women in public or making out in front of others is pretty taboo, so keep your hands to yourself, especially if you haven’t spent enough time together to know the boundaries. Even touching a Thai woman’s upper arm can be overstepping the boundaries.

4. Not All Thai Girls Like Western Men

Can you blame them after the portion of us they’ve grown accustomed to seeing? For many Thais, being seen with a Western man is the ultimate embarrassment. Again, I’m not condoning this kind of prejudice, but it’s a real part of Thai culture. So even if you aren’t an overweight, balding expat over here trying to get the most bang for your buck, you still won’t have access to a huge section of the dating pool.

5. Not All Poor Thai Girls Want or Need the Above Either

A lot of what I’ve mentioned above especially applies to the middle and upper classes, but it’s important to give the poor classes of Thailand some respect too and acknowledge that many of them never resort to working as prostitutes or even looking to some Westerner to save them. Many work hard their entire lives to do their part for their family without lowering their morals.

Others marry a quiet, humble Thai man, whether he has money or not, and is happy with her decision. You see, money might be more important here in many ways, but it’s also easier to be happy here with less.

So keep these things in mind when you’re visiting this beautiful country. Maintain a little perspective, try to step out of the front beach bars, and make sure you leave your beer goggles in there where you found them. Because the lenses of those glasses don’t quite keep things in perspective the way they should.

Sometimes I’ll meet an open-minded tourist who I’m willing to drag out into the Thailand I know, and it’s typically an eye-opening experience for them, so today I want to give some tips on how you can do the same for yourself.

1. Break Away

Sure you’ve heard it—get off the beaten track. If there was a traveling advice cliché, this is it. But what I want to stress even more is break away from other travelers. Bottom line—people in Thailand are typically intimidated by farang. Two or three farang, and you’re making it really hard to meet people. In fact, this is even true in bars in America and Europe.

But even more limiting is the temptation to just enjoy the beach parties and the tourist scene when you’re with a group of foreigners. You might all start off with good intentions, but you meet some cute travelers by the beach and you meet up with them at a beach bar, and before you know it you’ve integrated into the backpacker scene.

It’s not easy to break away from the crowd once this happens, naturally. You’ve got new friends. You’ve shared some experiences. And you’d almost feel like you were betraying them if you took off on your own.

So resist the urge from the get go.

2. Don’t Make Plans

Thai people typically just go with the flow, and you should to. The sights are great, but I like to just hop on a motorbike, point it in a random direction, and just start driving. Find some random pub in the middle of nowhere. If you’re in the city, hope in a taxi with a driver that speak decent English, and ask where the university bars are (assuming you’re a bit younger).

And if you get invited to share food or drink with some Thai locals, just go with it. Don’t say you need to skip out because you’ve got somewhere to be, even if you do. Just go with the flow and see where it takes you. You’re about to see a whole new side of Thailand.

3. Break the Stereotypes

Especially if you’re a white male, you’re not going to get out into the normal population very easily if you’re running around with some girl you met down at one of the beach bars. People will see you together and immediately make assumptions about who you are and what you do. Just be aware that if you run around with a bargirl that dresses and acts like a bargirl, most people aren’t going to spend a lot of time getting to know you.

4. Be Fearless

It’s not exactly acceptable to just walk up and start talking with a group of Thais in a social setting if you don’t know them, and while I usually stick to the cultural norms, this is one area in which I like breaking all the rules. In this case, you can get away with it because you’re a foreigner.

So just walk up to people and start talking to them. Joking is the number one entry point, and you’ll be surprised how much you can actually joke around when neither of you is fluent in the other’s language. Keep smiling, keep laughing—in most cases they’ll drag you into the group and show you the time of your life.

4. Find a Host

Do this enough times, and you’ll end up meeting someone who sort of “adopts you” for the night and hangs around making sure you have a good time. Thais are extremely hospitable. Don’t take advantage of people, but have fun, and make sure you get their phone number so you can meet up with them again. Go out with a group of Thai people on the town just a few times, and before you know it, the whole local scene will know your name.

As you probably guessed, all this is much easier when alcohol is involved, and it is true that the liquor certainly breaks down social barriers. If you’re not much of a drinker, beware, because you will be force-fed drinks. If you want to meet locals without dealing with that part of it, you certainly can, but it may take longer.

That said, I’ve often just spent extra time talking with people at cafes and before I knew it they were asking to trade language lessons or take me fishing, etc. Just get away from the tourist crowd, go talk to people, and if you don’t drink much, spend a lot of time at cafes in the city, getting to know the help can chatting up customers. Become a regular, and before you know, you’ll have a whole new set of friends.

Have a blast.

But people keep asking me—what is it about Thailand? Why haven’t you left?

So here’s 6 things I love about being a Thailand expat.

1. Jai Yen Yen

One of my favorite words in Thai language is jai yen yen. The literal translation means “to have a cool heart” or to “cool your heart.” Jai yen yen permeates every part of Thai culture and everything they do. It’s about relaxing and slowing down.

Enjoying life and not taking anything too seriously.

This has had an amazing effect on my workaholic mindset, and it’s something I hope to carry with me no matter where I go in life. In this country, there’s no rush in life. No hurry. Jai yen yen.
Time slips effortlessly, and no one ever seems to have anything too pressing to do—at least nothing too serious. Sure, this means things don’t get done as fast as they should and a work night can easily transform into drinking beer with your buddies till morning, but in the end, the lack of stress surely makes up for it.

2. Sanuk

On a similar note, sanuk is a huge part of the culture, and it ties closely in with this idea of jai yen. Sanuk basically means “fun.” And Thais expect everything to be fun. If it’s not fun, they make if fun—and that includes working the most miserable of jobs.

This caught me off guard a couple times, especially when I went to the waterfalls with my 28 year old Thai buddy and his girlfriend, and he kept saying we should go back in the water and “play” some more. Where I come from, you stop “playing” at about 11 or 12 years old and start doing “cool” stuff instead. Maybe that’s part of what’s wrong with our high-strung culture.

3. Motorbikes

You’ve probably picked up from my articles that I’ve got a bit of a thing for adrenaline and putting my life in danger. And I’ve definitely almost killed myself a couple times, but I still love the fact that everyone is on a damn motorbike.

Note, that I said “motorbike” and not motorcycle. If you haven’t arrived yet, you’ll see what I’m talking about. Barely more than a scooter, the Thai motorbike isn’t the coolest thing in the world, but I just love the freedom and conveniences of zipping a scooter across town on a whim.

4. Lack of Confrontation

Back in America, people are highly confrontational, both in a violent and non-violent manner. Yelling at people over a missed deadline or a late cup of coffee. Fighting in the bars. I’ve never had much of a stomach for confrontation, and much like a Thai, I’m typically the kind to fly off the handle when someone verbally attacks me or gets confrontational in a nightclub.

But in Thailand, it’s so easy to stay out of trouble if you’re not a confrontational person. People don’t bother you. They don’t force their opinions on you. They don’t verbally attack you—ever. And for many, that’s the root of many problems in Thailand. But for me, preserving the harmony works just fine, at least on a personal level.

5. The Food

Need I say more?

6. The Cost

This one probably doesn’t need a lot of elaboration either, but what really seals the deal for me is the cost. Live on $1000 a month while having all the luxuries in life? Live like a star on $2000 a month, and pocket the rest away for savings or investments.

Count me in.

I still haven’t figured out why so many wait for retirement to come here, but hey, it’s fine with me; I’ll just have all the fun for myself.

For me, it’s different. The only white face in a 12 story building, I cling to the outskirts of even a bigger city like Chiang Mai. I can go months sometimes without seeing a Westerner, and all my friends are local Thais. So I’m not usually the one to complain about the comforts of home or things not being exactly how they were back when, but I have my moments.

Here are 4 that especially get on my nerves.

1. Internet Connection

Well, like I said, whining about not having the comforts isn’t really my style. I don’t even have a TV, and that’s exactly how I want it. But I do work online, and my business takes up a lot of my time—a huge part of that is that I can never rely on the internet. It’s not like that everywhere in Thailand, but if you venture too far from the heart of town, it does become an issue.

And it amazes me how it can go off and be down for days without someone doing much about it. I’ll go down to see if I can get a time estimate and there’s the technician sleeping in a chair in front of his computer—in the middle of the daytime….

2. The Western Reputation

This one is probably bothers me the most. People make a lot of assumptions about you if you’re a white male living in Thailand. You’ve must be rich. You must have lots of girlfriends. You must run around with bar girls. Never mind the fact that I’ve met very few Thai men who have qualms with paying for women—something that goes against my very moral fiber—and keep multiple girlfriends on the side.

Especially if you have a decent handle on their language, Thais will assume the worst about you, and most that I’ve met except for the most educated cannot fathom why someone would bother spending time in their country or making an effort to learn their language, unless there is something they are not telling. Even family and friends you talk to back home assume you must be up to something. And I won’t pretend I’m a 24/7 saint in the Land of Smiles—hey, I never was anywhere—but I’m certainly no sexpat.

3. Never Being Serious

I talked in my last article about how much I love sanuk and jai yen. But being so far integrated into the culture, there are definitely times where it frustrates me that I cannot show my feelings or opinions really ever. My friends aren’t really into intellectual conversation.

And sometimes you want to just tell how something bothers you, but it’s not cool to do that, even if it has nothing to do with them. Get in a serious conversation at a party or get-together, and someone will look at you and the person talking and tell you to stop, even if it’s not serous in a bad way.

“Not serious,” they’ll say. They don’t mean to stop being grumpy or to stop being argumentative—they mean don’t have an intellectual conversation. Just be trivial. Just joke around and stop talking about something of value. Drives me nuts.

4. Hiding Your Feelings

On the same token, as much as I love the lack of confrontation sometimes I want to go downstairs and just stress to the internet guy how I really need him to get up and fix the internet because, after all, I’m paying for it, and he’s causing me to lose hundreds of dollars in a matter of hours. But I can’t. It’s not that I would do it in a bad way, but criticism is unwelcome and taken personally in this country, and you just have to practice patience. Jai yen, indeed.

Well, I won’t pretend I never get irritated by anything else, but when it comes down to it, this isn’t my country, and I’m not going to be a whiner. It’s not my style. I just wanted to offer a balance in perspective after my last article, and as you can see, it’s often the things I love that are the same things that irritate me. I’m sure it’s the same for those who come to my country.

In any event, the overall experience is nothing short of amazing, and every day is a day to evolve and become something more.

More patient, most of all, I suppose.

The Royal Elephant Kraal was founded by community developer and zoologist Mr. Laithongrien Meepan. This man has literally designed, developed and built this sanctuary from the ground up. He is an expert on everything involving elephants from breeding and caring for elephants, to Thai elephant history and culture. He is know  throughout his country as the person to go to whenever there is need for consult or advice on wild or domestic elephants. If there is an elephant that need help Meepan is there to care for it. He personally owns 150 elephants who you can all meet when you come to the Royal Elephant Krall Village. But don’t just swing by and say hello, stay for a few days, a week, or even a month. When you visit the Elephanstay you will get your very own elephant to care for and bond with.

Caring for 150 elephants is no easy task. The Elephantstay is a non-profit organization that encourages people to volunteer some time (and some coin of course) to come out and learn about Asian Elephants, and what better way to learn about them than to live with and care for them for a few days? I mean really, who else is supposed to prepare the 23 000kgs of feed for them everyday? That’s what I though. It might as well be you!

On day one Program Managers Michelle Reedy and Ewa Narkiewicz will sit you down for an orientation on what to expect and the scheduling for the duration of your stay. After you get settled into your air conditioned bungalow you will head out to the meeting area to greet your elephant! What happens after this is absolute magic. You will actually be caring for your elephant throughout the whole day, feeding them, bathing them, riding them down to the river to cool off a couple times a day (yup that’s right, you get to ride them! And I’m not talking about on one of those chair saddles, you are actually right on it’s neck, just you and the mahout), and of course you can spend as much time as you like bonding with and getting to know your elephant.

My time at the Elephantstay was the most amazing and rewarding things I’ve ever done. Most people don’t even know this place exists, but almost everyone who does find out about it ends up spending time there. There is no other place you could go to make such a huge difference in such an amazing animals life and it will honestly make you melt inside. You will end up with a huge place in your heart for these incredible, sensitive creatures. It will have to be huge, I mean…have you seen how big they are??

For more information and booking visit  http://www.elephantstay.com

Indeed, the name of the mountain means “ship mountain”; the legend states that the rocky outcrop is the hull of a ship that was broken by a crocodile that was in love with Rumsay Sok but it was unrequited. The crocodile attacked Rumsay Sok and her fiancé whilst at sea and they unfortunately drowned. The locals punished the crocodile by draining the sea to kill it; its body is represented by the Crocodile Mountain (Phnom Krapeu) that can be seen from the top of Phnom Sampeou.

A visit to Phnom Sampeou essentially starts with a climb of 700 steps to the top. There is also a cemented road which you can use to walk up or take a motoride to the summit. Situated on the hilltop is a beautiful pagoda that

Photo By Kleinmatt66--flickr

gives breathtaking views of the surrounding countryside. As well as the pagoda, which was actually used as a prison and torture centre during the time of the Khmer Rouge, there are a series of shrines and statues to be found along the way. It is most likely that you will be visiting Phnom Sampeou to explore the natural caves and grottos that have taken part in one of the most horrific genocides in human history.

Just as Phnom Penh has Choeung Ek, Battambang has the caves at Phnom Sampeou. As well as being one of the most important places in Cambodia for

Photo By Kleinmatt66--flickr

the battles between the Khmer Rouge and the government, many innocent people lost their lives in the caves. As you scale the mountain, you will see remnants of the war in the form of anti-aircraft guns and they are a poignant reminder of the realities of war. One of the caves has piles of skulls, bones and clothing of the victims who lost their lives here. Next to this memorial to the dead, there is a beautiful Buddha in a reclined position. It is stated that the Khmer Rouge used this cave to throw the prisoners to their death. There is a hole at the top of the cave where it is reported prisoners were bludgeoned and then hurled to the bottom of the cave through a hole. When you visit the Killing Caves at Phnom Sampeou, you will notice that it is not a long drop from the hole to the bottom; this meant that not everyone was dead when they were pushed into the cave – chilling and emotional thought.

Even if you do not wish to explore the caves, Phnom Sampeou is worth a visit just to take in the spectacular views. Many visitors like to climb their

Photo By Onna Kaldenberg

way to the top and have a picnic lunch whilst enjoying the wonderful Cambodian countryside. The cost to enter Phnom Sampeou is US$2 and if you take a moto it will cost approximately US$5 from Battambang (this includes waiting time whilst you visit the mountain). Taxis are also available or you could hire your own car or motorbike for the day.