Gone but not forgotten

The folks at Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPS) in Battambang are busting a gut to get their name and their wide range of activities known throughout Cambodia and elsewhere. The thriving artistic community that makes up the PPS organization, and which provides schooling to hundreds of children in Cambodia's northwest city, are perhaps better known for their circus performances and have been in the capital this week, with a couple of shows. One of the PPS future exhibitions that caught my eye will take place at Le Lezard bleu cafe on St 240 from Friday 11 December (5pm) and will remain on display for the rest of the month. Ancient pagodas of Battambang Province is the title of the exhibition, which showcases the talents of artists Long Kosal and Leurm Lorn, who have captured, on canvas, some of the most remarkable examples of these older wats which populate their province of Battambang. There is a saying in Cambodia that new is better than old and that is applied across the board, often at the expense of beautiful ornate structures such as pagodas. This exhibition will give us a chance to see these wats before they disappear forever. Find out more at the PPS website. Interesting fact of the day: Across Cambodia there are 4,307 pagodas with 55,000 monks in attendance.

One of the Battambang pagodas that could soon disappear

Colonial heritage

A step back in time to the French colonial period in one of La Villa's bedrooms

Battambang's French colonial heritage is being spruced up and packaged for enjoyment by tourists visiting this laid-back city. As we drove through on our way back to Phnom Penh, we called in at a few hotels to have a gander and I also noticed a few of the riverside colonial buildings undergoing renovation. A great example of this is La Villa, Battambang's plushest boutique hotel, if you enjoy stepping back in time to enjoy the colonial splendour. Whilst the room rates aren't cheap, the accommodation is inspired by the French domination of Indochina and tiled floors, four-poster beds, wall maps and art deco accessories add up to an interesting 7-room accommodation, to which they've added a pool in recent months. We also popped into Ma Maison, the latest addition to the range of places to stay, but the owners of the 2-roomed restored colonial villa were out and a bee's nest on the front porch deterred me from investigating any further. The Rotanak resort looked as though it was in the process of changing hands, whilst the Stung Sangke hotel was pretty good value with a pool and 200 rooms.

The new pool at La Villa

The colonial restaurant at La Villa has a glass-topped roof

The recently restored colonial villa at Ma Maison, complete with bees

A colonial villa in disrepair, ripe for investment and restoration in Battambang