Enjoy this series of photos taken in Cambodia's beautiful Battambang. Read our story on how to spend a weekend there here.

Khmer graffiti on a plant outside Wat Banan, built in the 11th century, before Angkor Wat.

Psar Nat, Battambang's centrally-located market and modernist architectural masterpiece. The face of the (broken) clock reads "Cigarettes".

Guarding the grapevines outside the tasting room at Chan Thai Chhoeung's winery. The sign reads "Don't touch the fruit".

Khmer girl in front of the bamboo railway. Her job is to help convince tourists to stay long enough to buy a soda from her grandfather's shop.

Battambang is known for its well-preserved French colonial architecture from the early 1900s.

Palm trees and barbed wire surround the vineyards of Cambodia's only winery. Most of the vines have been imported from California.

Pork for sale at Psar Nat. Chruk mien nyonyum sa'at.

Often described as a 'mini Angkor Wat', Wat Banan is still picturesque, despite having most of its most beautiful carvings looted or transferred to Battambang's museum. The area around the temple was one of the last holdouts of the Khmer Rogue in the 1990s and is still thought to contain many landmines.

Ban hoi, a Vietnamese-inspired dish with grilled pork, rice noodles, fried egg rolls and fresh herbs that shows up on many Cambodian breakfast menus.

The bar at La Villa Restaurant, in a restored colonial building from the 1930s. Among other things, they serve locally made Banon Brandy.

The "bamboo train" or "norries" are the stuff of Battambang legend, and set to close down for good sometime in the next month.

Woman selling straw mushrooms and various other fruits and vegetables in the morning at Psar Nat. Because her stall is outside the market, she wears numerous layers to protect herself from the sun.

Tags: bamboo train, Battambang, Cambodia winery, French colonial architecture, Khmer cuisine, La Villa, Wat Banan

For those interested in learning more about Khmer cuisine, the Smokin’ Pot restaurant in Battambang offer what they say is the longest-running cooking course in Cambodia. The restaurant has been open for 11 years and they’ve been teaching tourists how to cook Khmer-style since the beginning.

Learn Khmer cooking at the Smokin' Pot restaurant in Battambang

The owner of the restaurant, Vannak Robie, runs the cooking course himself, first shepherding the students through Battambang’s Psar Nath, the local market in the centre of town, to purchase ingredients for the day’s menu. Each class is allowed to choose their three favourite dishes off the restaurant’s menu --which include both Cambodian and Thai dishes -- to learn to cook. Our class chose fish amok, beef fried with basil leaves and sgnor chrouk, a fragrant Khmer soup made with lemongrass, galagal and kaffir lime leaves.

Visiting Psar Nath at the start of class

Robie learned to cook from his mother: “I grew up in a cooking family. I know how to cook from seeing, from growing up tasting in the kitchen.” Robie admits that cooking isn’t a usual pastime of Khmer men. Once women know you can cook, he explains, they then expect you to cook. “If I’m a real man,” he tells me, “I don’t need to cook.” Luckily, he doesn’t really believe this and shares his cooking expertise with travellers from all over the world.

Robie’s a seasoned -- if initially grumpy -- teacher. By the end he had warmed up to our charms and confessed that some students just aren’t right for his cooking school. If you’re picky or particular, you’re better off elsewhere. But if you’re looking for an entertaining way to spend a morning and are ready for a very large Khmer lunch, the class is a good way to learn more about the local cuisine and to get the chance to grill Robie about his opinions any number of subjects, an opportunity that I took advantage of. (He told me that Khmers are often given incorrect change too, which was a relief.)

Vannak sits down to lunch with his students after class

Each student gets a cookbook that includes a dozen recipes and information on all of the ingredients, including how to say the names of each ingredient in Khmer. The class moves quickly and was entertaining for our group, which included seasoned cooks and a total newbie, all of whom enjoyed the proceedings. At only $8 per person, the class is good value for money compared to what’s on offer in Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville.

Smokin’ Pot 229, Group 8, 20 Ousephea Village, Battambang. (Near Angkor Hotel)
T: 012 821 400
Email: vannaksmokinpot@yahoo.com.
Book at least one day in advance for a class.

Tags: Battambang, cooking class, Khmer cooking, Khmer cuisine, Smokin' Pot