Also known as the Killing Dam, Kamping Puoy was one of the many grandiose Khmer Rouge projects intended to recreate the sophisticated irrigation networks that helped Cambodia wax mighty under the kings of Angkor. As many as 10,000 Cambodians are thought to have perished during its construction, worked to death under the shadow of executions, malnutrition and disease.
There's little to see, but people come to picnic, and to take row boats (10,000r for two hours) out on the water.
These days, thanks to the dam, the Kamping Puoy area is one of the few parts of Cambodia to produce two rice crops a year.
Kamping Puoy is 27km west of Battambang (go via NH5 and follow the irrigation canal). It’s easy to combine a visit here with a stop at Phnom Sampeau.
