Wat Chheu Khmao Pagoda in Battambang

Wat Chheu Khmao is located on an area of flooded forest of the Tonle Sap Lake on a hill in Koh Chivaing Village, Prey Chas Commune, Ek Phnom District, Battambang Province, approximately 54.10 km from Battambang Provincial Hall. In the rainy season, visitors can travel there by boat in four-and-a-half to five hours.  The pagoda is based at X: 339019, Y: 1476368.

Wat Chheu Khmao is located on a hill which was formerly full of a type of tree called Chheu Khmao (black wood/tree) but the trees were used to build the pagoda. That is why the pagoda is called Wat Chheu Khmao (the Pagoda of Black Wood). It was built in 1887, at the time of a chief monk named Soeur and the hill was believed to be sacred in the area of the Tonle Sap Lake, and the residents called it Floating Hill.

Wat Chheu Khmao is an ancient pagoda built in the flooded area (flooded forest). In the dry season, it looks like a temple in the jungle appearing in the sky. In the pagoda, a racing canoe that was built at the same time as the pagoda remains. It is made of a kind of wood locally called Koki, which was harvested from the hill. It is also believed to be sacred and never to have lost a race.