 After sojourns in Malaysia, Siam, and the Mekong Delta, Miche arrived in Battambang in December 1838.Miche was forced to leave about a year later, when Ang Em, a rebelling prince of Cambodia, declared himself king of Battambang, and the town was all but emptied of its inhabitants.He traveled up a tributary of the Ba River to the Central Highlands of Vietnam, hoping to convert the Montagnard people to the Catholic faith.