CAMBODIA
After visiting Vietnam, we headed to the capital of Cambodia - Phnom Penh. I have to admit that to this day I can't spell the name of the city correctly☺
It was very hot in the capital, the sun was burning and we were glad when we managed to find a restaurant with air conditioning.
We went to the royal palaces. We were not very lucky with them. They didn't let us in twice. For the first time, we were not dressed appropriately - and here I would like to remind you that I dress quite conservatively by European standards☺. I don't know if they were bothered by a skirt slightly above the knees or a T-shirt with narrow straps. The second time we came about half an hour before the opening hours were supposed to end, but they didn't let us in anymore. We wanted to leave it at that, but we didn't give up and we still had some time on the last day, so we drove there again and finally managed to see the complex.
The royal family still resides in the Royal Palace, but it is also partly accessible to tourists. It is located in a huge complex consisting of several buildings built in the Khmer style.
And at the end of the trip, we spent a few nights near the temple. And this was the reason why I completed the whole trip. My desire to see Cambodian temples. I read about them already in my teenage years and knew that I would visit them one day. And for this moment, I had to wait almost 25 years before I realized my dream. Well, it was worth it. I was captivated!
Angkor Wat temple complex.
It is impossible not to meet monkeys after wandering☺
This photo is from Ta Prohm Temple. Lara Croft was filmed at this location. Personally, I liked Ta Prohm the most. And that's mainly because of the trees, how they were intertwined with the rocks.
Z chrámu do chrámu som sa presúvala tuk tukom. Tuk tukár sa nám venoval celý deň. Keď sme pozerali pamiatky, on oddychoval. Celkom dobrý job☺
Tuk tuk
In every temple I felt comfortable and I felt immense peace. For me, this place was very relaxing and calming. I would go there again just because of that feeling of peace :) The most visited is the main temple of Angkor Wat, where there were queues somewhere, because many tourists primarily went here. However, there are hundreds of other temples where there were very few tourists and which were stunning, albeit smaller.
There are stones in the temples that volunteers are trying to rebuild. They number the stones and then put them in the right place. It takes a very long time to figure out where the stone belongs.
I also really liked the Bayon Temple. Here were statues with faces.
God is blessing me - said the locals.
In the evening we enjoyed relaxing and ordered a drink. They prepared it for me for a very long time. However, it came very beautifully decorated, a flower stuck on a pineapple... but simply, forgiven. I would also like to add that we drank the drink by the pool, which belonged to a beautiful luxury 5-star hotel, and there were about 5 people in the bar by the pool
I saw the temples for two days, and if I had time, I would easily go there for another few days. Well, we had to go back. Hopefully I'll get there again and see the other temples as well. The complex is gigantic.
And at the end of the evening in a wonderful restaurant, where they cooked excellently, for very good prices for us. Of course, mainly tourists came here, it was an expensive business for locals. However, the food cost as much as the lunch menu here. Local tipsters get a commission from the business for recommending a good restaurant or massage.
Cambodia was beautiful to me (temples) and I can imagine going there again. I don't like going to a place I've already seen, unless it's really good. On the one hand, there are places where one feels immense peace. On the other hand, we also saw the flip side of Cambodia. We went to see places that are open to tourists today. A place where thousands of people were murdered under Pol Pot's brutal rule. Anyone who differed in any way was immediately killed. There they told stories of how they gave a child a banana and immediately accused him of stealing it. They took him in front of his own family, killed him in front of their eyes, and if any of the family made a sound, they killed him too. You were given a headset where they told you how it all happened. You couldn't even listen to it. As soon as we entered through the gate, tears started flowing out of nowhere (I didn't even know what was happening yet). And they flowed all the time. But this also belongs to the history of Cambodia and is opened to tourists as a warning to prevent similar situations from happening again. However, I don't know if it takes place - just look at neighboring Burma (Myanmar).
Anyway, because of the temples, Cambodia is one of the very few countries that I will visit again in my life. And I recommend it to you too, especially if you're interested in history. My traveling companion was not interested in historical stones, so she did not share my enthusiasm and went shopping instead.☺