Southern Asian trip- Cambodia

After 2 weeks spent in Vietnam, I have decided to take a bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I  just left the bus, and I was surrounded by tuk-tuk drivers offering me a ride. All of them were competing with each other to get my attention and attract me with low prices for western standards. I have refused and decided to walk on my own to my hostel. Certainly, that was a good decision because I could take my time walking through the full-of-life streets of Phnom Penh. It seemed to me that they are really chaotic and noisy, but somehow people managed to function in this reality. I have arrived in the afternoon so already been tired after the journey, I have just decided to eat some dinner and go to sleep. The journey was about to start the next day..

I have started my next morning by buying a tuk-tuk tour from my hostel which was including few top spots in the city. My first destination was Royal Place which made a huge impression on me because I was stunned by the number of temples and the type of architecture which was not known to me before. All the temples were really richly decorated (usually in gold) and had so many details containing - 6 headed cobras or paintings with monster-eating warriors. That place is totally must-see. The next stop was the National Museum of Cambodia which is also equipped with many interesting pieces of art like sculptures of hybrids for example monkey-human o bird-human and many others. The last and most important spot on the list was- Killing Fields. After visiting places, nothing will be the same anymore, and you will look totally different in your life. Killing fields is basically the mass grave of people who were brutally killed during the regime of Pot Pol. Be sure to no skip this spot.

After arriving in Siem Reap the very next day, the early morning I went on the tuk-tuk trip around the ancient temples. The first destination was of course famous Angor Wat which in real life is actually way bigger than in photos. It was really nice to walk around this enormous religious sculpture and admire the effort which was put in establishing that. If you have ever had played Tomb Rider, It’s basically this vibe. We also went to a few other temples nearby, which were also impressive and seemed to have huge value to the people back in the day. The fun fact is that there is plenty of monkeys which are hanging around, which makes the place even more unique. Be sure to watch you, staff, because monkeys love to still things.

My last day in Cambodia I’ve spent hanging around in the city of Siem Reap. I went on the market where was street food where you could have many exotic things (at least for western tourists) like fried insects, snakes on the stick, etc. I did not try any for those, but maybe during your visit, you will be more keen and brave for that!