Cambodia - safe and...in progress
You can’t say in two words (I won’t be too lazy to expand) about such a country as Kampuchea (the red country), now of course the historical name is Cambodia.
The locals pronounce "Cambodia" literally. . . So, having bought bus tickets the day before (100 batnos, bus station on the northern street of Pattaya, tel. ). On the bus - the locals are merrily staring at us and into the box that broadcast (2 laps) their performance... the staging is impossible, all the characters are constantly yelling in anguish... I read the general idea in 5 minutes, the remaining 5 hours I got used to the local ( Thai) folklore : -(
There are almost no bus stations in Aranyepratet - there is a cafe - an eatery where a little man sits with an antediluvian laptop and a cash register (there are very funny pictures)... From this stop to the border crossing 10 minutes. by tuk-tuk (20 baht). Crossing the border is simple, but for citizens of Ukraine a re-entry is issued for a total of 1000 baht per person visa + 1000 baht return to Thailand passing customs, a new visa to Thailand, citizens of Russia can leave Thailand for Cambodia by issuing only a visa once for 30 days and then cross the border as many times as they like during these 30 days WITHOUT any additional payments, revision of visas, etc. )
An amazing fact about Cambodia. . . of all the abundance of car manufacturers in Cambodia, only Toyotas drive! and from the entire model range only Camry (of all ages) and... Lexuses! of which there are not so many, but against the background of the general small number of cars, in general it is noticeable. The main transport of the locals is motos of all stripes, and bicycles. . . Roads. . . the myth of bad roads has been debunked! In Cambodia - industrialization and everything is being built! All main roads are in excellent condition! When leaving for rural and mountainous areas, there are "patched" sections, but in general, everything in the country is very worthy (there is nothing to break a little vehicles in general). Having settled in a guest house in Siem Reap (155 km from the border with Thailand), we developed a route for moving around the country for 5-6 days and went in search of fellow travelers from the locals, with our own transport you can and without them, the signs are present on two languages - local and English, it's hard to get lost.
Near the old market (center) we met a local guy named George (real name mr. Vann Lonh) convinced of his knowledge of the area and the country as a whole... Tolerable English with a decent accent became a bridge to the culture of the Cambodians and so we traveled with him half of the country having visited the Grand Circle in one day, then we went to visit a group of Roluos temples, one day we decided to completely dedicate Angkor Wat (this is the central tourist and historical place in Angkor) As far as I know, this is considered an official wonder of the world along with the Egyptian pyramids... In fact there are many wonders in Cambodia. . . for example, Tonle Sap Lake with a floating village (exoticism and poverty of the local natives)
It’s simply amazing. . . The lake, by the way, is not deep ~ up to 3 meters, but it’s just huge, when it overflows during the rainy season it’s impossible to drive up, so a channel is dug to the lake along which you can sail on a motorboat to the water area in 20-30 minutes... By the way about the weather... The whole rainy season was a miserable amount of these rains and rain is not a hindrance for traveling, it is strong but short-lived, it beats the heat and adds moisture to the already humid climate of the country... We did not feel any discomfort from the rains.
One of the days was planned a trip to the mountains (mountain jungle) to a waterfall and lingams... a super event that leaves memories for a lifetime... The beauty and riot of nature mountains and the wild world of the jungle, a mountain stream with a waterfall and Lingas sacred to Hindus (Linga ) which are a thousand or more years old. . . You can get to this waterfall and stream along a mountain path through boulders and trees. . . the place is called Kbal Spean. It is ~1 hour from Siem Reap. Banteay Srei also leaves an unforgettable impression - the temple complex with the oldest buildings over 1000 years old, for example, Bakong Temple (~ 1100 years), Phnom Bakheng (~ 1000 years), Pre Rup ) (~1000 years), Takeo (Takeo) 900 years, Bayon (Bayon) 800 years. By the way, Angkor Wat itself is 800 years old!
As for Banteay Srei - in addition to the distance from the main attraction of Angkor, it stuns with the amount of work spent on finishing the facades of the temple, however, stone carving is present on almost all buildings, but it is Banteay Srey that is simply amazing!! ! (it’s generally not clear how long and how many carvers participated in the “paintings” of walls and facades, but this is striking in scale and you can safely equate this gigantic work with the miracle of the Giza Valley, there is almost no carving, but it’s not clear how and by whom it was built! ) I consider the trip to Cambodia an integral point on the map of any self-respecting tourist wonder seeker! In conclusion, a few figures... Entrance to Angkor (A ticket with a photo at the checkpoint is issued in a minute) costs $ 20 per person for one day. for 3 days or more - $ 40 A ticket must be presented when visiting any complex on the territory of Angkor, even if it is a very remote Banteay Srei (Banteay Srei) or Beang Mealia (Beng Mealea) - the entrance to the territory that has not yet been restored is also paid at Apsara Authority ( Apsara Authorithy) and costs $5. And if it's Koah Ker (there is the same +$5 per person) Rent a boat with a skipper (Tonle Sap Lake) - $20 from 2 hours, More than 4 is nothing to see there. Our "guide" George took $100 and he paid for the "fuel" for our chariot. Gas stations in Cambodia are a different story - they don't exist! but they sell liquid for gasoline 66 fractions, just everyone and sundry and the price per liter of this bug is $ 0.8-1 The rate to the local Rial $ 1 is 4000 rials. You can not change the currency at all to the local one - everywhere in the course the dollar is especially convenient to have a small dollar 1-5 is accepted without reductions and any problems (unlike Thailand where everything is the other way around... it is advantageous to change only 100 and 50 dollar bills and pay in baht for shopping. ). We liked George so much that I can safely recommend him (details: mr. Vann Lonh phone: (855)12497254 soap: van_lonh@yahoo. com; Salakanseng Village, Siem Reap District, Svaydangkum Comunne)
As for the photos and other material, the blog will be the most interesting in my opinion (you can’t post 670 photos in RAW quality, the portal doesn’t pull)...
Asia continues to travel. . .
To be continued. . .
