Phnom Penh
Cambodia's capital pleasantly surprised me with it's hip modern feel. Not too busy for a capital, with friendly people and lot to see.
The Royal Palace is beautiful with it's majestic buildings and Silver Pagoda (which has floor made out of real silver tiles). I got there just in time for huge storm, which left me with wet camera and dramatic pictures with clouds over the buildings.
Parks and waterfront get busy with locals around sunset. Aerobic exercises are hugely popular mostly by middle aged woman, they line up and follow the moves of the instructor. Later at night teenagers take over and dance to popular songs, dance group style. Some of them are very impressive!
It feels exotic with monks adding bright colors to this already colorful town. I am still working on getting the shot of the monk on the back of a motorcycle to add to my shots of monks watching sunset and monks taking pictures and monks......
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| Royal Palace |
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| National Museum |
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| Streets of Phnom Penh |
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| Note the power lines... |
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| Central Market |
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| View from the top flor of the shopping mall... |
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| Monks in Royal Palace.. |
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| Park at the sunset. |
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| Monks watching sunset over Mekong... |
Kratie
Lazy little town with a waterfront promenade by the Mekong river. It feels like the town froze in time, colonial buildings and lovely market being the main attraction.
Kratie is also a place to come to see the rare Mekong Dolphins. There used to be thousand of them, now only less then hundred are left.
I took the boat to the deep spots in the river where the dolphins like to hang out. My young guide turned the engine off and we floated around. The dolphins would come to the surface to breath, you could hear them and see the fins. Amazing experience, watching them peacefully swim around.
On the way back to the shore we stopped by few boats with local tourists and it was fun to see that they were excited to see me almost as much as the dolphins.
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| Typical house in a countryside.. |
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| Two dolphins. |
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| My guide. |
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| Girls going to school. |
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| Grilled bananas in sticky rice |
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| Who says you have to be able to reach the pedals to ride?! |
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| Market |
Kampong Cham
I was only staying there to break the long bus ride to Battambang. My hotel was the original colonial building. The town itself was run down and had interesting feel to it.
I rented a bicycle and went exploring around. It was very hot.
I made it across this bamboo bridge
( which is build new every year after the rain season) and felt like i was
going to die from the heat... And just like that, there was a little
stand where they made me fresh squeezed sugar cane juice with ice, so I
sat down with the locals, sipping on my high energy drink, smiling like
crazy!... Than I biked around this beautiful Mekong island, saying hi to
all the locals, high fiving all the kids when passing, going around the
fields with cows looking at me... Getting lost, just so i could ask the
non-english speaking locals for directions, using my photo of the
bridge to explain where I wanted to go... Thank you Cambodia for making
me smile!
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| Bamboo bridge. |
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| Road to adventure |
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| Rubber tree ... I think |
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| Kids in Cambodia can ride it all.. |
Battambang
Is the third biggest town in Cambodia. It feels so small and provincial, that you would hardly believe it.
It has lots of old colonial buildings ( doesn't every town in Cambodia?!). There are few lovely hotels and cafes mostly for the expats and NGOs staying in this town.
British expats are also responsible for getting me drunk the first night and keeping me up till 4am, which caused a big hang over.
My favorite building is the Governors house by the river.
I rented a motorcycle and headed to the countryside to see Wat Banan, temple that dates back to 1050. It was a nice preparation for the Angkor Wat, and I enjoyed feeling like Indiana Jones exploring the old ruins.
I stopped by the crocodile farm on the way and checked out the old Pepsi factory. I got caught in a big rain storm on the way back, rain shower which really felt like a shower! The roads were soon flooded. I made it safe to Here be Dragons ( pub) and waited it out, while chatting over the beer with the friendly owners.
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| 300 steps to Wat Banan. |
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| Beautiful local ladies. |
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| Crocs. |
Last day in Battambong is all about the pool and blogging.
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