PASSPORT TO CAMBODIA - phnom penh city

the royal palace

The palace has always been a popular tourist attraction in Phnom Penh. Visitors are able to wander around the Silver Pagoda compound and the central compound containing the Throne Hall and Chan Chhaya Pavilion. The King's living area, which actually takes up half of the total palace ground area, including Khemarin Palace, Villa Kantha Bopha, Serey Mongkol Pavilion, royal gardens, and a number of other buildings and pavilions, is closed to the public.

 the palace.

 palace exterior

 

silver pagoda

 a trickshaw driver taking a break

 

 

national museum

 

finally we say goodbye to cambodia. here seen with rith and his car that took care of us the whole trip.

cambodia is a place which would haunt you in your dreams and i hope i make a trip next time setting new destinations near the beach side and more temples.

so the real budget for the whole trip.( for ME)

flight tickets from kochi - kl -siemreap - phnompenh -kl - kochi - 283$

accomodation and breakfast 5n 6d - 48$

travel in cambodia - 60$

lunch/dinner/drinks etc - 72$

tickets/tips -60$

thats it folks..CAMBODIA....see ya next time with another destination!!

for any queries contact me :P

surajgnair@gmail.com

The killing fields Choeung Ek

"Pol Pot  and many other founders of the Khmer Rouge  were well-educated students who had lived in France . In 1968, they formed the Khmer Rouge  On April 17, 1975, two years after the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam, Phnom Penh fell to Khmer Rouge troops and U.S.-supported government forces surrendered"

after visiting the genocide museum, rith our cab driver took us to the killing fields of choeung ek which is one among many of those in cambodia..but the most famous one.

 the entrance to the killing fields..

 khmer children playing around.

 at  the main building.

Those being killed were often hit over the head with clubs in a bid to save bullets. there is a audio guided tour  which  gives you in depth knowledge about the killings been done here.

the skulls in cambodia exhibited in glass shelves.

 the bands -lucky bands or bhudist bands tied over the mass grave by visiting tourists.

 the mass grave where people were killed and buried

the tree where they killed small children by beating them against this tree.

the whole trip would give you a chill down your spine with the audio humming in your ears. we could feel innocent men, women and children crying for help, with pain, been killed.

moving on i remembered the bhudist prayer and recited it before leaving this so called killing field.

"Let us pray that all living beings realize that they are all brothers and sisters, all nourished from the same source of life"

Phnom penh

after 3 nights at siem reap, after having a wonderful time visiting the temples we decided to take the temple break and started to plan on phnom penh. siem reap to phnom penh is a long journey. takes about 6 hours. there are buses but many of the travellers have suggested to travel on day time rather than take the night bus. coz the roads are scary and narrow and a lot of accidents happen.

travelling in a bus during day time tat too for about 6 - 8 hours...nah!!!!!
we were thinking of other options when our guide sprang up with the idea of going with our driver who is goin home .luckily he is a married guy and visits his wife once in a month kinda!!! so we grabbed the chance and paid him 60 dollars.

by bus it would be a mere 30 dollars..but this one was luxury. a Lexus SUV and he promised to take us around phnom pneh for the rest of the day..
so deal fixed.

 on the way we stopped to take some photographs....children having fun in the pond

 this young lady is selling steamed rice cakes with jaggery...yummmy it is!!!

our driver and a very good friend Rith ( in the middle)

the national monument at phnom penh
so we reached phnom penh in 6 hours , had a city tour, dined at a good restuarant and back to hotel.

Temples - Ta prohm

we took angkor temple pass..20 dollar per person for a day and started our temple safari . the first stop was TA prohm temple made famous by the tomb .raider movie. the entry to the temple was through a 4 faced vishnu in shape of a cross. a further 300 metres walk in the jungle you reach the TA prohm temple.

entering the Ta prohm temple

this is a photographers paradise..one cant resist the scenic trees and rock temples together. there were lots of tourists and even children selling sovinirs like magnets for Dollar one.. seemed like everything started with one dollar.

 a girl selling magnets


inside the temple its the wow moment. trees tangled with the rocks..as the guide said its a fight between the rocks and the trees..the fight has started years ago and still continuing..the tendrils of the trees have strangled the rocks..some of the rocks have fallen apart bringing smaller temples with it..and some rocks have been kept intact by the tendrils..strange ways to protect and destroy.

the chinese are the number one for posing …i waited for almost 10 minutes for this lady. she almost took 100 pictures.

the tomb raider was shot in this temple..so even to take pictures at this window/ gate which is covered by the tendrils of the tree..you need to wait..not just the chinese!!

children having a wonderful time

the gallery

ruins

 woman selling bhudish lucky bands

finally we took leave..TAPROHM is something that will be etched in our memory till the last ..i just loved this temple.

THE TRAVEL PLAN

I have been thinking for quite a long time to travel to a destination which is cheaper, with beaches, nightlife, shopping and fun. Having travelled to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, sri lanka I was researching on Bali when my friend mite suggested Cambodia. Cambodia or Kampuchea as our generation has studied over our social studies textbooks and the recent knowledge on killing fields… I knew nothing more about the so called kingdom of Cambodia.

Me imtiaz and Rajeev planned our flights via airasia. The itinerary was to travel from Cochin to kuala lumpur and from Kl to siem reap. Since airasia flew to 2 cities we thought of exploring both. From siem reap we thought of taking a bust to the capital Phnom Penh. And from Phnom Penh we booked return to kuala lumpur.

Months passed by, we did our research on Cambodia. Rajeev bought a lonely planet guide on Cambodia. Imti contacted some fellow travelers who had been there to Cambodia..I did my bit browsing through blogs and travel sites of Cambodia.

Finally we got equipped with 2 cameras, a canon 5d and canon 70d. Our luggage was minimal, just cabin baggage. We headed to Cochin by train. It was almost a year for me as the last international travel was during September 2013 to srilanka and I guess Rajeev’s and imtis travels were too during late 2012. Anyway our fun started once we boarded the train.

There was enough tension waiting for us as the visa photo stamped in Rajeev’s passport had a strangers photograph. The travel agent when contacted told us to keep cool…we laughed our hearts out whenever Rajeev used to check the visa

Alighted at aluva junction.. The usual last minute hurry burry…taking printouts of tickets and itinerary’s and after having street food we headed to Cochin international airport.

The check in was ok…the immigration was a bit tougher as the guys sitting and standing around wants to know so many details…government shuld give some kinda travelling allowances to these guys..Seriously…coz they cant stand seeing every tom dick and harry travel to foreign destinations.

We were a bit concerned when the immigrating officer checked Rajeev’s passport but thank god he was thru.

Since airasia flights did not have the on flight drinks facility…we were prepared to have our self service on liquor. Sample bottles were purchased and we boarded airasia.

The travel was ok with the boozed getting over all of us we slept off.

Airasia landed smoothly..I always admired the pilots of airasia..They always did a fantastic landing at KL.

we spend about 3-4 hours in the new klcc 2 terminal..just stunning tat s all i can say about this terminal which only accomodates budget flights.

 The massage chairs in Kl airport. 3 ringitss for 20 minutes..worth a try.

 me  and rajeev waiting with a co traveller who is travelling to india