One of the most impressive places in Asia
In February, I was tempted by the offer of the tour operator "Natalie Tour" to visit Cambodia (discovery tour). The purpose of the tour was not so much Cambodia as the oldest and largest Buddhist temple complex in the world, Angkor, a whole city discovered in 1861 in the jungle. . Getting to Cambodia is easier through Thailand (through cheap charter flights and organized land border crossings). Therefore, on February 6, we flew to Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. We are a group of 9 people who were seduced by the offer of a discovery tour by the tour operator Natalie. Bangkok met unkindly +35 Celsius and terrifying humidity.
In Bangkok, two days to get acquainted with the sights. Settled very well in one of the buildings of the famous hotel Bayoke. And it is known for the fact that in the first, main building on the 84th floor there is a rotating observation deck, visited by tourists for money. The view from the site to Bangkok at night is very impressive. But most of all, I was struck by the feeling of a human anthill on the streets of the city itself. In the evening, all the sidewalks are occupied by stalls and mobile kitchens for cooking, which was immediately consumed by tourists from China, Korea, Japan and other Asian countries on tiny tables, standing close to the roadway, along which quite heavy traffic passed. Moreover, it is necessary for passers-by to go along the roadway, dodging constantly honking cars. Much of what is sold on the streets is simply problematic. A popular fruit among the local population is Durian. It tastes sweet - sugary and in texture - a decomposing mushroom. The smell is horrendous. This is the smell of a rat reclining in old age, which has lain for a couple of days. Nevertheless, there is something to see in Thailand, and these are, first of all, magnificent Buddhist temples. It took us all day to visit. One minus - we were accompanied by a guide from Natalie tour Dzhunatayka by nationality, speaking Russian very badly. A lot has been said about Tae by everyone, I omit it. I'd rather say about the main thing - a trip to Cambodia.
We traveled to Cambodia from Pattaya in the most commonly used way - by minibus to Siem Reap through the checkpoints in Aranyaprathet (Thailand) and Poipet (already Cambodia). Crossing the border is absolutely unregulated and this is the second minus of Natalie tour. You can buy a visa in Moscow, but for some reason the tour operator dissuaded me from doing so. (? ) And the border services of Cambodia are completely and completely corrupt, since all the western regions, including the police, administration and customs, almost entirely consist of former Khmer Rouge, conditionally amnestied in 1998, but that did not stop having the psychology of bandits. Therefore, tourists are openly robbed, landing in an absolutely empty place 4 km from the border with Cambodia at the consulate of this slightly uncivilized country and charging, in addition to the official $20 for a visa, another $16 gang tax. You can refuse to pay 16 bucks, but they are with a visa in one bottle, and walking back to Pattaya is not an option. Nobody is waiting there. Moreover, the Thai guide Juna far-sightedly did not appear in the morning to escort the group towards the border (she was simply replaced by a gangster who later collected a bandit tax. ) On the Cambodian side, we were met by a girl from the Khmer host country, but she simply counted, handed over to the driver a Mercedes smashed to smithereens type of our minibuses and evaporated. The 120 km to Siem Reap was overcome in about 4 hours of shaking along a dirt road, watching through the glass the horrendous poverty through a dense curtain of dust. Along the road are roadside shacks of Khmers, or rather Khmer children whose parents died of AIDS. 2 km before the city of Siem Reap, a normal highway begins and in the city itself there is no longer any poverty, only the most luxurious hotels, in one of which (Riviera) we settled.
Then everything was fine, since our guide (Samnang) not only spoke good Russian, but also just turned out to be a good person, going towards the tourists on all issues that were addressed to him. The food was organized just fine. The form of food in hotels in Thailand, for example, is mainly breakfast, but in Cambodia everything was like in Turkey - three meals a day. And this is all explained by poverty: food in Cambodia is difficult in terms of street food. Only market specific trading. (they sell fried grasshoppers, locusts, various beetles).
So if you don’t take care of the tourists in advance, in a day everyone would die at least from diarrhea. This almost never happened to us, except for the case of drinking palm wine on the first evening. Few slept the night after that until the magnesium kicked in. Although the road from Tai was very difficult, on the day of arrival we were taken to watch the sunset from the top of the oldest temple - Phnom Bakheng. From its top there is a beautiful view. True, you cannot see the whole of Angkor from here, it is too big. The following days (3) are entirely visits to the temple complex and this is truly a strong impression. The temple of Banteay Srei is covered with exquisite carvings. Such incomparable carving as here can be expected to be seen only on wood, but not on stone. Ta Prohm Temple is interesting in that it was not cleared of the jungle. Whoever saw the film Mowgli (first) - he saw it, a film was filmed on its territory. The entire surface of the temple is covered with a cloak of tree roots and lush greenery, and this gives the ruins an indescribable surreal. The most famous and well-preserved temple is Angkor Wat. The craftsmanship of the ancient Khmers is striking, as well as the fact that all this has been preserved through many centuries.
For many tourists, the temple of Angkor Wat is the only reason to come to Cambodia and the only place actually visited. On the territory of the temple complex there are legless musicians (veterans of the civil war) and so on, but all this is kept outside the territories of the temples, and they do not climb, like in the Egyptian pyramids. The poverty of the population is absolute, in fact, there is nothing to do but collect rice and have sex. True, there is another source of well-being for rural residents - palm trees, from which a lot of useful things are made, from moonshine, which all rural vehicles drive, to crafts for tourists. The local currency is the riel. 1$ = 4000 riel. An official's salary is 12.000 riels per month. Despite the general poverty, there is a stratification of the population. The lowest caste is, for some reason, fishermen. They have no right to build huts on chicken legs on the ground, they are born, live and die on the water in floating wrecks. We were taken to look at the life of the local population, bleakly: there is no happiness in the air, only around tour groups. There are few white tourists, mostly Asians. It is very impressive to visit a village in the jungle - time stopped there somewhere in the 15th century. There are few places where you can see it. The girls are covered with something, and the boys are naked and amuse themselves by tying each other to the pistils with a rope of liana and running like that. Everyone is very funny when someone falls behind or falls. In the male half, by the way, it is somehow not customary to hide their dignity, men's closets, unlike women's, do not have doors, this is observed even in the restaurants of the city. I highly recommend everyone to swim in a balloon, this is not included in the program, you need to ask the guide to adjust the time of the visit and find time for this, the balloon did not rise very high - 200 meters, but from above the view of Angkor and the savannah is impressive, plus adrenaline.
To sum up, everything is interesting and a little extreme. The hosting Kombodian side is on top. Thanks to Natalie for organizing such a tour. There is simply nothing to compare Angkor with, this is one of the most impressive places in Asia. I recommend. Igor.