Cambodia. Affordable Country with Huge Potential! What to See and Do

hey guys what's up welcome to coolvision in this video we're going to visit Cambodia Cambodia is not the most talked about country in the world and before coming here I didn't know much about it except for the fact that it's hot and humid and has a lot of ancient temples but Cambodia is much more than that white sand beaches bustling cities huge night markets delicious food and friendly people today Cambodia has a population of 17 million people Buddhism is enshrined in the Constitution as the official state religion and is practiced by more than 97 percent of the population over the last 20 years the country has come a long way infrastructure has improved greatly tourism is on the rise and the number of hotels has doubled since 2010 so let's start where's Cambodia the country is located in the southern portion of the indo-chinese peninsula in Southeast Asia bordered by Thailand to the Northwest Laos to the North Vietnam to the East and the Gulf of Thailand to the Southwest let's take a look at the major cities first the capital and the largest city of Cambodia is Phnom Penh today it's a huge Metropolis welcome to Phnom Penh the largest city in Cambodia it has a population of over 2.2 million people the capital offers cultural and historical attractions the biggest of which is the Royal Palace of course the first and the most obvious place to start your introduction to Phnom Penh is the Royal Palace it's been occupied by Cambodian monarchs since it was built in 1866. to the left of me is the King's residence and when the blue flag is flying that means the king is here it's a complex of gorgeous buildings the most impressive of which is the silver Pagoda it got its name because its floor is covered with five tons of glim and silver around the city you can use tuktuks taxis or even cyclos that's a fun way to explore the city for tourists hey guys so one of the ways to get around town is on a cyclone this is fantastic hey guys just you know riding a bicycle I got a little bit of a complaint it's too slow but what can you do right oh we go guys within walking distance from the Royal Palace you can visit the national museum of Cambodia it was opened in the 1920s and it it's the largest cultural History Museum in Cambodia it has a collection of more than 14 000 items dating from prehistoric times all the way to the Khmer Empire this building is an impressive red scent Stone structure and was inaugurated during the French Colonial period French Colonial yes from 1863 Cambodia became a protectorate of France and gained independence only in 1953 being occupied by Japan during the second World War a popular evening time location is Sister worth key a three kilometer Lawn Boulevard located along the intersection of Tony sap and Micon Rivers this is a very busy area at night with a row of boutiques bars cafes restaurants and luxury hotels in the evening you can take a river cruise and enjoy the city lights hello Cambodia has undergone a genocide from 1975 till 1979 when Khmer Rouge or a Communist Party backed by the North Vietnamese Army and the Chinese Communist Party came to power and killed a third of the country's population to learn more about it you can visit Chon Eck the site of a former Mass grave also known as The Killing Fields another site to visit related to that era is S21 prison also known as tall slang genocide Museum it's a former secondary school that was used as a security prison 21. coming to think of this it wasn't really that long ago just some 40 years ago if you want to learn more about this you can watch the movie first it killed my father directed by Angelina Jolie today Phnom Penh is a bustling Metropolis filled with motorbikes and Cars similar to Bangkok the skyline of the city is changing fast rooftop bars and skyscrapers all of that did not exist some 20 years ago for example these are the skyscrapers on diamond island which is one of the districts of Phnom Penh this land was a swamp until the year 2000. there are lots of expats living in the Cambodian Capital like David and Masha let's see what they have to say before we worked as English teachers um teaching English as a foreign language and Cambodia represented our first opportunity to teach in an international school Cambodia is one of the places where people who are not native speakers so what kind of challenges did you guys run into most of the day it's too hot to be outside and we only had a couple of nice months in December I think December and January the temperatures dropped and it was pretty nice to be outside even during the day but most of the year the temperatures are 37 and one of the other things that surprised us moving here is a lot of people describe Cambodia as a cheap place to live which in essence it is we were I guess somewhat surprised at how expensive summer things were particularly Western food so it's we're trying to find that balance of is it worth the price or you know do I do I miss that chocolate bar that much that I should pay three dollars instead of one dollar for it yeah that's exactly what I'm thinking some of the most favorite districts among expats are bbk1 and bbk2 and also the area around the Russian Market there's a nice party scene and no shortage of bars and clubs of course markets are a huge part of the city life and you can visit our Deco Central Market in the very Heart of the City this is the Central Market guys the biggest market and gnome pens there's a new modern neighborhood called europarts that's a really nice neighborhood guys it's a modern residential area would look-alike individual houses but what makes it stand out is a cool Park in the Middle with a river and replicas of famous European and international buildings like Big Bend and Sydney Opera fabulous [Music] alright it's time to move on how was I traveling in Cambodia normally I would rent a car but in Cambodia foreigners can only rent a car if they have a Cambodian driver's license so a hired a driver and that's him am Moon and Driver hey this is how we're gonna do it from Phnom Penh we're gonna go to Siem Reap batambang see hanukville then take a ferry to colerone Island then back to say hanukville comport and back to Phnom Penh ready let's go the second largest city of Cambodia is Siem Reap it has a population of 245 000 people Siem Reap is a small town with a business center with endless bars restaurants hotels and night markets but that's not why people come here what are you buying today it's popular in montours because of its Majestic ancient temples and specifically anchor wat which they call the crown jewel of Cambodia [Music] hacker what is the largest religious monument in the world think about it it's located on the site measuring 162 hectares or 402 Acres wow originally it was constructed as a Hindu Temple dedicated to the god Vishnu during the times of the khmera empire in the 12th century the construction took 28 years towards the end of the 12th century it was transformed into a Buddhist temple the height is 65 meters and no building in Siem Reap is allowed to be taller than that Khmer Empire was named for Cambodia back in 802 A.D when javerman iI ekmer Prince founded and became the ruler of Khmer Empire which flourished for 600 years they'll offer you to go see it at Sunrise or the sunset and I think Sunset is a better deal sunrise for me was miserable waking up at 4 30 in the morning to be there at five only to sit there for an hour and a half fallen asleep sweating because it's already hot and humid only to realize that sunrises are not as reliable as sunsets anchor watt is just one of approximately 50 Buddhist and Hindu temples in the area besides Angkor Wat you can visit many other temples like topran Temple that's been nicknamed tomb Ray the temple due to its depiction in the film Lara Croft Tomb Raider from 2001. Bayon Temple that's famous for its 216 Stone carved faces on the Temple's Towers priyahan temple pre-wrap temple Nick Poland Temple and many others at past with three days will cost you around sixty dollars but it's not for everyone let me tell you I was exhausted up to two days of visiting temples in the evening you can visit one of the city's absari dance performances that comes with the dinner I loved it traditional dancing and fighting good music and good food [Music] Siem Reap has a pubs treat with discos and bars but nothing as crazy as in some Thai cities her friend L who's an American has lived here for 10 years now and it seems to be enjoying it I think it's time to try some Cambodian food Cambodia signature dish is lock lack it's Wok fried filet of beef that comes with oyster gravy and compart pepper and it also comes with an egg and with some rice how much was it it's 6 75 yeah funny thing is uh you get prices in US dollars but you can pay in either currency in the local currency or in American dollars which makes it very convenient fish hammock is another popular dish and this is what it looks like stick around because later in the video we're going to be trying some crazy Cambodian Street Food Cambodia is famous for its fishing villages so we visited one The Village out this way is called chunkinius and on the tunnel stop Lake you have roughly a million families that are living in floating houses out on the lake but in the wet season this all floods everything you see here floods tonless up lake is just 30 minutes away from Siem Reef it is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia so guys I've kind of been missing Europe so we are in Venice right now houses standing on this water it's like a canal people stay busy in the small houses I say the conditions are not the best but somehow they try to make they try to decorate the houses I love that a lot of people put flowers on top and um and it seems like a pretty friendly Community that's that's my impression are you cooking rice [Laughter] Ian means shy oh all right moving on now let's drive to the third largest city in Cambodia and that is badambang the population today is 119 000 people the city was founded in the 11th century and it lies along the suncare river a tranquil small body water bang is often overlooked sure it doesn't have wide sand beaches big city nightlife or big name temples like anchor wat but at the same time it offers laid-back Vibes it's affordable and it doesn't have heavy traffic or crowds of tourists Central Point in batambang is Central Market Cold basar nut built in the 1930s this old part of town around the market is enjoyable to explore in foot lots of coffee shops hotels and French Colonial architecture take the time to explore the back streets too okay I'm now walking the back streets of batambon and it's just so interesting until today there's a rat guys there it is gonna get it now look at this rat [Music] what you got one of the most famous colonial buildings is Salah hayat the former Governor's residence okay guys let's go visit batamon National Museum follow me now it's a museum with artifacts from local Khmer temples north of the center you'll find the ruins of eknom an 11th century Pagoda with Sandstone carvings and a huge statue of Buddha next to it impressive very much indeed [Music] another fascinating temple in the area is white banan and it was built in the 11th century under King II but in order to see it we'll have to climb a lot of stairs you guys ready let's go for it it's a Mountaintop mid 11th century ruin consisting of five Towers arranged in the quincunx Forum reminiscent of Angkor Wat takes about 20 minutes to climb it but the view is worth it bottom bang province has always been the leading rice producing region of the country we were visiting bottom bang at the time of the preparation for the Cambodia New Year oh she fell come on tell me what's going on so he's the boss he's the budget he stay in the middle East yeah you look yeah okay and then done he ran away he ran away he swing okay it's a three-day public holiday that starts on the 13th or 14th of April which is the end of the harvesting season when Farmers enjoy the fruits of the labor before the rainy season [Music] thank you [Music] oh yeah but I'm born just great impression of the city I love how friendly people are and I love the celebration getting ready for the quiet New Year which is going to be tomorrow some of the cool things to do outside the city is visiting the bat caves called Bat Cave of penom sample wow what you guys just saw was 15 million bats live in that cave creating such a wonderful natural performance and they actually do that every single night and people come to see it of course so 15 million of those bats just leaving the cave looking for food they're going out to hunt the bats are flying around 6 p.m they're heading to the rice paddies looking for mosquitoes to feed on on the other side of the mountain you can visit another side of Khmer Rouge atrocities The Killing cave you'll have to hire a motorbike to take you there Khmer Rouge used this cave to dump the bodies of the people they executed when I was going to the cave it was really dark which added to the horror a sad place better come earlier around 4pm so you can watch the bat caves afterwards before it gets too dark [Music] you cannot visit batambang without taking a ride on bamboo train or Nori as locals call it it's essentially a bamboo flatbed on Wheels powered by small motorcycle engine okay guys hope you hear me well you're welcome it's a nice way to see a little bit of the countryside while having the wind in your face [Music] so loud but it's so much fun hello little man how's it going how's it going now let's travel to the coastal city of sihanicville also known as kemponsom we took an expressway the first one in the country that was finished in 2022 by a Chinese company it was Mon's first time driving on an expressway it was fun seeing his reaction the max speed was 120 but he was doing 90 being extra cautious foreign [Music] and finally we are in satanicville the population of the city's 73 000 people the city is flanked by an almost uninterrupted string of beaches along its entire Coastline and Coastal marshlands the local economy is largely defined by its deep water Port the nearby oil terminal and gambling it used to be a sleepy coastal city with pristine beaches but over the last 10 years has seen an unprecedented construction boom mainly from the Chinese Developers welcome to China mon I don't recommend gambling because most likely you're not going to win you know you look at a flash of cars like this a McLaren but I'll tell you it's probably the owner of a casino not a gambler everywhere you look there's going to be a Chinese sign so they're building mostly casinos they're building Resorts they're building everything but honestly I think this that the city's losing this identity it's becoming another like Concrete Jungle type of City not too good uh the city has been flooded with casinos in an attempt to turn it into a gambling Mecca rival in Macau in Las Vegas unfortunately satanicville's original charm has completely disappeared now it's just another Concrete Jungle with casinos and high-rises the massive influx of Chinese Capital was accompanied by a wave of Chinese tourists businessmen workers and even Chinese organized crime crime rates went up and all that comes with it drunken fights prostitution and kidnappings massive demand for land has caused prices to Skyrocket and as a result most poor and lower income cambodians have been priced out of their homes and neighborhoods funny thing is that Cambodian Nationals are not even allowed to gamble so all these casinos are for foreigners this is just insane guys it's a casino or at the casino wow it was getting ridiculous to a point that in 2019 around 200 000 Chinese citizens lived in the city and then Cambodia decided to ban online gambling which was Then followed by kovid and so the majority of the Chinese Nationals had to go back on the bright side the city has a long Shoreline area home to a number of beach resorts for quieter Beach experience go further away from the city to a place like atres beach that's a really nice area oh I think our breakfast has arrived locals call the city Centerville my friend Morin really enjoys it here well let's enjoy our breakfast yes but many people are coming to suhonicville only to take a ferry to one of the nearby islands for a Tropical Paradise experience when you think of Cambodia you don't typically think of white sand beaches and Blue Waters but Cambodia has surprisingly some of the most astonishing beaches in the world okay guys welcome to Tropical Paradise in Cambodia let's take a look at coron Island because this is where I was staying the ferry will take you to koron community pier and let me tell you unless you're a party person this is not where you want to be staying and I also heard that there might be some sewage contamination problem on the Main Beach there are over 20 beaches to choose from the island is pretty big 78 square kilometers so better choose one of those secluded ones like Coconut Beach this is what it looks like or sock Sand Beach look Picture Perfect this is where I was staying the scenery is breathtaking there are no Cars on the island only motorbikes and taxi boats but the island is not entirely developed make sure the hotel you pick has air conditioning if that's important to you I was staying at a hotel that had a high rating but didn't have it and it was terrible also the amount of bugs will probably surprise you I had to kill two spiders in my room yes just like that one the size of my palm funny thing is when I complained about the spiders to the owner of the hotel he just said you don't like it you kill it so while it is a Tropical Paradise it's not for everyone I love a little bit of civilization it turns out needless to say I didn't get much sleep that night and to make matters worse I fell off a motorbike the next day now this is what I call a real Adventure this is my first time on this island I got the scooter going from one beach to another I was having a great time when suddenly the concrete road came to an end and the gravel road appeared instead so I decided to slow down and went too hard and the front brakes and there I was recovering at a local emergency place well what can he do don't go too fast by the way motorbike accidents is one of the leading causes of deaths and injuries in Cambodia so please be extra cautious and the last city that we're going to cover is the city of comport the road to compart was one of the worst ones on the trip there was an option to take that newly built Chinese toll road but we decided to take the standard one this is terrible Road it was just like this for a couple hours and also my friend said you can complain about it but what's going to happen is you'll be taken to jail 20 minutes after you complain the road doesn't look too bad after this and finally we're in the laid back River Town of comport it's a small town with a population of 32 000 people comport's charm lies in the exceedingly chilled out atmosphere many buildings date from the colonial time the Riverside Promenade is graced by a surprising concentration of western-owned bars and guest houses durian roundabout is the most recognized place in the city why durian because comport was a durian Heaven from the early 1940s on until the Khmer Rouge came to power and burned all the durian Orchards turning them into rice paddies and murdering their wealthy owners [Music] we were visited during the celebration of the Cambodian New Year and everybody was partying and having water gun fights and not just water guns they were splashing each other with buckets of water brutal merciless but looks like a ton of fun he said he's going crazy and you know why because it's a clear new year happy New Year everybody so what do people do for fun they're splashing each other they haven't water gun fights and they turned the whole city into a water park I would have loved to join them and get soaking wet if it hadn't been for my wounds from the accident another cool place in the city is Antonio slide River Park this is where you can relax and enjoy your food by the water listen to some live music all around the boats the city surrounded by salt fields and pepper Farms this is what the salt Fields look like the way it works is the sea water is allowed into Salt Ponds and when it evaporates salt crystals are left behind and harvested another thing I highly recommend is a visit to a Pepper Farm there's a number of them in the area but La Plantation is the biggest one from the Drone you can appreciate the vibrant colors of pepper flowers and exotic fruit plantations fantastic it's an incredible area to visit you can join a free tour at the end of which you can try all the different varieties of peppers the best one is a fresh one but the fresh one you can't preserve it so you can't export it's only in Cambodia if you want to export it we will taste at the end it's dehydrated or salted so how many people working on the farm at this moment here we have between 150 and 250 Farmers Wizards during the harvest season it can reach 300 people one more thing the city of comport is famous for is bukhor National Park the park is located in the damrey mountains at over 1 000 meters above sea level the drive up the mountain was fun you'll see cute monkeys on the road you just told me that people used to eat monkeys some 20 years ago right yes wow but they don't do it now no go to jail right but it was mostly people who live in the jungle right yes okay there's a 29 meter tall Monument to Lockheed Mao an ancient mythical heroine the protector of Travelers and Hunters this National Park used to be a holiday destination during the French colonial rule there's an old Catholic church built in 1928 and the Buddhist temple from 1924. [Music] situated on the edge of the bakora Mountaintop what a gorgeous location there's even an old French Casino sitting on the side of a cliff fascinating but a cliff next to a casino sounds like a bad idea The Winner Takes it all and the loser trips and falls today however the park is being destroyed they recently built this huge Resort and monstrous Chinese casino that looks like straight out of a horror movie you know it's so weird to find a casino in the national park and I think he has no place here like what's the point why would you come here to gamble here to enjoy nature and kind of be away from the city but it is what it is there's a casino I think the building looks kind of ugly it has no architectural style it's just a big concrete building what is it doing in the National Park there's only one explanation and that is corruption there's numerous unfinished hotels and resorts and they keep building more and more just like those Chinese ghost cities that stay empty the whole place is starting to feel like a ghost town pretty sad to see a national park being sold off and developed for Pure commercial gain [Music] come on the local expert yes all right so far we've mostly been covering cities but exploring rural Cambodia is a whole other experience let me tell you once we stay for the night in a Cambodian village where we met a lot of friendly locals and even crashed a housewarming party this is what it looks like what's it like for a tourist in Cambodia first of all it's very affordable and they take US Dollars which is very convenient Cheers Cheers they actually prefer dollars in many places I think it's a good idea to bring a lot of cash with you because I didn't really enjoy paying 2.5 percent commission every time I had to withdraw some cash from the local ATMs as far as public transport goes you can use Tuk Tukes or you can use apps like grab and pass app what about food I've already mentioned lock lag and fish Amicon but there are many different dishes to try street food is extremely popular you'll find huge night markets in every major city where you can try anything from Seafood to insects for example This Is The Night Market in Siem Reap [Music] most people in rural areas eat very simple food yeah this is very typical Countryside Cambodian breakfast or lunch we have some fried pork okay some fried fish and then we have cabbage and cucumbers some fresh fresh vegetables and then of course rice of course you gotta have rice absolutely cambodians will eat some of the most unusual food like insects or even spiders there's even a location between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap that's been nicknamed spiderville one of the craziest things you can try in Cambodia the spider China spider wasn't something I was ready for but I did try some insects yeah it's not too bad it's good actually it's a silk worm okay oh this is disgusting did you try this one of course you can get all the tropical fruit that you normally find in Southeast Asia and even some local fruits that we've probably never heard of before like it's growing in the jungle and it's only available in April and May so I was lucky it's really delicious I love it something I like about cambodians is that they're very peaceful and friendly road rage that you find in many countries doesn't exist here my driver mon said that no one ever starts fighting on the road they just say I'm sorry I'm sorry they there's no such thing as road rage here like if someone does something stupid most likely they're going to apologize say just I'm sorry I'm sorry but it's never going to result in them fighting each other on the road no usually not even when people honk their horn in America we honk a horn to say like screw you I hate you people hung throw her on here is more of a polite thing I'm coming up behind you I'm going a lot faster beep beep I'm coming I'm going to pass you yeah but I think people generally speaking just kind of have a more of a tolerance for just kind of saying kind of like what I was just saying it is what it is like if someone cuts you off getting pissed off at it like we do in America is not going to make it any better it's just like it happened and you can either get pissed off at it which nothing will happen or you can just say it happened and move on with it right now certainly one of the things we can learn from the cambodians absolutely definitely when it comes to economy Cambodia is still a poor country rice fish Timber and Robert our cambodia's major exports nominal GDP per capita is nineteen hundred dollars a year which is four times smaller than a neighbor in Thailand and 42 times smaller than in the U.S can foreigners buy real estate in Cambodia yes as long as it's not on the ground floor so you cannot buy land but you can buy a condo on the fifth floor for example what about politics cambodia's political system has been dominated by prime minister Hoon sen and the Cambodian people's party for more than three decades this guy has been accused of assuming highly centralized power in the country and considerable personal wealth using violence and Corruption sounds like a great politician Cambodia has a major problem with landmines especially in rural areas this is the legacy of three decades of war that has taken a severe toll on the cambodians currently there are 40 000 amputees in the country my friend Elle and I visited Peace Museum of mine action near Siem Reap a great place to learn the history of Cambodia and modern machines that they use to disarm mines that's a huge Naval mine from the U.S store so let's wrap it up I really enjoyed my stay in Cambodia the country turned out to be more developed than I expected the tourist infrastructure is great and most importantly I felt safe throughout the trip and the locals were super friendly one thing to note though how was visited in April and let me tell you this is not the best time to come to the country it was way too hot 37 39 degrees every day wow so there you have it come visit Cambodia thanks for watching guys and I'll see you in my next video stay tuned [Music] [Music]

Channel: CoolVision

Views: 1,340,544

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Id: fPCt-VYDfKs

Length: 34min 15sec (2055 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 15 2023