Girl with the red ruby ring

Beng Mealea is one of the temples that take some time to visit. It is an hours drive outside Siem Reap city on the way to Kulen Mountain.

The Lotus Pond Temple, Prasat Beng Mealea, was build around the same time as Angkor Wat, but nearly seventy kilometres away. It is near the sacred Kulen Mountain. It is a large temple, and the last few years it has been heavily renovated. The accessibility both to the temple itself and inside it has been upgraded as well.

Refreshing green season
We where a group of visitors seeking shelter for a sudden downpour. Visiting Cambodia in green season means some short downpours morning or afternoon. And this was morning mid-September.

A small bridge-like shelter over a small river leading into a small lake was suddenly filled up. By visitors in different levels of soaked. And their guides. And some locals from the stalls selling food and drinks nearby.

We were all under visual scrutiny by this local girl.

Whether it was the general appearance of slightly soaked foreigners, or the typical curiosity Khmer children often have, is a mystery. But she did a perfect pose for a portrait.

Potential World Heritage
The Lotus Pond Temple was added to the list of tentative World Heritage Sites in 2020.

To visit Beng Mealea you need a separate ticket if you do not have the Angkor main pass. A daytrip here will often include a visit to Phnom Kulen, the river, waterfall and the Reclining Buddha, and highly recommended the beautiful temple Banteay Srei.

And meeting some nice locals.


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Girls’ night out

The Royal Square in Phnom Penh, between the Royal Palace and the riverside where the rivers Tonle Sap and Mekong meet, are among the nicest public areas in the Cambodian Capital.

The area is ordinarily bustling with people, both locals and tourists from early morning. In the late afternoon/early evening families arrive for picnic, and later in the evening young people join for meals, drinks and friendly activities.

Late arrivals
Many of them arrives after the ordinary shops and daytime cafes are closed.

Like this group of Khmer ladies in their late teens having a late evening picnic at a nearly empty square.

When you have one of those soft, velvet dark blue nights it becomes a nice ending of a day visiting the capital city.

Top travel goal for 2026
Both in 2025 and for the upcoming 2026 Phnom Penh has been recommended as one of the ten hottest cities to visit in Asia.
Latest this recommendation comes from BBC in London.
The recommendations comes from Phnom Penhs combination of history, culture and architecture from the ‘Pearl of Asia’ period. And the modern vibrant metropolitan capital city of a nation in rapid economic and cultural development.

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20251209-the-20-best-places-to-travel-in-2026

#nightphotoshoot #phnompenh #Cambodia #Kampuchea #khmerwomen #royalpalacepark #girlsnightout #dinner #picnic #SamdachSothearosBlvd #RoyalPalace #Royal #Palace #Square #Phnom #Penh #capital #2019CE #architecture #art #ទន្លេសាប #bluesky #Buddhism #capital #capitalcity #central #temple #citylife #DaunPenh #daytrip #history #imperial #Kampuchea #khmer #khmergirl #King #Ponhea #YatKrong #Chaktomok #Mongkol #Mekongriver #Mekong #river #system #mighty #rivers #moderncapital #nightphotoshoot #pearl #of #Asia #people #roadtrip #park #site #stately #building #statetemple #supreme #court #Tônlé #Sab #temple #tonlé #sap #TonléSapriver #tonlesap #transport

A drop of colour and a drop of water

Dimensions, on a Khmer-girl scale.

A good thing with an assistant is to have someone to show the relative size of things.
Like my friend here, showing the size of one of the water basins before entering the first of the main temple constructions of Preah Vihear.
This fantastic mountain top temple complex is just another important part of Khmer cultural heritage to the world, forever for Cambodia to care and protect. It was added to the World Cultural Heritage list in 2008.

https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1224/

#preahvihear #water #well #Cambodia #seventemples #worldculturalheritage #roadtrip #2019CE #khmergirl #colorful #culturalheritageday #preahviheartemple #photoassistant #localgirl #khmer #Kampuchea #templevisit #buddhism #art #architecture #bluesky #isaan #sisaket #water #ប្រាសាទព្រះវិហារ #Preah #Vihear #Temple

A drop of colour and a drop of water

A good thing with an assistant is to have someone to show the scale of things.

Like my friend here, showing the size of one of the water basins before entering the first of the temple buildings of Preah Vihear.

This fantastic mountain top temple complex is just another important part of khmer heritage to the world, forever for Cambodia to care for and protect.
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1224/

#preahvihear #water #well #Cambodia #seventemples #worldculturalheritage #roadtrip #2019 #khmergirl #colorful #culturalheritageday #preahviheartemple #photoassistant #localgirl #khmer #Kampuchea #templevisit #buddhism #art #architecture #bluesky #isaan #sisaket #2019ce #ប្រាសាទព្រះវិហារ #Preah #Vihear #Temple