Generally, I do outbound tours. If I want to travel around the country, I go with my family or friends.

That was my first time doing an inbound tour, and I went to Kampong Cham province. It was a one-day tour.

At 5:15 AM, I arrived at the tour office. We took the bus. At 5:30, the bus left.

There were four sites visited.

Preah Theat pagoda

It is an old pagoda. Currently, it is located in Tbong Kmom province.

It is where I liked the most when I did the tour. I am a historical lover, so historical places or things attract me strongly.

You can see in this article, there are a lot of photos of Preah Theat pagoda that other places have less of.

I am so interested in the history of the pagoda, but unfortunately, none of the people know about it, not even the tour guides.

I asked the priest staying there, and he told me he just knew the pagoda is old, about one hundred years old. He said it is said to be a temple, but it was destroyed during the Pol Pot regime.

This is what I noted about the history of Preah Theat pagoda. I will find out more about it.

It is the pagoda’s gate or front door.

The title on the gate is written in the Khmer language : Buddhist Calendar 2534, Preah Theat Ba Srey Pagoda, Christian Calendar 1990.

When we pass the gate, there is a shrine on our left hand. It is to place Khmer generals’ statues.

The two were Khmer generals in ancient times, named Vesawon and Kuvero (the name spelling and pronunciation are not right, sorry).

The statues are new because the old ones were destroyed in the Pol Pot regime.

The shrine is believed to pray and ask for something.

There are old temples with beautiful sculptures. I don’t know about Cambodian sculpture or architecture, so I cannot describe it to you, but I can tell you what I saw and felt.

There are three things I was interested in:

Pictures of animals and birds on temple balcony holders – other temples use flowers or natural sculpture (fire, etc.), but this temple uses animals/birds. I found three : elephant, monkey and, I think, duck (I am not sure if it is a duck or another kind of bird).

Strange style of building – they are at the back of the pagoda. Old, beautiful, and strange design. I don’t know what the building was used for.

Snake gate – mostly, Cambodians use sculptures of tigers, lions, and nagas on ladders or gates. But this temple uses snake sculptures. So weird but interesting.

There are a lot of things you may find if you see the pagoda with your own eyes. So, please come to Cambodia, Tbong Kmom province, to see the mysterious beauty of Preah Theat pagoda.

After, I continued to the second site, Han Chey mountain.

Han Chey eco-resort

The tour brought us to a resort on Han Chey mountain. We went there for lunch.

Plenty of food was served on the table, but I liked Khmer fish paste.

The resort is built and decorated with bamboo. I heard that the owner is Canadian.

When you step in the place, you have to take off your shoes, even in the bathroom (well, at the door of the bathroom, there are bathroom shoes for you).

I was joyful to take photos of the Mekong view around.

The air is fresh, but in the afternoon, it is a little bit hot.

This is where you can stay for short and long terms.

I was told the guests would be able to join yoga and meditation sessions as they stay in the resort.

You can find information about resort stays via the World Wide Web.

The third site was a flower park, but I did not like it because it was not clean and there was nothing to view.

But along the way to the flower park, I was interested in the old port. It was built during the French colony.

It is sad I just passed it. I will find a chance to visit the port.

The last site is in Kompong Cham city.

River Grass restaurant

It is a restaurant along the riverside.

I don’t really like this place because it is not natural. Just a place for taking photos. Nothing to feel.

The tour to Kompong Cham is $27.00.

I don’t show the name of the tour company because I don’t like tour guides. They said much nonsense. They were not professional guides, and they didn’t know how to be tour guides. They should tell tourists history of each site or should say something related to tour site but only crazy topics – talk bad about Cambodian, blame this, blame that, etc.

The good points of this tour are :

Take tourists to good places.

Delicious food.

Took care of the tourists.

It is not a good trip for me, but even so, I like it because I have a chance to see the beauty of my country.