22. Day Farewell from Phnom Penh

After a night in perhaps the most stylish hotel we have ever seen with an amazing rooftop terrace, half of it beautifully designed outdoors, another breakfast and then on to the last two sights of our Asia trip.

First the Royal Palace with beautiful buildings, temples, Pagoda and stupas, located right on the Mekong. One should be king. However, Cambodia is a constitutional monarchy, in which the king only fulfills representative tasks.

After that, a short visit to the National Museum with exhibits from the early times of the Khmer, mostly Hindu and later with Buddhist influences.

Afterwards, just to the airport to embark on the long flight home via Saigon and Istanbul to Berlin.

So here ends our wonderful Indochina trip through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Of course, it is too early to draw a conclusion, but some thoughts should be allowed.

We have enjoyed beautiful landscapes and have met charming people, cheerful and very open-minded towards us strangers. Especially the children have taken a liking to us, carefree and radiating joy of life, they often embarrassed us because they, who are so poor, convey a joy that often eludes us, who are materially so much richer. In addition, in these countries, service is associated with so much smiling and friendliness that we involuntarily return this smile, we who only perceive service as a burden in western countries.

How much the joy of the children shines through, for example, I experienced during the visit to the village in Cambodia, when Sabina suddenly disappeared and then I saw her again, amusing herself with the children; I have rarely seen her so exuberant. The same goes for the next day when visiting the school class, when I already suspected that she had secretly applied to the school as a new teacher.

We will miss the weather, the country and the people.