Starting My Treasure Hunting In England

To be honest, Cambodia, as a developing country, is not a very ideal destination even from a travel perspective. Both Thailand and Vietnam are better than this.

To give the simplest example, Sihanoukville Port is the third largest city and largest port in Cambodia. From a certain perspective, it should also be the most prosperous place in the entire country, but the situation does not look very good now.

Although Liang En knew that this country was small and backward with poor infrastructure before coming here, he really didn't expect that the scale here seemed to be at the same level as a county town in China.

At the same time, Cambodia is a tipping country like the United States. No matter what you do, you must tip. Fortunately, a tip of almost 1,000 riel can solve the problem, which is equivalent to RMB 1.5, which is acceptable.

If tipping only makes people feel uncomfortable, the security of this place such as speeding robberies is a big problem. It has to be said that casinos can indeed boost the economy of a place, but the price is that the security of the area has deteriorated sharply.

In addition, the rapid development has also caused the city to fail to keep up with urban development in terms of planning. The entire city looks very chaotic and lacks public services, making the overall situation of the entire city look worse than it actually is. .

"There is no public transportation system in this place?" Jeanne looked surprised after taking a three-wheeled motorcycle known as a tuk-tuk to explore the entire city.

"I thought such a big city should have such infrastructure." "Theoretically, it should be there, but in reality it is not." Liang En said helplessly.

"Only the capital city of this country has its own public transportation system, which only came about after receiving a batch of buses donated by China four or five years ago."

There is nothing to see in the city. After all, the core of urban tourism in this city is the legendary gambling industry, and these projects have almost zero appeal to Liang En.

Fortunately, the natural scenery outside the city is good. For example, the beaches and nearby islands are good travel destinations, so Liang En and the others had a lot of fun here.

However, because these natural scenery can be said to be similar, people will gradually feel bored after wandering here for a few more days. Fortunately, at this time, they received an invitation from the king, inviting Liang En to the capital to attend the lecture. Honor ceremony.

"Excuse me, what is this investiture ceremony about?" Liang En asked curiously after arriving in Phnom Penh by plane and meeting the royal attendant who picked him up. "Does His Majesty the King want to see me?"

"Yes, Mr. Liang." The attendant nodded slightly and then said. "The Buddha statue you donated is very important to my motherland, especially the Buddha relics inside, so your Majesty naturally wants to see you."

Liang En originally thought that he and Jeanne would stay in a commercial hotel, but what he didn't expect was that they would be transported directly to a hotel used by Cambodia to entertain state-level foreign guests.

"You and Viscount Mandeville should stay here first. At 10 o'clock tomorrow morning, you will attend the relic relic ceremony with His Majesty, and then His Majesty will summon you alone."

The attendant said to Liang En in the hotel lobby, and then handed the invitation to him. "At 9 o'clock tomorrow morning, we will send a special car to pick you up here. You just need to be in the lobby by then. Our people will come into the lobby to pick you up."

"Okay, we will definitely arrive on time tomorrow morning." Liang En said after taking the invitation and looking at it. Fortunately, they each brought clothes suitable for this occasion, so there won't be any problems tomorrow.

The Viscount Mandeville mentioned by the attendant refers to Joan of Arc. Because she is the legal heir of the Duke of Manchester, she will use this courtesy title, while the legal heir of the legal heir will use the honorific title of Lord Kimbolton.

Traditionally, the ceremonial title of the legal heir of a duke should be earl. Unfortunately, the Duke of Manchester's subordinate earl title has the same name as the duke, so it cannot be a ceremonial title.

One of the biggest benefits of this title for Joan of Arc is that she does not only appear as Liang En's companion in various ceremonies. After all, for a constitutional monarchy, nobles from other countries must also give equal respect. .

In other words, in many activities, if you are just a companion, you may not be able to participate, but as a British noble, you can participate in these activities.

Early the next morning, Liang En and the others packed up and went to Unalong Temple to participate in the following activities. According to the news they received, almost all the eminent monks and sages in Cambodia were here today.

Unalong Temple is a very ancient temple in Phnom Penh and has the largest pagoda in Phnom Penh. In the Khmer language used by Cambodians, "U Nalong" means "Holy Eyebrow". It is said that the eyebrows of a eminent monk are hidden in the pagoda.

Now this temple, located not far from the Royal Palace, is the headquarters of the Cambodian Buddhist Organization and a research center for ancient Khmer culture. You can usually see the life scenes of monks reading and discussing.

The pagoda of the temple enshrines the relics of the Buddha brought back from Ceylon in 1890. Therefore, many dignitaries like to build ashes pagodas in the temple to store the ashes of their ancestors next to the Buddha, and a group of pagodas gradually formed.

Also because of the importance of this temple in the entire Cambodia, and because it is also a center for research on ancient Khmer culture, future golden Buddhas and relics will be enshrined in this temple.

The ceremony officially started shortly after everyone arrived at the temple. Because he had knowledge about Buddhism, Liang En could tell that this was a very solemn ceremony.

In addition to the monks, officials and troops in the temple, there are also people outside the temple. Because this incident was reported on the news two days ago, it seems that everyone in Phnom Penh has come here today, and almost everyone hopes to pay homage to the holy relics.

After the ceremony, Liang En and the others went to the palace, because the next step was Liang En's investiture ceremony. In this ceremony, he would receive the first-class National Construction Medal and the title of Lord conferred by the royal family.

According to Cambodian law, enthusiasts who donate US$100,000 in property to the country will be awarded the first-class National Construction Medal by the government; enthusiasts who donate more than US$500,000 in property will be granted the title of "Lord" by the government.

However, compared with British lords, Cambodian lords are not highly recognized internationally. This is related to Cambodia's national strength on the one hand, and on the other hand because there are too many Cambodian lords and the threshold is too low.

Because in 1994, Cambodia announced that anyone who could donate US$100,000 would be eligible to receive the title of Lord canonized by the king. This policy continued until 2017 when the amount was increased to 500,000.

Public information shows that in the ten years or so from 1994 to February 2014, a total of 704 people in the country were canonized as "Lords", so the devaluation of the title is almost inevitable.

After all, it is indeed difficult to gain enough respect for a title that seems to be something you can buy with money. At the same time, this situation can also easily lead to uneven quality of those who are finally canonized. As a result, various problems arise.

The most important thing is that unlike the British Lords who are regarded as nobles, the Cambodian Lords are closer to Datuk or Justice of the Peace, just a title.