PHNOM PENH – Newly appointed Chinese Ambassador Wang Wenbin has congratulated the Angkor Botanical Garden in Siem Reap, which is among the winners of the TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards 2024.

“Added to my checklist,” Wang wrote on his Facebook page on July 12, of places to visit in the country.

The APSARA National Authority—the government agency that oversees the Angkor Archaeological Park, in Siem Reap province—announced the award on July 10.

The Angkor Botanical Garden is the first botanical garden in Cambodia. Stretching over 15 hectares, it features more than 500 species of plants and animals. It was originally called a spice garden.

The garden was designed in five sections. The first section is a spice and medicine garden featuring rare plants for cooking and traditional medicine that Cambodians have used to cure diseases. The second section consists of a collection of ornamental grasses, sunflowers, cauliflowers and many more, growing according to the season.

The third section is a palm garden with a collection of palm plants, various types of coconuts along with several kinds of snails, all set in hills.

The fourth section is the Khmer garden, which combines fruit trees including mango trees and imported fruit trees such as kao lak.

The fifth section is Angkor Park’s forest and wildlife area. The park is part of the forest in the Angkor Archeological Park. A walkway has been built so that visitors can walk in the forest, see wildlife and the waterfall.

Chinese Ambassador Wang Wenbin is apparently not the only foreign envoy to have enjoyed his visit to Siem Reap and Angkor Park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Dominic Williams, British Ambassador to Cambodia, wrote on his Facebook page that he had travelled by bus instead of using his official vehicle to go to Siem Reap. He called his trip “a happy time.”