As soon as I saw Julia’s True Beadz True Touch Dragon Green glass beads, I knew I wanted to try to make a bracelet inspired by the Beng Mealea Temple in Cambodia. Everyone who visits Cambodia goes to Angkor Wat and Bayon Temple and they are really awesome. But Beng Mealea, a Hindu Temple from about the 12th C, has not been restored and it’s a bit far from Siem Reap so fewer tourists visit. There is lots of vegetation growing all over it and many piles of large stones lying in heaps. It is absolutely magical to walk through it. It was my favourite site in Cambodia and I shall always treasure the experience of exploring it!
Here are a few photos that I took.
Here’s the bracelet I made, using True Beadz glass and Redbalifrog silver.
I used the pineapple because one day I had some rice in a pineapple boat during lunch with the boys while Wayne was out at a cooking class. And I had to use the monkey as there were quite a few monkeys amongst the ruins.
I couldn’t find any photos of the monkeys (it was hotter than the surface of the sun and I might have been too lazy to take a photo of them), but here’s Scaredy Squirrel instead. And this might be Ta Prohm, not Beng Mealea. Which is why I’m not a travel guide. 🙄
The bracelet again…
Left to right below are True Touch Castle Stone, the Redbalifrog Pineapple, True Touch Dragon Green, True Touch Marmor, Dragon Green again, the Redbalifrog Magic Monkey and True Blossom Castle Stone.
At first I had this arrangement, with the darker beads in the middle area. In the front left below are True Touch Linen, Redbalifrog’s Fern Leaf and True Air Linen.
Here’s a last look. I think I prefer the arrangement in the first couple of photos, with the darker beads spread out and not clustered together but that’s just my preference.
So, has anyone else been to Cambodia or is it a place you’d like to visit?
As always, when featuring True Beadz I like to show the whole range of colours.
Row 1 Stormy Heavens/Royal Viola/Purple Dream/Lilac/Taiga/Blue Mist
Row 2 Eastern Sea/And Quiet Flows the Don/Sky Blue/Baby Blue/Marmor/Princess Kiss
Row 3 Baby Pink/Strawberry/Terracotta/Pumpkin/Sunflower/Sunlight Spot
Row 4 Castle Stone/Dragon Green/Gooseberry/Linen/Siberia
Disclosure: For this blog I may receive some items as promotional samples.
marthnickbeads 
Your photos are amazing, Martha! What an incredible experience. Sometimes it’s great to get off the beaten tourist path and see things that haven’t been prettied up. I always enjoy hearing about your travels and seeing your lovely photos. Oh yeah, and the bracelet is pretty too! 🙂 The Dragon Green is a nice shade, and your color palette comes together so beautifully.
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Thanks Kim! Yeah, the main sites in Cambodia were as busy as a Disney park-I was quite surprised. The True Beadz colours really do blend together so beautifully, so it’s very easy to put together a bracelet!
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Your post today has been an inspirational beginning to my day. Your photos are wonderful and so moving, looking at them on my iPad and not phone, is the way to appreciate all the details and scale, even without monkeys! I love your Cambodia inspired bracelet. You always make the True Beadz look great! Thanks for sharing another Beads and Travel blog post.
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My pleasure Sarah and thank you for your kind words. It was over 40 degrees when we were there, but it felt like we had magically traveled through time. Julia’s beautiful beads will forever help me remember that moment!
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Dear Martha, thank you for your nice work! Your bracelets are inspiring a lot, even if I don’t have the same glass colours to add in, I always enjoy their look and am curious about any new combinations you come up with. But the best thing is that you often attach a story to a bracelet! I’ve never been to Combodia and your pictures of the place are so magic. Would you like to go back there one day, or is it just a one-visit place?
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Thanks Svetlana! I’d love to go back, but there are so many places we have never been, so I don’t think we will. We have never been to France or Italy or Russia! 😀
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Right, I always think the same when we are trying to decide where to go next! Italy is very beautiful, I enjoyed the trip a lot) as for Russia… have you ever heard of Russian river cruises? I’ve met quite a few Americans who chose to cover the way from Moscow to St. Petersburg and back down the river on a comfortable motor ship with a number of stops at various places of interest. They were all quite happy with their trip)
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Wow, a river cruise sounds lovely! I’d love to visit the Hermitage Museum one day.
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Gorgeous photos! It looks like such a beautiful site; I can only imagine how grand it must have looked when it was in use.
I love seeing sites that nature is reclaiming.
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Thanks Tracy! Wouldn’t it be amazing to travel back in time to see places like this? You’d really like the Ta Prohm temple then. It’s the one with all the trees growing all over it that was in the Tomb Raider movie.
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Wow! Love the photos of your travels. I haven’t been to Cambodia before but it’s definitely on my bucket list now. Your bracelet is lovely and the Dragon Green Truebeadz are wonderful.
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Thanks very much! It’s an amazing country. Such sadness though, with so many people having been killed. Our tour guide had lost many member of his family yet he was a most kind and gentle man.
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Yes, it’s horrible whenever you learn the darker sides of a country’s past (in this case genocide) but it’s equally as important to educate yourself about what problems they have had and how they overcome them as it is to see their greatest achievements and points of pride.
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Indeed. Our tour guide was incredibly proud to point out all the schools and hospitals to us. He was quietly frustrated about the corruption in his country though. We really learned a lot from him. ❤️
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Wow Martha, I love all your Cambodia pictures and stories ❤ thanks so much for sharing with us all! Love your bracelet too, that little RBF monkey is one of my favorites too 😀
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Thanks Natalie. The little monkey is so sweet! It’s a lot of fun for me to remember countries visited through beads and I’m happy to share! Thanks for reading!
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