Highlights of Phnom Penh Cambodia To

Before we begin our blog about Phnom Penh we just had to include this shot of our cooking class on our last afternoon on our river cruise with our head Chef (sorry, we can't remember his name). Of  course Bob is the only one not paying attention...he was looking for dessert.

The next morning we were packed up and ready to go. We said goodbye to our fellow passengers who were continuing on to Siem Reap. They would disembark there and return to Saigon via bus.

There were some new passengers that boarded the boat at Phnom Penh and we got an update on the virus situation. We hadn't bothered with following the issue aboard the boat but things were gradually getting worse.

Our next guide Chenda, was waiting for us as we docked and we were quickly whisked away for our afternoon tour....Highlights of Phnom Penh.

Our first stop was at this local historical site. Local lore states that a wealthy local woman found 4 small Buddha statuettes hidden in a log that she found down by the nearby river. She donated them to the village and they in turn built a manmade hill 27 meters high and built a temple on top to honor her.

Wedding pictures....very common at this site...they have 7 pre wedding outfits and pictures are taken of them all.

Chenda our guide giving us the ins and outside of temple protocol. The last thing we wanted to do was embarrass her and ourselves by doing or saying something inappropriate. 

Effigy of the lady who was responsible for this particular temple.  They change out her clothes and shoes daily.

Incredible detail and yes....lots of gold!

Chenda indicates the correct way to kneel...the lady in the background is doing it wrong.

The temple offering site...that is raw bacon in the jaws of these statues plus raw eggs, fruit and vegetables

The site name we have visited...the below pic if enlarged tells more of the story

Next on the tour was a trip to the National Museum. In it were many artifacts that had been "rescued" and recovered from many historical sites around the country.

The inner court at the National Museum.

Replica of a loom used to make all the various textiles

This is an example of a Royal boat cabin, made of teak

A carpenter's wood drill as was used to build the loom and the boat cabin

The central garden of the museum; notice the cannons.

After our tour at the Museum we headed off to the Royal Palace complex.

The present King's role is now like that of our Queen, basically a figure head. The whole political scene of Cambodia has been very convoluted and confusing for decades and much too complex for a foreigner to try and make sense of.

This a typical residence of the local people of the early years

They used to have live elephants here but stopped the practice of giving elephant rides using the huge "saddles". It became too inhumane apparently.

These are all Royal elephant saddles....some even had gold on them.

Restoration and repair work is ongoing.

These are Stupas - the ashes of royalty are held in them.  The one below saw one Royal family member be placed in it with his young daughter who passed away at four years old due to Dengue fever.

Restorations are an ongoing thing at the Royal palace.  They bring in Artists from all over the world to help with the restoration process of the wall murals.

A drinking fountain

The silver pagoda on the Royal grounds.  It was beautiful with the floor made of silver (five tons).  There were fabulous displays in here showing many Buddhas,  clothing riddled with diamonds. 

The previous King on horseback

The previous King's ashes, plus other family members, are in this large Stupa. He died at age 89 on Oct 15, 2012. His son is now the king and does live in the complex with his widowed mother.

Thd murals on the wall tell the Cambodian story.   They are being restored but it is a very long process...you could see where vandals had defaced the murals over the years.

This end has been fully restored but they have a long ways to go before this project will be done.

This is the Silver Pagoda, named so because of the 5,329 solid silver tiles that made up the floor of the building. We were allowed in but no picture taking allowed. Inside was an incredible amount of statues of all sizes of Buddha, mostly made of gold and silver.

This building is the official Royal office where the present King spends some of his day.

In these next pictures we see how the Royals dress in a different color for each day of the week. 

Traditional clothing.

Now for the interesting part. The Royal Regalia shown next is made of pure gold, even the Royal clothing is made partly with gold.....and yes, the cabinets are locked....Bob checked

Naomi really wanted one of these gold pumpkins.

YES,  those are beautiful large diamonds in this garment.

The fabric has gold throughout mixed with diamonds...the pictures don't do the garments beauty justice.

The royal grounds are very well kept.

This entrance is used for big government events where the King is involved.

Again more restoration going on in the background.

The building in the back is the official residence of the king and his mother. The flag hanging limp in the right side of the pic means the king is in the complex.  He has a full size swimming pool for his use.

You can see the sculptures are carrying forward the beliefs of old...you have seen this architecture at Angkor Wat.

The Royal Palace - we could not enter the main building or take pictures of the inside.

Some of the buildings in the complex such as this pagoda, were now closed to the public because of a certain segment of the tourist population proved to be unruly and contentious so they ruined it for everyone else.

There is a story about this flower but we can't remember what it was.  It only blooms for one day and then it is done...you can see many more about to bloom.

Heading to the exit

Here's the Royal Complex from the outside. We used Chenda, our guide for scale

While at the museum we bought tickets to see an evening show later that night. It was called "Earth and Sky- A Breathtaking Celebration of Cambodian Dance & Music Tradition ". It was a small venue but it was well done, using local youth to perform some of the native dances....very well done.

After the show we caught a Tuk Tuk back to our hotel. The next day would prove to be a very emotionally charged day. We would be touring one of the 343 known Killing Fields in Cambodia followed by a tour through the infamous detention center called S21.

Below are 2 pics that we had to add. One is of the Bat Tree with those huge fruit bats hanging out until dark and another pic of the flower that we are not sure why we took pictures of?