Royal Palace & the Silver Pagoda – Phnom Penh – Cambodia – April 2019

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Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Royal Palace Phnom Penh, Silver Pagoda Phnom Penh, travelling with friends

Last Day in Phnom Penh in 40 Degrees Celsius!

During my visit to Phnom Penh earlier this year, my friend Tracey and I took a Tuk Tuk to the Royal Palace as it was our last day in the country and we wanted to take a look around.  The palace opens at 8am but we arrived around 9am and even by this stage it was about forty degrees celsius; with humidity. Yuck!!All visitors must conform to dress standards; shoulders and knees covered which meant a top with sleeves and a mid-length skirt or three quarter pants as long as your knees are covered.

We paid our entry fee and with our ticket we received a map of the complex and grounds.  We started out with a general walk around the central compound, through the beautifully manicured gardens, looking at large pots containing water lilies and lovely topiary trees…all this with the sun burning into our skin as we both had forgotten to bring umbrellas…We particularly wanted to see the Royal Stupas and The Silver Pagoda so checked out our trusty map to find both. From outside the walls of the Royal Palace, it looks like the palace compound and The Silver Pagoda are located in the same area, however they are two distinct compounds, separated by an alleyway and gates but your entry ticket gets you into both areas.

The complex of The Silver Pagoda is made ​​up of several buildings and statues, stupas and more beautifully landscaped gardens.  There are four Royal Stupas and each is intricately decorated and a memorial to a member of the Royal family.The Silver Pagoda (Wat Preah Keo) is a Buddhist temple and contains an emerald Buddha. It’s known as The Silver Pagoda because of the 5000 silver tiles that cover the floor. Unfortunately, these are hard to see, as the floor is covered up by carpet that protects the tiles from being damaged by foot traffic but there is a particular area that is off limits where you can see them – absolutely stunning!

 

source:  Lonely Planet

All visitors must remove their shoes before entering the pagoda and there are little cubby holes outside to put your shoes in.  I liked the interior of this pagoda with cabinets upon cabinets of statues, icons and precious objects.  It would of been nice to have known more about them and their significance but explanations, unfortunately, were not in English.  Unfortunately no photos allowed inside so nothing to show here!

We then decided to visit the Throne Hall of the Royal Palace.  Construction of the palace began in 1886 after the King relocated the royal capital from Oudong to Phnom Penh and was completed before World War I.  The Royal Palace is still the royal residence for the King of Cambodia and while parts of the palace with its golden roofs are closed to the public others like the Throne Hall can be visited. Topped by a 59m-high tower that was inspired by the Bayon in  Siem Reap’s Angkor Thom, the Throne Hall is used for coronations and other ceremonies.I think we had walked around for about an hour and a half and at this stage I was sure the sun was burning further into my skin, so we decided to leave.   We took a Tuk Tuk and returned to our friend Naomi’s home.  It was then time to finish packing and take a car to the airport…a fabulous trip away!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Phnom Penh Street Art – Street 93 – Phnom Penh – Cambodia – April 2019

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Cambodia, Phnom Penh, Phnom Penh Street Art, Street 93, Street Art

Rather difficult to find but worth the effort

Our first attempt in finding Street 93 in Phnom Penh was disastrous.  My friend Naomi who lives in this city drove my other friend Tracey and I to Street 93 or where she though it was – who would not think you are in Street 93 when the sign says just that!  We drove up and down and couldn’t find any street art; this is the very old part of Phnom Penh where all blogs and internet advice tell us the art is located.  This Street 93 has many old homes and small old shops selling car tyres but as mentioned no street art.

We stopped outside an old building which had a street sign of ‘Street 93‘ and Naomi looked at the internet for directions but all we got were GPS coordinates (didn’t really help as we didn’t know how to use them) and other people’s blogs where everyone was saying go to Street 93 and you will enjoy the sights but no specific directions on how to get there.  But always interesting to see the tangled overhead wires in Asia and there is no exception of them in Phnom Penh.We decided to take a break and I enjoyed a cold drink, a glass of vegan wine and a roast pumpkin/tomato and capsicum hummus sandwich.  By this time outside it had reached around thirty-eight degrees.  We decided on Backyard Cafe a fabulous vegetarian/vegan cafe over the road from the Mekong River.  By this stage we had wifi so all three of us were in competition to see who could find the exact directions first.  Naomi won (after a good hour of us all searching).  There are ‘two’ Street 93’s in Phnom Penh – who would have thought and the one with the street art was not properly displayed on the map!!So a couple of days later we hired a tuk tuk driver and off we went…Naomi told our driver Michael what we wanted to see and he knew exactly where to go – the proper Street 93 with lovely old homes and lots of trees and plants.  We arrive in the usual stifling heat and hopped out to take a look at the art as well as the very old homes/people relaxing enjoying a coffee and dogs lying in the sun.

I must say the effort to find this street was worth it…I just wish it was a bit cooler to walk around more.Different art is painted on individual walls; some with washing hanging nearby and lots with rubbish on the ground; but all still fabulous.And these painted ladies are particularly beautiful…[first one is my absolute favourite]There are some that are comical…Some for kids…

And some just pretty…I do believe this street is a must see for anyone visiting Phnom Penh.

 

Phnom Penh – Cambodia – 2008

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Cambodia, Phnom Penh, weekend away

A weekend in Phnom Penh

In 2008, whilst I was working in Hong Kong, I arranged to visit some friends in Phnom Penh for a weekend.  I caught a flight from HK on a Friday afternoon and was picked up by my friends from the airport.  I didn’t really know what to expect but my friends lived in a fabulous [huge] house in Cambodia’s capital and it was interesting to see that the streets around where they lived were all really wide and tree lined…again not knowing what to expect this was a pleasant surprise.

My friends had asked me before I arrived if I was interested in a boat trip along the Mekong River.  This is something I had always wanted to do so said a huge ‘yes’.  We caught our boat and for about two hours did a tour of the river and being the only people on the boat (apart from the staff) we had a nice time just sitting and relaxing and watching the world go by.

The river was pretty dirty and rather sad to see the poverty alongside with families living in tents or small boats alongside the river.  But it was an incredible experience to be on the Mekong!!!

Phnom Penh really is a wonderful city and one I am so glad to have experienced especially with my friends who had lived there for some time and knew the city really well.

During the weekend, my friends took me to some markets to buy the usual cheap bags/wallets/t-shirts/ornaments and other things which I bought in abundance!!

We also went and had dinner at this fabulous little local restaurant which had geckos on the walls…they were on all the walls all around the city inside rooms and restaurants…very cute actually…I liked them.

One place we went to which I found really interesting was the Foreign Correspondents Club which was a favourite haunt of foreign journalists when reporting news on Cambodia and located along the Tongle Sap River.  It’s a three storey colonial building and is now a bar/restaurant and hotel.

(photo from http://www.tripadvisor.com.au)

We sat upstairs and had views of the river and the local area…so enjoyable!!  Inside there are wooden seats and wooden bar tops and the walls are covered with nostalgic posters.  You can imagine foreign correspondents interviewing politicians and others before writing up their stories many years ago.  We also had views of the cluttered power lines that are generally seen all throughout the majority of Asia.

And my final stop on the Sunday before I returned to the airport to go to Hong Kong was to see Wat Phnom, a buddhist temple built in 1373 and is the tallest religious structure in the city.  It was so hot walking around the city [so hot] but it was lovely to see the places I did see.  I know I didn’t see everything Phnom Penh has to offer but what I did see was lovely and I really enjoyed spending time with my friends Mike and Jude.