Up at 7:30 AM, breakfast and off to the Palace, arrive at 8:30 AM. The layout is similar but not as large as the Grand Palace in Thailand. Surrounding many of the buildings is a covered wall which contains story titled "Ramayana"... the king of demons takes the wife of the prince...he gives chase with assistance from his brother and general of the monkey army...the chase extends over a period of years with different scenery and battles depicted on marvelous frescos...at the end the prince gets his wife back but must now again regain her love for him....see pictures of frescos which must be 400 ft in length and go from wall to wall and around corners. The key building in the palace area is the Throne room with a large golden throne overhung by a 7-tiered umbrella like ornament that significies the status of the king. Unfortunately no pictures are allowed inside the building...what you see are exterior shots of the Palace Complex and adjacent buildings.
Adjacent to the Palace is the famous Silver Pagoda which contains a large, large Buddha statute enhanced with over 9,000 gems of various sizes (largest is 25 carats) and an emerald Buddha that came from Sri Lanka...all very beautiful. Why the name "Silver Pagoda"...the floor is covered with solid silver floor tiles, each of which weights 2 pounds each. No pictures please so all we have is the outside buildings which are quite impressive. Complete visit at 10 AM.
Wat Ounalom is the headquarters for Buddhist education in Cambodia. The Wat is discussed in an excellent book about Cambodia and Buddhism titled "The Gods Drink Whiskey". The most senior monk, age 83 years, was executed by the Khmer Rouge in 1976 and a statue of him thrown into the river. After being driven from power, the new government recovered the statute and it sits prominently in the Wat. Little else to see...so off to the National museum.
The museum is a large red building, similar to a Smithsonian brick museum, with a grand garden in the middle. It consists of 4 large displays rooms which are interconnected. Artifacts go back to the 600 AD period and move forward in time from room to room. What caught my attention is that Brahmanism --->Hinduism---->Buddhism religions moved from to the other but are still today woven together. Cambodia was Theravada Buddhist, back to Hinduism, next Mahayana Buddhism and finally reverted back to Theravada Buddhist..... all in a period of 2 centuries. Silver icons, stone sculptors and maps provide an informative historical view of how Cambodia culture and religion advanced...no pictures except of the buildings exterior. It's 11:15 AM and still much to do.
Take a tuk-tuk to Wat Phnom which sits at top a man made hill of about 125 ft. The story goes that a wealthy Cambodian woman named Madame Pehn was walking along the river when she came across a large downed tree floating in the river. She has workers remove the tree and inside were 4 Buddha statues. Being wealthy and religious, she had a hill built with a Wat on top which housed the Buddha statues. Phnom = Hill and Penh is the name of the woman...and so you now know the origin of the name Phnom Penh. Not be disrespectful, we have seen so many Wats that this one is significant due to its history...see the pictures...the Wat is at the top of the hill with Naga..large snake like objects guarding the stairs leading to the top.
It is now 11:45 AM...I go for a massage...not just a massage but a massage at the "Seeing Hands Massage"...massages done my blind masseuse...she did a great job...not as good as Thai but after a busy morning, it felt great. See picture of my masseuse and me.
Take a tuk-tuk back to the hotel, grab a quick sandwich and ready for the "Killing Fields" tour.
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