Cambodia: Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is the capitol of Cambodia and is home to ~ 1.5 million people. Its name translates to "Penh's hill" and comes from the man-made hill that Lady Penh created and then had a Buddhist temple built on in 1372. The temple is called Wat Phnom and, yes, we visited it (yes, it has been reconstructed several times throughout history so it's not original except for a mural on the inside). Many people still come here to worship and pray and it is the most significant religious structure in the city.



A 7-headed naga. They always have an odd number of heads but I'm not totally sure why. These things are everywhere in Cambodia. They stand outside of temples and other buildings as protection or as a symbol of immortality and fertility.



The inside of the temple.



It is also home to the largest clock in Phnom Penh:



We also visited the Royal Palace. The king lives kind of behind all the buildings that the tourists are allowed to visit. The grounds are immaculately landscaped and nice to wander around. The building in the pictures below is the throne hall. You're not allowed inside (too many tourists trampled it too much) but you get to peek in and see the throne all the way at the end.



What happens when you have a cheesy guide (pic below). Actually, our guide in Phnom Penh was my favorite of all of our guides (we had 4 total, one in each city). He told us this story about himself: he had been dating a girl for 3 years and wanted to marry her and he asked her mother. Her mother went to a fortune teller, she went to 3 fortune tellers, actually, and they all told her that if her daughter married him that their marriage would not be happy and that they were not a good match for each other. The main concern was that our guide was born in the year of the dragon and his girlfriend was born in a year that is not compatible with a dragon. So the mother, and obviously the father, did not approve of the marriage and the daughter couldn't disobey her father so now our guide is single and looking for a wife. One of the other guides said that our guide is a "chick magnet" though so I think he's doing okay...



Another 7-headed naga outside the throne room.



Martin posing at a gate but not quite lining his face up right.



One of several stupas (memorials) to a previous king of Cambodia on the grounds of the royal palace.



One of the main sites at the royal palace is the silver pagoda. We did not take a single picture of the outside of it! We went inside of it but pictures are not allowed inside so we have no pictures of it. I can say, though, that I was not super impressed. It's called the silver pagoda because its floor is made out of silver. But it's covered with carpets so you can't see it! (am I the only person that this bothered?!). There are also some really expensive Buddha statues in the pagoda with lots of diamonds in them.

And a nice buddha statue:



Moving on from the royal palace to discuss our hotel and some restaurants we visited... We stayed at the White Mansion boutique hotel which was perfectly acceptable. The most amazing thing about it was the massage prices - check these out:



It was impossible not to get a massage at such prices. The only downside was the construction taking place next door - we had a few hours to enjoy the pool on our last day in Phnom Penh but our time there was filled with drilling, hammering, large pieces of metal being dropped, etc (pic below). Otherwise, really nice hotel, friendly people, etc, etc. It was a little weird to have the breakfast room be an actual cafe next door to the hotel though - during peak hours the waitstaff is obviously overtaxed and unable to keep up with orders. Food was great though so no real complaints.



We ate at only two restaurants while in Phnom Penh, and they were sister restaurants - "Friends the Restaurant" and "Romdeng". Both restaurants train marginalized youth so that they can find jobs on their own, so you're doing a good thing by eating there. The food was good at Friends the Restaurant and I'd say it's a great place for lunch. Romdeng had similar food (menu was different but similar) but what we ordered we weren't very impressed with. I think my issue is that we ate at two nearly identical restaurants and I would have liked something different for one of our meals.

Anyway, no pictures of the restaurants, but both were worth eating at if you're in Phnom Penh. Good food, very clean (read: no food poisoning), good service.

Here we are waiting for our boat trip down the Mekong river delta into Vietnam. We were at the port early because "when the boat arrives, it leaves.". So we got to sit and have a drink while we waited. And no we didn't float down the river on a big boat but instead on a tiny little speedboat. It was faster, but a little cramped. More to come about that trip in the next blog.