Today we’re back where we started in Phnom Penh. We visited the
Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and the National Museum. We also made our way to another
street market. Today was a pretty short day. We weren’t out and about nearly as
long as we normally are.
We traveled to the Royal Palace by cyclo this morning. A cyclo
is like a rickshaw pushed by a bike. I’m not quite sure how to describe it so you
might have to google that one. The first place we went to at the Royal Palace
was the throne room. This room was mostly used by the royal officials to
conduct business but now it’s used for ceremonies and celebrations. We weren't allowed in but we were able to peek inside the open windows. We're not important enough to get invited in. The next building we went to on the property is the Silver Pagoda. This Pagoda holds most
of Cambodia’s national treasures. The floor of this pagoda is made of silver. I’m
not sure why that is but there has to be some rhyme or reason to it. The most
notable treasures are the Maitreya Buddha and the Emerald Buddha. The Maitreya
Buddha was constructed as the future Buddha and nobody knows when this Buddha will arrive.
Cambodia’s national museum is the largest in Cambodia and we wouldn’t have had
time to go through it all in the time allotted so our guide showed us the most significant
exhibits. This place didn’t really feel like a museum. There weren’t any
barriers between us and the artifacts or plaques with descriptions of any of
the items. The artifacts didn’t seem to be organized in any way either. They were
just placed on displays. Most of the artifacts on display were also replicas.
They kept the originals locked up, away from the museum guests. I really liked
the gorgeous pond in the center. In conclusion, the museum simply seemed like a collection
of really cool stuff.
After our morning excursion we had time to explore the city
on our own so we decided to go to the Central Market. The way this market is
set up makes it seem really big but it isn’t. There are so many twists and turns that it was easy to end up in places you've already explored. It was similar to the night
market we went to last night but this was much more a market than a social
event. All of the vendors seemed to have the same merchandise so once you’ve
found something you like you can try to use that to your advantage and shop for
that item at the other vendor’s stalls and negotiate to get the best price.
When we got back a group of kids for a local orphanage
performed a traditional Cambodian dance for us, we were briefed on tomorrow’s
activities and went to bed. The kids weren’t half bad!
This blog entry seems pretty long for a short day
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