A Fish Out of Water: Phnom Penh

The past week has been such a whirl wind of learning about Cambodian history and culture and as such, I got a bit behind in posting. Anyway, above is a picture of Jenna as we took an incredibly expensive, for SE Asia, air con cab from the Phnom Penh airport to Okay Guesthouse. It was $50! We forgot to negotiate with the driver before disembarking. To all of you who plan to travel here, make surveyor agree upon a price before getting into a tuk tuk or cab.

This is a little house outside of the National Museum in Phnom Penh. We learned in Thailand that these houses are used as a dwelling for spirits, so they have a alternative place to reside besides in people's homes. Offerings such as juice, water, bananas or even cigarettes are left at the front of the house to entice the spirits to stay.

This was taken outside of the National Museum :)

This is just one of many statues that are within the National Museum. Many of them have signs that say not to take photos, so I could only take a few.

This is the inner courtyard of the National Museum.

This is a statue of Ganesh outside of the museum.

Here is the last shot of the roof of the museum.

Before, when my phone was taken we were looking for mochi ice cream. The good news is, after about a day we finally made it there and it was even more delicious than Jenna said it would be!

We spent New Year's Eve on a sunset cruise along the Tonle Sap and the famous Mekong river. With a beer in hand and a few peanuts, we soaked in the scenery :)

On our walk back to our guesthouse on New Year's Eve, the Royal Palace was aglow and people filled the park in front of it.

The next night, we went to see traditional Cambodian dance back at the National Museum. During the Khmer Rouge regime, over 90% of Cambodia's artists as well as elders were killed. This is a project that started about 10 years ago to encourage young people to become involved in the arts as well as to reawaken a rich culture that was almost wiped out by the atrocities committed by the leaders of the Khmer Rouge. More to come on that history in the next post.

Another example of do as I say not as I do is to not stand too close to the road at night with something valuable in your hand. Jenna and I were looking at directions on my phone when suddenly a person on the back of a motorbike snatched it out of Jenna's hands as she was looking intently at it. After about two hours of talking to the police, with the help of an incredibly nice tuk tuk driver, I got the police report to send to my travel insurance company. Thank goodness they have translating software because all of it, with the exception of my name, is written in Khmer.

This is a moment that was close to our guesthouse, dedicated to the friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam.

There is a park that leads up to the Independence Momument. You can see it in the background with the golden roof.

Here is the Independence Monument up close.

One afternoon, I went to check out the Royal Palace. This is me of the many statues that line the visitors entrance to the palace. The next 10 photos were taken within the confines of the Royal Palace grounds and the Silver Pagoda.

The Silver Pagoda is tucked away within an alcove of vegetation. It was my favorite part of the entire complex.

This monkey is guarding the exit of the Silver Pagoda.

Jenna and I joined Intrepid's Best of Cambodia Tour on 3 January. We had a free morning on 4 January, so I decided to take a stroll to Wat Phnom, a Buddhist temple that was originally founded in the 16th century. It sits upon Phnom Penh's only hill.

This little guy awoke from a nap right when I snapped this photo.

After walking up a series of stairs, you reach this upper level that encompasses the physical temple. The next few photos were taking looking over the park surrounding the upper level.