Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, Phnom Penh
So we went wandering off in the general direction of the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda and on the way bumped into the Independence
Monument (not really that spectacular but took a photo anyway) and then some strange local fairground which was full of hammocks where you could watch DVDs with your meal in smokey little shacks. Looked great but was only 3pm. Realised we had no money for entrance to the palace before we got there but my 6th sense directed us straight to a waiting cash machine cleverly hidden inside a supermarket.
R
oyal Palace was good, though not as impressive as Thailand and rudely they demanded $2 extra for a camera, even though you couldn't take photos inside any of the buildings! Next time we'll just smuggle it in. Oh yeh - palace was also pretty modern standing proudly at not quite 100 years old but still interesting in their trademark over elaborate way!
Next to the palace they had the building from which the King and Queen mounted their elephant during royal processions -
complete - basically a large platform so the could get on elegantly rather than clambering up in their robes!
The Silver Pagoda was named so only because of its floor on the inside which was in
geniously covered up with carpet, all spare a small section so we didn't really get the full impact which was a shame. In fact the whole building had basically been turned into a carpeted Buddha museum once again...
One great thing we did see there was a statue of Napolean on a horse...well not quite. It was once Napolean but the Cambodians decided to lop off his head and replace it with the head of their King! Hahaha down with the French!! Served them right really for putting some grey French colonial townhouse building in the middle of the palace!
Monument (not really that spectacular but took a photo anyway) and then some strange local fairground which was full of hammocks where you could watch DVDs with your meal in smokey little shacks. Looked great but was only 3pm. Realised we had no money for entrance to the palace before we got there but my 6th sense directed us straight to a waiting cash machine cleverly hidden inside a supermarket.R
oyal Palace was good, though not as impressive as Thailand and rudely they demanded $2 extra for a camera, even though you couldn't take photos inside any of the buildings! Next time we'll just smuggle it in. Oh yeh - palace was also pretty modern standing proudly at not quite 100 years old but still interesting in their trademark over elaborate way!Next to the palace they had the building from which the King and Queen mounted their elephant during royal processions -
complete - basically a large platform so the could get on elegantly rather than clambering up in their robes!The Silver Pagoda was named so only because of its floor on the inside which was in
geniously covered up with carpet, all spare a small section so we didn't really get the full impact which was a shame. In fact the whole building had basically been turned into a carpeted Buddha museum once again...One great thing we did see there was a statue of Napolean on a horse...well not quite. It was once Napolean but the Cambodians decided to lop off his head and replace it with the head of their King! Hahaha down with the French!! Served them right really for putting some grey French colonial townhouse building in the middle of the palace!
posted by Ian Matthias at
10/01/2006 03:25:00 pm
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