Royal Palace

On Saturday, Jeremy and I visited the Royal Palace.  Cambodia has had a monarchy for the majority of its history.  The exception was a 2-decade stretch beginning in 1970 when the king was overthrown in a coup, the Khmer Rouge reigned, the Vietnamese invaded to oust the Khmer Rouge, and the UN stepped in to broker peace among all sides.  The king returned to the throne in 1993, although his position is now the ceremonial head of state, with the prime minister running the country as the head of government.

The Royal Palace remains the official residence of the king and occupies a full city block in the heart of central Phnom Penh.  Our first task was to find the tourist entrance.  A local approached us as we were walking around the exterior wall and told us the palace was closed for the holiday weekend.  (Cambodia was celebrating its New Years.)  But we persisted and found the ticket booth open for business.  The local was just trying to deter us in the hopes that we would enlist him as our tour guide for other sights of the city.  How nice!

Once inside, we passed through a peaceful garden walkway with various statues.  It seemed the perfect spot to stop for a photo.

Emerging from the walkway, our first sight was the impressive Throne Hall.  The exterior overshadowed the interior, which we could not enter, but could view through the open windows.

The centerpiece of any tourist's visit to the Royal Palace is the Silver Pagoda.  It is the only building on the compound that tourists can enter, although no photos are allowed inside.  The pagoda floor is made of silver, hence it's name.  Inside is a Buddhist shrine, with both an emerald Buddha and a gold Buddha bejeweled with diamonds.  No lack of wealth on display here!

Surrounding the Silver Pagoda were several other structures, including this memorial shrine to King Norodom.

We were just able to see everything before the guards shooed us out for closing time.  Then we went in search of a cold drink to cool off!

Streets of Phnom Penh

One of the very first things a visitor to Phnom Penh notices is the chaotic streets.  Streets here may have any number of the following modes of transport:

Vehicles - ranging from large trucks to SUVs to sedans

Motorcycles (AKA motos) - carrying from 1-5 passengers and possibly cargo (seriously!)

Tuk-Tuks - motos hitched to an open-air passenger cabin that fits 4 people comfortably

Bicycles - usually riden by a Cambodian not wearing a helmet and talking on a cell phone

Hand-pulled carts - luckily there aren't TOO many of these in the central city district

Pedestrians - either trying to cross the street or walking in the street because the sidewalk is unpassable

In addition to all this, Cambodians employ some unique driving techniques.  When they come to an intersection and want to make a left-hand turn, but there's too much traffic to get across, no problem!  They will simply turn left into the lanes of oncoming traffic and hug the sidewalk.  As windows of opportunities open up, they will slide over until they are finally driving in the correct lane.  Thankfully, I haven't seen cars do this but all the other above vehicles do. 

Also, Cambodian drivers are only obligated to look forward.  It's not necessary for them to look to the side or behind them.  In America, we are taught that we need to look around us before we pull out, turn, or back-up to ensure we are not impeding anyone else's path.  I feel that the opposite is practiced here.  Looking only forward, drivers simple proceed on their chosen path and it's up to the drivers around them to notice and give way.  Demonstrating this principle perfectly is the below vehicle, which has an opaque sunscreen on the front passenger's window.  We've even seen these sunscreens on the driver's window!

So, how does all this end up working out in practice?  Some have described it as a "school of fish" mentality.  In general, everyone moves at low speeds and simply moves around and past any impediments that arise, whether it is a slower-moving bicycle, a turning tuk-tuk, a parked car, or a pedestrian.  We've also been advised not to make sudden moves while driving.  Slow and steady is the way to go, easing our way into a turn or intersection.  In actuality, though, there are an awful lot of accidents, and we've witnessed some very close calls at four-way intersections, which mostly don't have stop signs or traffic lights.  Very tricky when everyone is only looking forward!

Please enjoy a few more photos below of Cambodian vehicles!

  

This is a tuk-tuk.  We call this the Garden tuk-tuk because the driver has outfitted it with tons of plants. He's even growing lettuce along the back!  Most tuk-tuks do not have this type of decoration...or much decoration at all.

I told you motos carry cargo!  This guy appears to be transporting a desk.

Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge

This past weekend, I played dodgeball with the Embassy Marines.  As I was walking out the door, my first thought was "Why am I up at 5:45 am on my day off?!" followed by "Why am I voluntarily subjecting myself to playing dodgeball with Marines?!"

Although we did not use the red rubber balls familiar to all of us from gym class days, these were similar rubber missiles capable of inflicting pain.  And as you can see from this action shot of Jeremy, no one was holding back.  Balls were flying with fury around the gym...especially when the Marines were targeting each other.  

But despite balls to the stomach, face, and other sensitive areas (guys-you know what I'm talking about!), we all emerged without major injury.  Although my arm, shoulder, and back were seriously sore the next day.  Thank goodness for the $10 massage parlors on every street of Phnom Penh!

Oodong Temple

Last weekend, we visited our first temple in Cambodia.  Oodong (also spelled Udong or Oudong) is located just over an hour's drive northwest of Phnom Penh.  The city of Oodong was the capital of Cambodia from the 1600s to the 1800s and its ridge features the Phnom Preah Reach Throap (Hill of the Royal Fortune) Temple grounds.  The grounds include multiple stupas, which are Buddhist temples that house sacred relics.

As soon as we pulled up to the entrance, we were swarmed by children.  Some were trying to sell us cold sodas or incense sticks to offer in prayer.  But most wanted to be our "guide" in our tour of the temple.  Guide is not really a good term; shadow is more like it.  Because there isn't actually any talking that accompanies the guiding.  A child just starts to follow you around and occasionally points out something of interest or motions for you to take off your shoes.  Below is my shadow.  Somehow he picked me as we got out of the car, and he stayed by my side until I got back into the car.  I guess it worked out well for him...he ended up getting $2 outta me.

With our shadows at our sides, our first task was to climb over 500 stairs.  Sounds bad, but actually it goes pretty quickly.  Along the way we saw monkeys and shrines for prayers and offerings.  This is a particularly good shrine with several Buddha figures overseen by an odd statue that seemed strikingly similar to the monkeys running around the site.

At the top of the stairs, we were rewarded with a beautiful modern temple with lots of detailed carvings and sculptures.  After walking all around it, I discovered the entry to go inside.  I made my way toward it, but the guard motioned that I'd have to take off my shoes and leave them outside.  I looked down at my $100 Keen sneakers and thought "I've seen Slumdog Millionaire where the kids make a living off stealing shoes from the Taj Mahal and selling them on the streets."  So I declined and walked away.  I'll have to go back again, and choose my footwear more wisely.

Hey, I'm Walkin' Here!

On Saturday, I participated in a 10K charity walkathon for Nokor Tep to raise funds for a women's health facility that can treat all Cambodian women regardless of their ability to pay.

The day started with a ferry ride across the Mekong to the village where the walk was taking place.  Here is a picture of me with some of my walking buddies on the ferry:

The walk was very well-organized, especially compared to a half-marathon Jeremy did in Nairobi!  All participants received a red baseball hat (see above picture) and a small metal cup (similar to a tin camping cup) on a lanyard.  The cups were for use at the water stations that were spaced about every 1K along the route.  Here is one of the water stations, clearly identifiable by the large pink umbrella and the friendly volunteers in red shirts:  

The route had lots of interesting things to see along the way.  We passed several temples, some run down and abandoned, others beautiful and in use.  We also passed a cemetery, schools, farms...and this fabulous statue:

We walked by many homes, some very elaborate, many very basic.  This picture is representative of much of the housing we saw:

And we also saw many children.  Some quietly stared at us as we went by.  Others cheerfully waved and yelled "hello!"  None of them were at all shy about having their picture taken.

It was a great experience, but I was glad to reach the finish line, where we were welcomed with a package of crackers, a cup of ramen noodles, and well-deserved chairs set in the shade!

Home Sweet Home

We were able to move into our apartment last week!  The overall apartment is a good size, but has some odd layout features.  We have a walk-in closet, but a smallish kitchen with limited cabinet space.  The master bathroom and guest bathroom have air vents connecting the two, meaning that all sounds easily travel from one to the other!  (Keep this in mind if you come visit!)  On the plus side, we have two balconies to look down on the activity below us, including the building's swimming pool.  I snapped this sunset from the balcony on our first night.

Our building is called The Hamptons and it's smack in the middle of a neighborhood filled with restaurants and shops.  We have a 24-hour mini-mart directly across from us where we can pick up our milk, laundry detergent, and chicken-flavored peanuts any time of day or night.  Jeremy also got some pretty good pizza from the neighborhood Italian joint.  It's good to finally be home.                                                         

A Parade Fit For a King

On Friday, Phnom Penh held a funeral procession for the late King Father Norodom Sihanouk.  Although Sihanouk passed away in October 2012 at the age of 89, his body has been lying in state at the Royal Palace for over three months so the Cambodian people could pay their respects to their former king. Monuments to Sihanouk, such as this one, have also been erected all over the city:

Sihanouk has been an important political figure in Cambodia since the 1940s.  He was the King of Cambodia from 1941-1955 and again from 1993-2004.  In between, he was prime minister, president, and maintained a complicated association with the Khmer Rouge and its murderous leader Pol Pot.  But he also gained Cambodia's independence from France in 1953 and led peace talks that pulled Cambodia out of two decades (1970-1990) of civil war, dictatorship, and occupation.  Sihanouk abdicated the throne in 2004 in favor of his son, current King Norodom Sihamoni.  Although the King Father's legacy is complex, he is much beloved by the people of Cambodia.

The funeral procession departed the Royal Palace at 8:00 am on Friday and wound its way around the city center before returning to the Royal Palace at 12:00 pm.  Luckily, the hotel where I'm staying was just one block from the procession's route, so I was easily able to walk over and see the whole thing.

Float with King Father's portrait

Float with assorted important people I don't know

Very odd float of plaster animals

Float with Buddha statue

Carriage carrying King Father's casket