Cambodia Day 3

Phnom Penh

Still had a headache when I woke up, so decided to book the massage that was included with our room booking for this afternoon.

Half of the King's Palace

This morning we walked to the King's Palace, which is so beautiful that I can't describe it. Every part of every building is decorative, and the grounds are immaculately maintained, full of greenery and tropical plants. We saw the Silver Pagoda, which is paved with 5000 engraved silver tiles. Most of them are covered to protect them, but it doesn't take much imagination to see what it would look like. There are multiple gold and silver statues (hundreds) of Buddha and other deities, some encrusted with gemstones, all incredibly ornate.

A mural that is being restored. It covers all four walls of a massive quadrangle

Various buildings and temples in the Palace grounds

Immaculate gardens

It is hot again today, but Sarah thinks she heard rain during the night, which seems to have brought a strong breeze to ameliorate the humidity and the heat, as long as we are out of the direct sun.

After the Palace we stopped for a quick morning tea at a French bakery, then it was on to the National Museum. Lots of statues, stelae and ornaments, some dating back to the 4th Century BC. There was also a section on the agreement of countries to return antiquities to their place of origin, along with some massive statues that had been returned. The shop had some excellent reproductions of statues, but I don't think that we have the capacity to carry a 10kg head under our arms on the plane!

National Museum

By now we'd reached the heat of the day again, so it was back to the hotel for a swim in the pool to cool off. There were a lot of other guests just sitting around the pool, in the cool of the gardens. Sarah decided to have a cocktail - they are only $2.50, and they seem to have a much higher alcohol content than at home! Of course, drinking and swimming don't mix, so after the cocktail it was off to have our massages.

The Pavilion Hotel's Pool

I went for a de-stress head, neck, back and shoulders. When I was laying there on my tummy, all ready to go, she walked in, saw me, and said "Your skin is so white!" Yes, it hasn't seen the light of day for about 15 years... She asked what strength I would like the massage, and I said I'd like it strong - so it started with her climbing on the bed on top of me! It was a great massage, which included a face massage (fish lips, anyone?), and a scalp massage, which sounds scary - part of it is punching your skull, and pulling your hair, but it felt really good!

Trees at the King's Palace

After the massage we went to the central market, which is huge. In contrast to Vietnam, there isn't a lot of hassling, so it is easier to look at what you want. There is also a huge variety of goods. In Vietnam, you see exactly the same things at every stall. Here, there is the occasional repeat, but lots and lots of variety of goods.

We caught a tuk-tuk to dinner at a restaurant the hotel had recommended. We had asked the hotel to write the address in Cambodian before we left, but when we showed it to the drivers, there was a big confab about where it was. We had our map, then he pulled out his map in Cambodian, and we had to attempt to match the location of the two. On the way, a girl on a motorbike nearly crashed in to us (Sarah saw it, I was facing the other way). Her friend on the back of the bike just gave her a smack, and off they went. When we got there, the driver pulled over to confer with some other drivers, and realised he had missed the turn off. No worries, he just did a U-turn across the middle of a 6 lane road in peak hour!

The restaurant was very fancy, but unfortunately the food wasn't really up to scratch for the decor and the cost. It was still a nice night out, though. On the table next to us, there were three young blokes who sounded like they had met in their travels, and could have been the beginning of a joke - a Yank, a Pom and a Skip walk into a bar... The restaurant isn't far from our hotel, so we decided to walk back, but we were warned to look out for snatch-and-grabs on the way. We've had that warning a few times while we have been here. Needless to say, we took care and have returned to our hotel safely.