Wednesday, July 4, 2018

Royal Palace and Journey to Siem Reap


After getting everything packed and saying good bye to our hotel in Phnom Pehn, we headed over for a tour of the Royal Palace.  This palace was built in the 1870's when the capital was relocated to Phnom Pehn and is the official residence of the King of Cambodia.  The complex includes several buildings - the personal residence of the King, the Moonlight Pagoda (which was under restoration), the Silver Pagoda (which is exquisitely ornate - with the floor made of silver tiles and many gold Buddha's inside - including the Emerald Buddha at the center (which is now made from Jade after the original emerald one was stolen and nobody knows where it is today) - Elephant stables, the throne Hall and many Stupa's with the remains of the former Kings.  

We learned a little about the how the Monarchy works in Cambodia.  It is a bit different from that of the UK - which is truly hereditary.  Here, they have a council how determines the King.  They can choose anyone from the Royal Family to be King - not just the sons of the outgoing King - such as a cousin - not matter how distant.  The people here say truly that anyone can be King someday.  Since this area is full of natural resources - gold, silver, precious stones, etc., everything is made out of it.  

We got to see the Stupa of Norodom Sihanouk - who died in 2012 and is buried with his 4-year-old daughter (said to be his favorite daughter) who died of leukemia.  This stupa was different from the others as it is the most recent and still has flowers on it. 
 After spending time at the Palace - it was off to the airport to continue on our journey to Siem Reap and the last couple of days in Cambodia.  We said our good byes to Sna - and he wished us well and hoped that we remembered him and his country and would return again some day. 

After arriving in Siem Reap - we went straight to lunch - which was Western food.  The kids really enjoyed another taste of home - complete with ice cream for dessert.  We checked into the hotel and got ready for our Tuk Tuk tour of the city and then off to explore on the temples in the Angkor region - Ta Prohm - which was featured in the movie Tomb Raider.  Talk about awe inspiring.  The kids were all amazed at it and very much enjoyed our Tuk Tuk rides as well.  Then it was back to town to clean up a bit for dinner and some shopping at the night market and back to the hotel for a relatively early evening as we are getting up early to watch  the sunrise at Angkor Wat.




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