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The cultural sights of Phnom PenhApr 17, 2009
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The Royal Palace
Buildings in the palance compound
More palace
Once again braving the heat, Waz and I set out to see some of the less sobering sights of Phnom Penh. One of these was the Royal Palace, which can be seen from the balcony hotel, talk about a view! On arrival at the Royal Palace I remembered that in such cultural sites in Asia, a person's shoulders and knees must be covered. I couldn't be bothered walking back to the hotel in the heat, but conveniently located at the entrance of the palace was a stall selling plan white tshirts for foreigners like me, and at the bargin price of US$3!
We were just amazed by the beauty of the palace and surrounding buildings, most of which were covered in gold leaf and studded with semi-precious gems. Prince Sihanouk was kept under house-arrest by the Khmer Rouge during the 70s, which to my mind, if you had to be under house arrest, you couldn't find a nicer place!
On the way over to the National museum, we were approached by a scuffy looking fellow with rotten teeth who heard us talking and said, "Are you guys Australian? I'm from Canberra... you'd never believe what happened to me, I got robbed yesterday on the bus back from Siem Reap, they stole me passport, and me wallet. I've tried visiting the Australia Embassy but it's closed for New Year, and I can't get any money out from the ATM. Me brother would wire me some money but I just need to call him. I haven't eaten in two days and had to sleep at the temple over there last night, you wouldn't be able to help me out would you? Just ten bucks?"
At this stage I looked disbelievingly at Waz, seriously not willing to part with my cash because I know a scm when I see one! He, however, was digging into his wallet to give the fellow some cash, bless his soul. Unfortunately when we returned to Phnom Penh a few days later, the same bloke approached each of us seperately with the same story, though he put on a British accent for me, obviously having pegged me for a Brit from my slightly nicer evening wear as opposed to my fisherman's pants day wear, lol. Waz was a little disillusioned, poor fellow!
The National Museum was an impressive collection of artifacts from various periods and well worth a visit.
In the evening we went trawling for a bit of night life and managed to find a lady boy show in the heart of Phnom Penh, woohoo!
