A day of downs and ups in Cambodia's capital ...

Day 223 - Friday 22 August 2008

(A 'double blog' posting day - the other one's called 'A slow boat up the Mekong' and if you like to read in order head there first!)

OK - where were we when the last post finished before I headed to the superb Blue Pumpkin for a tad of air con and a lazy lunch here in Siem Reap - oh yes - last weekend in Phnom Penh and a hot bath at the Star/Khmer (businesses change names like the weather here!) Royal Hotel on the Tonle Sap River

That night we indulged in a bit of what I like to call 'Alan Whickering'- Alan Whicker is an octogenarian traveller who travelled the word for BBC/ITV in the 1980s speaking barely a word of the local tongue and dressing like David Niven - not my usual style but it was time for an evening of comfort!

Alan Whicker would have loved the Foreign Correspondent's Club in Phnom Penh - it's a very classy ex-pats establishment with a cracking history in a beautiful French colonial building covered in open balconies that overlook the Tonle Sap River (just a few short steps from our hotel)

http://www.fcccambodia.com/phnom_penh/

It's a restaurant/bar/chitzy hotel with the best service I've had yet in South East Asia - the food was similarly brilliant and reasonably priced ($20 for the works) - but maybe best of all is taking in a beer and observing daily Cambodian's lives unfold on the streets below you - for although we had just hopped over the border from Vietnam the difference was tangible - gone were the myriad of new buildings being developed all over Vietnam and gone were the punchy motorbikes of Hanoi - instead - people were living on the streets and tuk tuk drivers were desperate for your business - Cambodia's got some catching up to do to it's neighbour we'd just left ...

The next day I did the sights of Cambodia's capital in a day (it seems I'm always awake by 6:30am now) - and what a day - a great day on this adventure - but one of stark contrasts - it started with only my second ever tuk tuk ride - and a fast, off the cuff shot, that didn't disturb this monk (I don't believe you should take shots of them like they're dressed up for you - those robes are significant - and while I have a few shots of monks - they're respectfully distant and discreet) ...














I spent the first hours of the day at Tuol Sleng Museum - Tuol Sleng had a more ominous name - Security Prison or simply S-21 during the reign of the Khmer Rouge - they seized power in 1975 until the Vietnamese liberated Cambodia from their grip in 1979 - in the years between 1977 and 1979 16,000 Cambodians and foreigners died at S-21 - that's about 100 a week - in what was simply an old inner city high school - it wasn't a place for pictures so I'll let Wikipedia do the necessaries

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuol_Sleng

I'm glad that I went - but I never want to go back - I deeply admire the way the Cambodian people got through those years to be the bright, fun loving people they are today - maybe it's the political stability - but anyone 30 or more lived through the rule of a party following Mao's 'Great Leap Forwards' - and it's given me another perspective to my earlier comments about communism that are now more balanced - communism is clearly a terrible thing interpreted in that form

But it's also given me another perspective on the War in Iraq - a theme I picked up from Tuol Sleng is 'why did nobody come to the Cambodian's help earlier' - and I wonder if Saddam Hussein was still in power we wouldn't be saying the same thing for the Iraqi's in 20 years time about the human rights abuses committed under his regime - the Weapons of Mass Destruction justification remains unacceptable in my view - but it's another look at the situation in Iraq

But this is about Cambodia - and the rest of the day was as wonderful as the start was grim - Phnom Penh has a brilliant National Museum where all of the best stone carvings and bronze /silver/gold treasures from the Temples of Angkor reside - the architecture of the building itself is a joy to behold - resplendent in orange and red tiling with outrageously long, numerous points from nagas incorporated into the roof (a naga is a mythical snake from the Angkor period - it's everywhere and awesome - and Angkor is the ancient sanskrit word for city - see - maybe you're learning again?!)




















My fave pieces from the National Museum were the head and torso from one of South East Asia's largest ever bronze Sivas and a crystal linga that was IDENTICAL to the Sankara Stones from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - I should know - I got one out of a vending machine in Tokyo!

It's not here but lingam are central to the Hindu faith and this is interesting ...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linga

After a chic cafe lunch (the western influence is very prevalent here and smoothies and swank cafes abound in their areas of tourism) I headed back to the capital's Royal Palace and reminded myself that I was back in a democratic country with a constitutional monarchy - it was a bit like Buckingham Palace in that the outer grounds are open to visitors but you can't get near the current King Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromreath Norodom Sihamoni!

The architectural style and the sunny, stifling heat are a bit different mind you - as are the multitudes of those friendly, intelligent (maybe the best education system here is in Buddhist temples?) saffron robed Buddhist monks again - who walk the streets umbrellas in hand for both the sun and the rain - though not always - these guys were clearly optimists!











The biggest structure of the Royal Palace is the Throne Hall with it's 59m high tower that thwarted the attempts of a lovely guy from the United States who tried to get me in this shot
















But the stand out area of the Royal Palace surrounds the Silver Pagoda - it's an opulent Buddhist shrine with a floor made of over 5000 solid silver tiles weighing 1kg each - sadly they're mostly covered to protect them from all the foot traffic - but I managed to find a sneaky corner and feel the grandeur beneath my bare feet - the Pagoda also housed the 2 most beautiful Buddhist images I've seen since the statue posted on one of these blogs from Zenko-ji in Nagano, Japan - I like to think it was the serene beauty in their faces (it's strange how Buddhist images look female to my eyes) but maybe it was the fact that one was made of green glowing Baccarat crystal (The Emerald Buddha) and the other was life size, solid gold and covered in 9584 diamonds, rubies, sapphires and other precious stones - wow - probably worth a ticket to Cambodia on it's own - no photographs inside the Silver Pagoda sadly but for your $6 Royal Palace entry fee (steep here!) you get a fancy book - and it looks great from the outside ...



















Surrounding the inside protective wall of the Silver Pagoda enclosure is a mural that was painted in the early 20th Century depicting the entire story of the Reamker (Cambodia's version of the Ramayana)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reamker

It's a piece of art that must stretch for close on a kilometre - battered and worn throughout it's length it's slowly being restored but the country's money is better spent on it's people I guess - you can't deny that it's bold, dramatic and striking
















Cambodia seems to rely on foreign countries and Non-Governmental Organisations helping to preserve it's history - none from Great Britain you may be interested to hear - but the French of course and especially Japan are stuck right in here - the restoration continues at a slow pace!














The enclosure also featured a miniature of Angor Wat, a deceased king riding his horse and numerous pagodas dedicated to other members of the royal lineage - and I just couldn't stop snapping them against this imposing sky!













Which gets a mention for one simple reason - we're in Asia and it's the hot, steamy and sometimes wet season - because a couple of hours later the heavens opened and it rained more heavily than I've probably ever seen it rain (and I've been wet a few times on this trip) - by the time it had eased and we ventured out for our evening meal we turned the corner and central Phnom Penh was thigh deep in water - but did it stop the plucky Cambodians from going about their daily business - no chance - did we watch the trash on the side of the street earlier in the day float past our knees - yep - did we get laughed at (and soaked) by 6 monks crammed into a still working tuk tuk while wading through the back streets of their temple lodgings - yep - and was it fun - you better believe it - if you don't find re-enacting the garbage compactor scene from Star Wars (A New Hope) your idea of a good time - then maybe Cambodia's not for you!

And, of course, there's no need to panic - because by the time we jumped on board our bus to head north the next day - the water had miraculously gone - we were heading up and alongside the Tonle Sap River and the vast, flat expanse that is central Cambodia - we went through a province that suffered a shortage of food in the post Khmer Rouge years and ate off the land - a tradition they've retained - fried, big, hairy, black spider anyone - I passed - the cobra wine was still in my system!
















But that was nothing and Cambodia's ultimate adventure awaited ...