Day 2 dawns like yesterday – sunny, round 30deg and a nice cooling breeze.Big difference is that today will be on a bus, so the walking will be at the locations, without all the sweat in between.
Most of us are still feeling a bit ragged from the travel, especially those who arrived later.
First stop is The Royal Palace
The Royal Palace is a large complex that includes the official residence of the reigning Cambodian royal family and King Sihamoni. Entrance to residential area is prohibited, but the grounds are accessible.
Many of the ornate buildings in the complex were built in 1866 by the French.
In the grounds of the complex is the Silver Pagoda
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This concrete and marble structure includes a floor with over 5,000 silver tiles each weighing
one kilogram though they are almost entirely covered with carpets.
. Famous artifacts include a 90kg solid gold Buddha made in 1907 and an Emerald Buddha said to be made of baccarat crystal. (No photos allowed)
Our guide Vuttah said the white and gold symbolise .the blend of Buddhism and Hinduism.
It also houses costumes from the dancing girls and boys. Not sure I could see myself wearing these.
To save that morning feeling of what to wear today, there were daily designated colours.
In the grounds were 2 stupas. One was for the ashes of one of the kings. But his daughter had died from Leukemia, aged four. So he had a special stupa built with open doors so her spirit could run outside and play
Next stop is the National Museum, which has changed names more times than Elizabeth Taylor.
Housing the world’s finest collection of Khmer pottery, bronzes andsculptures dating from the 4
th century.
The only photo we were allowed to take was Garuda in the entrance gallery.
Fortunately we did some photos on our way from the Silver Pagoda to the Museum.
One was of a traditional Khmer band, One can only say they make the volume of Heavy Metal bands sound like church mice.
From the national museum we head to the Khmer Rouge museum and the Killing fields, but that is worth a page on its own. Next…