March 22nd ~ Traveling from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap (again)

Spring flowers at Royal Palace

Note: I’m still filling in the blanks from a few days I missed writing about on our Gate 1 Cambodia/Vietnam trip

The last time we made this journey, two weeks earlier, it was via tour bus. This time we flew. Much quicker this way, but we missed seeing so much. I think I liked going by bus better. 

Entry gate for Royal Palace, Phnom Penh

But first we had a little time in Phnom Penh before going to the airport. We had bypassed going to the Royal Palace and the Silver Pagoda during our free days between the Intrepid tour and when our Gate 1 tour was scheduled to start since it was included for the first day with our new tour group.

Or was supposed to be anyhow…

As it turned out, the king was unexpectedly in town, which meant that the palace was closed for official business. So, we took a few pictures of the gate from the outside and a hasty substitution was figured in to our mornings activities.

Wat Phnom is a Buddhist temple built in 1373. It stands 27 meters (88.5 feet) tall and is the highest religious structure in the city.

Wat Phnom Interior

“The interior has a central altar complex with a large bronze seated Buddha surrounded by other statues, flowers, candles and items of devotion and worship. The walls are covered with murals, especially of Jataka stories of the Buddha’s earlier reincarnations before his enlightenment. There are also murals depicting stories from the Reamker, the Khmer version of the Ramayana. The newer murals in the bottom tiers are somewhat balanced, traditional and modern.” ~ Wikipedia

Wat Phnom altar

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum 

This was another repeated stop. You can read about our first visit here.

At Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (S-21)

We spent more time exploring the upper levels at the museum and reading the women’s accounts of forced marriages during the Khmer Rouge regime.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We also got to meet another of the seven survivors from this camp, Bou Meng. He managed to survive because he was an excellent artist and painted the famous picture of Pol Pot. He too was selling a signed edition of his book and posed for pictures.

Joanne with Bou Meng (Got to love my hat hair)

Pol Pot

And a couple random pictures to share:

Special passenger or mascot?

Counting their loot

After arriving in Siem Reap, we checked into our hotel, got refreshed and headed out for an included traditional Apsara dance performance.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

GRATITUDE MOMENT: Today I am grateful for moments of whimsy where you can watch a pampered pet wearing a hot pink coat and sunglasses go past, riding on a Tuk Tuk.