2008-10-29 - Death and Rebirth

On Saturday night gone, after spending the day touristing, I went to an artsy place called Meta House, which has various little galleries and so on. Purpose of the visit was not a new-found love of art, but because they show every month a documentary made in 1979, in the days after the Khmer Rouge got kicked out of Phnom Penh by the Vietnamese. The doco (originally in German, but dubbed over in English, and called “Death and Rebirth”) consists of footage of a deserted Phnom Penh as enforced by the Khmer Rouge, and interviews with the first few people returning back to the city. All quite interesting, but also sad / depressing, as you would expect.

Unfortunately, a group of Germans there didn’t understand the concept of shutting up during movies and talked the whole time – mostly comparing the deserted street scenes in the doco to the streets on a Sunday (it is quiet on Sunday mornings in the City, but it doesn’t last long). I was tempted to throw the odd German off the edge (the films are shown on a 4th floor rooftop), but didn’t think the moto drivers below would appreciate a fat German landing on them.

Some much nicer Germans were met the previous Wednesday, on a river cruise with the people in charge of CARE Deutschland & Luxembourg, and the German ambassador. Sadly, the ambassador didn’t get picked up afterwards in a black Mercedes with little flags – reserved for formal occasions apparently – I think they walked back to the embassy.

This Friday is the King’s birthday (and also Tola from HR’s birthday – happy birthday Tola!), and thus a public holiday (for the King, not Tola). Am thus taking the following Monday off too and doing the required pilgrimage to Siem Reap / Angkor. No doubt many photos next Tuesday.

2008-10-25 - Anybody Order an Elephant?

Roaming around a few weeks ago revealed a row of shops selling paintings (of Angkor etc) and carvings various. One shop had some enormous carved wooden elephants – the biggest easily the size of a Tarago van. Found the same shop today, just as they were loading a carving onto a truck for its new owner. One elephant was already onboard, and another carving of 4 elephants together was being loaded.

Elephant on board

How to pick up the other one? Just stick the crane in…..

Staring down the traffic

Easing the other one out

Swing it around

And on it goes

2008-10-25 - Out and About

Apart from visiting the Royal Palace, there was also a trip to the National Museum next door (no cameras allowed – lots of archaeological stuff inside) and another stop at the post office as the stamps purchased last week didn’t stick (apparently a common problem – they have glue tubes at the ready). This of course means more walking around, and more street scenes. It was a cloudy day with a nice breeze, which made good touristing bat mediocre photographing.

Garden in the middle of the road

National monument

Vietnam – Cambodia friendship monument (the Vietnamese invaded to boot out the Khmer Rouge)

Khmer-style building

Council of ministers building

Stop sign – very few of these about, probably good as they are ignored anyway

Old colonial building – apparently the FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club – classyish place to hang out) have bought it and will fix it up, which is good

National Museum – Australia helped fix the roof in about 2000

Copy painter – you can see what he’s copying from at the top right of the magazine page

Mass production

The last remaining tuktuk style – I think these are of Russian origin, and they generally look fairly tatty like this one

Good example of local car bling – big sticker on the side saying what it is, plus chrome petrol cap cover, plus chrome tail light addon; rare thing is that it’s not a Lexus or a regular Landcruiser

I think she doesn’t want her turn

The Toyota Charade?

National museum close up

2008-10-25 - Royal Palace

Another thing on the list of touristy things to do was visit the Royal Palace, so that was first on the list this Saturday. The palace compound is a short walk from the guesthouse, near the riverfront.

Elephant-motif gates in the palace compound wall

More gates, this time with a fancy bit on top

Looking along the front wall, the gate to go in is where the people are, and the riverfront is on the right

The palace compound is a big place – tourists are only allows to go inside the yellow square (a walled area) and in the area directly above it

Stop #1 – throne room – people are allowed in, cameras are not

In front of the throne room, there is a pavilion that is built against the perimeter wall, where addresses to the people are made I think

One of the main gates – the king & co go out here and in a straight line to the river to watch the water festival that is on in mid November

Close-up of steps to throne room – the 7-headed snake (naga) handrail (you can see the tail at the top of the stairs) and a guard lion

Roof detail

The palace is quite impressive inside, with a painted ceiling in the gaps between the beams, with each gap showing a different scene from Cambodian life. It is essentially the same floor plan as a cathedral, with the throne and a large Buddhist parasol behind in the middle of the cross in the building. Lots of gold-painted lights, chandeliers, wall murals and so on.

Looking towards an entertainment pavilion, which has a projection booth in the back too; the white-leaved tree in front is artificial, and the white things are lights; on the right in the background is the silver pagoda

Pavilion given by Napoleon III to the Cambodians in 1876 – shipped here after originally being assembled in France

The pavilion is falling apart – it used to house a painting gallery according to the guide book

More roof detail

Ceiling in the entertainment pavilion

After seeing all the royal bits, you enter through some gates into the yellow square section on the map, which is the area housing the Pagoda of the Emerald Buddha / Silver Pagoda. The first name comes from the jade Buddha figure inside, the second because the entire floor is made up of 5329 silver tiles (which are mostly covered by carpets to protect them from grubby tourist feet – it is another shoes off area). Inside are various (and numerous) Buddha statues and other religious items.

Mural inside the perimeter wall – it goes all the way around, some 600m worth, but was painted in about 1900 and is in poor shape

Topiary

Wall mural scene

Model of Angkor – the damage is not part of the plan

Turtle in the “moat” around the model

Fishies in the moat

One of the Buddhist-style tombs – these have the ashes one of the kings in them

Silver Pagoda

Back of the Angkor model

Statue of King Norodom from the French – apparently they had a spare Napoleon statue (as you would expect from the French), so they just changed the head and shipped it over; ironically, one of the later kings built the pavilion over it after managing to boot out the colonial French (and in thanks for the spiritual guidance from the earlier king)

The mountain temple – there is a small hill of dirt inside the yellow square, with lots of plants and a little temple on top

Buddhist-themed relief – carved from wood and about 3m long!

Strange flowers from a strange tree

Once you leave the yellow square, there is a thin strip you walk along to get back to the gate, which is crammed with little museums containing palace-related things and a few generic Cambodian things too.

Palace artefacts – French clock

Royal seal stamper

Elephant “saddles”

Painting tucked in behind a display

Amphibious vehicle?

Wall relief – the thing they are pulling on is a snake, and the whole relief is about 8m long