Hey guys,
So first post of this week will cover my adventures in and
around Phnom Penh.
Kate, Michelle and I got to Phnom Penh on Sunday, after
taking a relatively painless 6-hour bus from Ho Chi Minh City. We pulled into
the city and immediately headed for our hotel. This was our first big surprise
of Cambodia.
We were expecting to take a taxi to the hostel, but instead
we got into a tuk-tuks. Taxis are still not really a thing in Cambodia, and
instead people travel around in motorcycles hitched to a carriage.
Tuk-tuks on the street
In our tuk-tuk
An optimist might
note that a tuk-tuk has the carrying capacity of a car and the maneuverability
of a motorcycle, while also allowing in the cool breeze from outside. A
pessimist would probably mention that the canopy is totally exposed in the
crazy Phnom Penh traffic, and the fact that the driver wears a helmet but you
don’t get one is probably a bit worrying.
After a quick tuk-tuk ride we check into our hostel, the Mad
Monkey. Huge shout out for this hostel on the south side of Phnom Penh, out of the
backpacker district but still close to the city. Clean and well-maintained,
with a friendly staff.
Plus one of the best signs I've seen in a while
We settled into our hostel and then set off to see the Royal
Palace and the Silver Pagoda! Or at least, we tried to.
When we got to the streets outside the Royal Palace they
were crowded with men, women and children wearing white shirts. Almost everyone
was wearing a black ribbon or broach. We quite frankly had no idea what was
going on.
A small part of the crowd outside
Finally someone must have noticed our confusion, so a man came
forward and explained to us that the king
of Cambodia had died. The Royal Palace was closed, as was the Silver Pagoda,
for the mourning period.
Everything was also being broadcast on national television
Memorial brooches with the portrait of the late King Sihanouk
Disoriented by this sudden news, and with no clear goal, we spent a lot of time just wandering around, seeing random ornate buildings and beautifully built pagodas.
The Vietnam-Cambodia Friendship Monument
The entrance to a pagoda
Flags at half-mast
The court of justice
Finally, we managed to reach the back of the Royal Palace. The palace looked spectacular, even from so far away.
The Royal Palace
The thing that really struck me was how genuine a lot of the
mourning seemed. People were leaving offerings for the king outside of the
palace, and there were crowds of monks and old people praying basically
throughout the day. Of course, I have no way of knowing how genuine that grief really was.
Leaving flowers for the deceased King.
With some later research I learned that King Norodom Sihanouk
had abdicated in 2004 health reasons, and had died in October of 2012. His body
had been prepared for a traditional funeral, a cremation.
King Sihanouk had been a big part of Cambodia’s history,
from its independence to the present day. He played a huge role in the highest
and lowest points of Cambodian history.
King Sihanouk helped engineer Cambodia’s
independence from the French, then sided with the Khmer Rouge after a U.S.
backed coup displaced him in the 1970s. He slid from power during the horrible years of the
Khmer Rouge, then returned to the scene in the 1990s and helped reform Cambodia
back into a functional state. His historical record is checkered, and I am not
nearly knowledgeable enough to state anything about his legacy.
But he was one
of the most important Cambodians of the 21st century, and it was clear from the funeral proceedings how much he meant to his countrymen.
Because of the king’s funeral, a lot of our visit to Phnom
Penh was disrupted, as streets around the palace were routinely blocked at
random times. So, after our first day we just wandered around Phnom Penh. We
made our way over to the riverfront and strolled through the marketplace as
well.
Here are some random shots I took walking around Phnom Penh that evening:
At the market
Sick wheels bro
Fresh sugarcane juice!
On the riverfront
Waiting to cross the street
Look guys! I found Cambodian Channing Tatum! This guy would be a minor obsession for me throughout our trip to Cambodia.
A couple observations about Cambodia.
1. Cambodians are much less aggressive than Vietnamese
people when it comes to selling things. It doesn’t matter what the service is: motorbike
rides, food, souvenirs. An average interaction in Vietnam goes like this:
“You want motorbike?”
“No?”
“You want motorbike?”
“No!”
“Where you want to go?”
“No!”
“How is that an answer? I asked where you wanted to go.”
“What? How is your English so good?”
“You want motorbike?”
“Goddamnit no!”
In Cambodia:
“You want motorbike?”
“No!”
“Okay.”
Sometimes I actually had to approach drivers to ask them to
take us somewhere. There would be a group of tuk-tuk drivers playing cards or
something and we would have to actually physically approach them and interrupt
their card game so they could take us somewhere.
2. Money
The official currency of Cambodia is the riel, but the riel
is worthless outside of Cambodia. So, most Cambodians prefer U.S. dollars, and
the dollar is de facto legal tender in Cambodia. The U.N. Peacekeeping mission in 1993 introduced a large number of dollars into the economy, and since then they have been the currency of choice. The banks we went to only
gave us dollars, never riel, and big transactions are basically always done in
dollars. There is basically no reason to ever change dollars to riel.
Coins aren’t a thing, though, so even if you pay in dollars
you will get change in small amounts of riel instead of U.S. coins (4,000 riel
to 1 dollar, so you end up treating 1,000 riel notes like quarters).
This is the change I got in a coffee shop. $17 and 1,600 riel = $17.35
Balancing two currencies is pretty weird at first, but you
actually get used to it pretty quickly. Apparently in the western parts of
Cambodia the Thai baht is also an accepted currency, and I can’t even imagine
trying to balance three different currencies.
3. Cambodia vs. Vietnam
Cambodia seems a lot like Vietnam upon first glance. The
chaotic traffic, the swarms of motorbikes, all of it is pretty familiar. But
then there are the little things, like the fact that nobody wears a helmet, or
that the roads outside the city turn to dust pretty quickly. Or the fact that
there are fewer motorbikes on the road, but the motorbikes are older so the air
pollution is just as bad. All of this slowly underlines the fact that Cambodia
is a much poorer country than Vietnam.
Cambodia’s GDP is $36.74 billion, compared to Vietnam’s
$137.68 billion, and by every economic metric Vietnam’s economy is miles ahead
of Cambodia’s. It only takes six hours to cross from Saigon to Phnom Penh, but
economically Vietnam is another world away from its neighbor.
Sunset on our first day in Cambodia
On Monday we headed off in the morning to see the killing
fields at Cheung Ek. That was actually pretty harrowing, and I’m going to cover
that in more detail in a later post. After going to the killing
fields we
headed off to see Wat Phnom!
Wat Phnom is the oldest pagoda in Phnom Penh, and the site
of the city’s original founding. Now it is a huge pagoda with shrines to several
different saints. At the base of Wat Phnom is a huge park where children and
families ran around and played, which added a nice atmosphere to the whole
scene.
Standing in front of Wat Phnom
At the top, the main temple
The stupa, which holds the ashes of a Cambodian king
Ceremonial drum at the top of the temple
Inside the temple
Offerings to the Buddhas
Many Buddhas
The main shrine
Outside the temple there was another smaller shrine
Furnace to burn offerings
Lucky bird cages, set a bird free to get good luck
Another big shrine, this one to a Vietnamese saint
Wat Phnom is a nice combination of historical and functional, where the
historic aspects of the temple are preserved while continuing to function as a
religious site and important part of the neighborhood.
Wat Phnom was also the site of one of the coolest, weirdest things we saw in Cambodia. As we walked away from the temple, I looked up and saw a huge mass of black things flying overhead.
What are those?
"Hey Kate," I asked, "Are those bats?"
Yep.
nanananananananananananana BATMAN!!!
*Ahem.
Anyways, after that strange little interruption we headed off to the riverfront,
because the king’s cremation was scheduled for that day.
It was pretty crazy
seeing the huge number of people crowding the riverbank. Monks in their bright
orange robes, old men and women, parents with their children, students hanging
out with their friends. Everyone besides the monks was dressed in all white,
which made us stand out even more than usual.
Monks and old people praying
As we walked closer and closer to the royal palace the
streets became packed with people, to the point we had to push to get through.
It felt like all of Phnom Penh was out on the streets that night.
Walking through the crowd
The Royal Palace looked spectacular at night, brilliantly
illuminated and crowded to the gate with eager spectators. I could see people
standing on the balcony of the Palace, looking out over the crowd. In the
background, the smoke from the king’s funeral pyre slowly rose into the air. I
heard the funeral pyre was fifteen stories tall, and as the pyre was consumed a
huge billow of smoke slowly darkened the sky behind the Palace.
The Royal Palace
Suddenly a booming sound burst from over the river. The
reaction was instantaneous—some ducked for cover, others screamed, everyone
flinched.
In the next second everyone relaxed, as dazzling fireworks
sprang up into the air. People oohed and aahed, rushing closer to the river to
take pictures of the fireworks. As I watched the beautiful display, I noticed
some scintillating points of light flying at an odd angle. Suddenly I realized
that some fireworks were hitting a half-constructed building on the other side
of the river. Oops.
As the fireworks finished we headed back to the hostel to
rest for a bit before going off to meet my friend John Shakespear.
I’ve known John since high school, but I haven’t talked to
him since then. He is doing a Princeton in Asia teaching fellowship at Phnom
Penh Royal University, and he met up with us at one of the local night life
spots.
It was really great to talk to John again, and to catch up
with everything he’s been doing. Small world, right? Two kids from B.U. Academy
meeting up again in Southeast Asia.
We only had one day left in Phnom Penh before we headed off
to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat, so we decided to spend the morning at the National
Museum.
The National Museum
The Royal Palace from the steps of the National Museum
The National Museum is a really well-maintained and
fascinating museum. An unfortunate quality of museums in Southeast Asia is that
often the exhibits have limited descriptions, and sometimes no translation.
This can be the difference between marveling at an 8th century
Angkorian balustrade and staring blankly at a somewhat faded piece of stone.
Luckily, the National Museum has excellent organizational skills,
and some pretty interesting displays.
Unfortunately, pictures of the exhibits are not allowed. Luckily, pictures of the gorgeous courtyard are allowed.
In the museum's courtyard
We only had an hour to explore the museum
before we had to run off to catch the bus, but it was a really interesting
place and I think we all wished we had more time there.
Then it was time to take a bus off to Siem Reap!
Last meal in Phnom Penh!
Well, thanks for reading guys. Next post will be about the
killing fields at Cheung Ek, that will not be a pleasant piece so feel free to
skip it if you are so inclined. After that I will be writing about the marvels of
Angkor Wat!
Stay tuned!
Peace,
Jefferson
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