Phnom Penh

The flight to Phnom Penh was on Bangkok Airways which provided a clean, new, spacious plane. In Phnom Penh we toured the Royal Palace Complex (pics. 1). Notice the faces up on the top (pic. 2). We saw the throne room which unfortunately did not allow pictures. The paintings on the ceiling were exquisite. We also looked into a building that stored royal costumes and other ceremonial items.

The Silver Pagoda (pic. 3) had a silver floor and featured alot of gold and silver treasures. One was a very large solid gold Buddha (I think our guide said 91kgs). There were many stone statues of Buddhas carved from Cambodian marble. It was a very interesting collection.

The National Museum (Pic. 4 & 5) contained statues and other items from the temples around the country. I was disappointed that the guide did not do a tour here as other groups were getting tours from their guides. I asked ours about it later and he said all the tour spots were booked up.

After the museum I explored a few local stores on the side streets. Really magnificent handicrafts were available and they were very inexpensive. I was tempted by an inlay of the multi-headed snake that I had grown quite fond of but couldn't figure out where to put it in my house so passed it up.