My eBid Cap Trip to Laos & Cambodia!

[Oldandintheway]

Flowers in & around the Royal Palace & beyond:







Lotus flowers

A Sal Tree (The Buddha said to be born under a Sal in Lumbini Nepal)




And off we go to Wat Phnom -

[Oldandintheway]

Wat Phnom

On the way






When only the best will do!




cont. over:

[Oldandintheway]

Wat Phnom continued:







I think somebody is ALL better!





to the markets!

[Oldandintheway]

The Russian Markets & nearby sites/sights:

I think this places motto is - If its not here, we'll either get it in, or it probably doesn't exist!








Space appears to be at a premium



more markets cont. over:

[Oldandintheway]

Russian Market & surrounds continued:


OMG! everybody needs power! Yikes!

Just can't keep away from those sweet carved pineapples

All this shopping is making me thirsty!

And hungry! Yep, she's all better now!


Two very cunning bracelet salesmen


Mekong Riverside


cont. over:

[Oldandintheway]

Mekong Riverside & Phnom Penh streets:







Beans drying perhaps???

Don't know what she's weaving, but it looks colourful & complex

And for when the holiday & shopping bills come in! The FINAL shop!


and after all that - I think I need one now

[deanosaur1972]

Wonderful stuff. I am seeing so many changes and no doubt will see more.

The Russian Market is iconic. I guarantee that they wont find any hotel that I stayed at in Phnom Penh (had my own little house). From the pictures once again I notice things which signifies a change - your brother is sat having a beer with his back to the street, that was something not recommended years ago, you always sat facing the street ready to dive for cover. Even a car backfiring would gain the automatic reaction of kicking the table over and hitting the floor pretty quick. Experiences have an effect - even now it would be impossible for me to sit with my back to the street anywhere without feeling very on edge.

Right, I will shut up and wait eagerly for the next installment.

[Oldandintheway]

Although I was lucky enough to miss what you're talking about deano, I know what you mean.
I have a friend who's Vietnam experience as an air force radio operator, means he, to this day, cannot stay in a room with closed doors.
The radio gear had to be kept cool in air-con, so the radio shack was always closed & had no window!

[Oldandintheway]

The Silver Pagoda - plus additional inside pix (found online)

The Silver Pagoda within the Royal Palace grounds is a very note-worthy place and I realise I haven't given any interesting details of it.
Here are a few bits:-
It is so named due to its floor rather than its exterior (unlike the various Golden Temples around the World - the one in Amritsar, India particularly).
The floor consists of over 5,000 silver tiles weighing 1kg each.
Most of it is covered in rather nice carpets for protection. You can see and touch plenty of them though and, in fact, feel some of the covered ones move under your feet as you walk around.
The building is also known as the Pagoda of the Emerald Buddha and, unsurprisingly, there is an emerald green Buddha image as the focus point within - it sits atop a large gilded pedestal. Rumour has it that the image is not emerald as such but rather made of Baccarat crystal.
Irrespective, it is a beautiful object, if a bit dusty.
In front of the dais and Emerald Buddha pedestal, is a life sized gold Buddha. It weighs 90kg and is decorated with a mere 9,584 diamonds - the largest coming in at 25 carats.
Also around the building interior are a vast number of other Buddha images of various types and sizes plus many other objects, most or all of which would be remarkable in isolation but fade into the background somewhat in comparison with the two principal items.
A fabulous sight - I will see if I can find any photos on-line (visitors are not allowed to photograph inside the building). If I do, I'll add them to the Photo section.
Cheers,

[Oldandintheway]

Phnom Penh Skyline & Eats!

Well as the trip is drawing to a close, strangely, Bro & Sil seem to be spending a lot of their time putting on "condition" in preparation for the long journey home, I suspect - or is it because everything's soo cheap!
I mean - 50 cents for a beer - why would anybody risk drinking water? hahaha!

Hello Folks.
Given that we have seen pretty much all we want to see around Phnom Penh and we are starting our homeward journey on Wednesday, this Blog is likely to become a bit dull - or more dull - from now on.
This has felt like a much longer trip than the calendar would suggest - not a bad thing I hasten to add.
My point is we have much less interest in seeing the sights - unless it's the sight of a recently demolished plate or the bottom of a glass.
We did go to the Night Markets last night - very busy spot and great food at crazy low prices - $3.50 filled both of us. We also travelled around Town a bit but, boy, it's so hot and humid the tendency is to do that sort of thing in the morning or evening only.
A couple of odd things:-
1. There are not all that many Traffic Light setups in Phnom Penh but some are just fun........when the walk sign illuminates for pedestrians there is an animation of a walking person and a digital 'countdown' showing how long before the light goes against you - about 30 seconds.
As you start to run out of time the animation changes from walking, to walking faster and faster until the figure is running when the timer gets down to 0 seconds. It's terrific fun and certainly gets the message across.
2. During our after lunch walk in the heat we came across a smallish mini-mart. Ice-cream for sale' said one of the signs so in we went.
Out we came a few minutes later with two ice-creams, a half bottle of Crown 99 whiskey ($2.20) and a bottle of Pere Kermanns Absinthe ($13.00).
Why not? After all, "Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder."
Anyway, a few pix are attached as 'proof of life'.
Cheers,

Hotel breakfast

Ditto

A snack!

Following views over city are from either their room or the restaurant







cont. over: