Phnom Penh - Royal Palace - Museum
Today we took it easy with only 2 things on the agenda. The Royal Place and the National Museum of Cambodia, both located close enough to walk, only a few minutes away.
Admission for each was $10 US. While each was unique we felt that the price of this admission was more expensive than anything we did yesterday and we got far more out of yesterday’s tours.
The Palace has 4 compounds and the public is permitted into two of them. We could look inside the doors or open windows of some of the buildings and some we could walk into. None of them permitted pictures so we only have outdoor shots! There were some exhibits as well towards the exit. One that was particularly interesting was a young women weaving fabric for a skirt. She said it takes 7 days to complete a skirt. The pattern was so intricate and had gold variegated thread that she lines up to make the design. The thread is so fine and there are so many that it was amazing how she shot the shuttle back and forth, lined everything up and managed to keep the pattern so perfect. Definitely no amateur!
The Museum was only a block or two away from the Palace. One of the streets that runs along the one Palace compound wall is blocked off to traffic. It was great to stroll down the street and not be dodging cars and scooters! The Museum, same as the Palace, didn’t permit photos of any of the indoor exhibits. We opted not to do the audio tour that was available for another $5 each. We chose to just wander through the displays and spend time at the exhibits that caught our attention. There were some very intricate wood carvings, lots of metal work and lots of stone sculptures, many from Angkor Was temple in Siam Riep and one from Koh Ker that we also visited 3 years ago. There was an interesting boat cabin all constructed from wood.
The video above was taken in the courtyard area of the National Museum Cambodia. The skirt that she is weaving will take 7 days to complete.
By then our feet and stomachs were starting to complain. Gary googled nearby restaurants and we found the Cocina Cartel only a block or two away and the reviews were good. We shared an order of chips and guacamole and a plate of 3 shredded chicken tacos. We decided to really splurge and had 2 Corona beer, far more expensive than the local beer! Altogether our meal was $16. From there we headed back to the hotel to change our of our “respectable” gear. You have to wear pants below your knees and shirts with sleeves (no bare shoulders) to visit the palace and museum (also many temples). Once changed we headed off for a 90 minute massage for $15 each. The bed in our hotel room is great, the pillows not so much, plus with all the walking we’ve been doing a massage felt pretty good. Came back to the hotel and enjoyed a Mango IPA beer crafted locally. It was not cheap, $.4.95, but we love mangos and were interested to see what the beer would be like. You could taste the mango and it was pretty refreshing. The view from the 3rd floor terrace bar at the FCC Hotel is pretty impressive. We sat overlooking the Mekong River and watched all the boats, people and traffic! It’s never dull.
Supper tonight was back at the little restaurant a couple doors down from our hotel where we ate our first night. Food was awesome, we both had cashew chicken, steamed rice and a 50 cent beer! We found they had mango sticky rice for dessert so shared one of those. Our entire supper was only slightly more than our two mango beers!
We have a car booked to head to the airport tomorrow morning. It will be here by 6 am to pick us up so we’ll have an early morning. After multiple conversations with the front desk about getting something for breakfast before we leave (they don’t start serving till 6:30) they finally said they could make a take-away breakfast but it would be bread only. We said thanks but we’ll pass, did also ask if we could get juice and extra water but that seemed like a major conundrum so not sure if there will be any at the office in the morning or not. Linda ran back to the restaurant and bought two orders of mango sticky rice to go and squished them in our little fridge. Gary bought a 1.5 L bottle of water for 68 cents. We have a kettle in our room and some instant coffee so we should be set for morning. We are off to bed early, so glad we packed ear plugs!!
Love your blog! Just interested in how much she was selling the skirts for? Where they traditional skirts?
Sorry Barb, we were afraid to ask. Unless you really want something it’s easier to just look.
Very interesting…. minus 46 windchill this am…same tomorrow 👎