I fell asleep a little earlier than I planned last night, yesterday afternoon, really. I should have known that taking a short nap before dinner was a bad idea. I pretended I was napping for about an hour, resetting my fifteen minute alarm three times until five o'clock when I gave up and turned it off. I woke up once or twice during the night but was able to sleep until six this morning, which was a lot of needed sleep.
Phnom Penh is pleasant in the morning. The streets don't get loud and crowded until seven-thirty or eight. I had breakfast at a cafe next to the waterfront. The coffee machine was broken (I had tea) and the cook didn't arrive until seven-thirty (I waited). While I was waiting for the cook I watched Cambodians walk and run to the waterfront promenade to get their morning exercise. I also saw a man on a bicycle walking an elephant up the sidewalk, but I was too slow to get a picture.
After walking around a bit I took a moto to Wat Phnom, the temple after which the city is named. Motos are small scooters or motorbikes that perform almost all public transport here for locals and foreigners. The passenger sits behind the driver while he navigates the chaotic, but reasonably slow traffic. There are few stoplights here and most intersections are like a four way stop except that none of the traffic actually stops. The drivers seem quite good, though, and I have yet to witness an accident. Fitting three people on a moto is quite routine here and I have sometimes seen four.
Wat Phnom sits on a small hill in the French Quarter in the middle of a large roundabout. The encircling road sits about fifty feet from the foot of the hill. There is a brick pathway that circles the hill up to a side entrance, but the stairs are more direct. The temple building is at least twice as long as it is wide--the entrances are on the short east side. There are varieties of Buddhas, flowers, incense, and random offerings inside that occupy the western half of the building and three long mats spread across the floor for people praying near the entrance. I saw probably two dozen monkeys roaming the hill. They all seemed docile except for one that chased some screaming school children up a slippery brick channel build to drain water from the hill.
In the afternoon, I walked down to the National Museum. The streets in Phnom Penh are laid out logically and are nicely numbered, which eases navigation, except that only about half of the intersections have street signs and of those that do, the print is often small and faded. I finally arrived after getting lost three times and inadvertently seeing some cool sights.
The National Museum was created at the beginning of the twentieth century and was run by the French until the 1950's when a Khmer curator took over. The Khmer Rouge made a mess of the museum, neglecting what they did not loot or destroy outright. When Cambodia was liberated by the Vietnamese the museum housed broken exhibits and thousands of bats. The restoration has produced a nice building with a beautifully peaceful courtyard.
Phnom Penh is pleasant in the morning. The streets don't get loud and crowded until seven-thirty or eight. I had breakfast at a cafe next to the waterfront. The coffee machine was broken (I had tea) and the cook didn't arrive until seven-thirty (I waited). While I was waiting for the cook I watched Cambodians walk and run to the waterfront promenade to get their morning exercise. I also saw a man on a bicycle walking an elephant up the sidewalk, but I was too slow to get a picture.
After walking around a bit I took a moto to Wat Phnom, the temple after which the city is named. Motos are small scooters or motorbikes that perform almost all public transport here for locals and foreigners. The passenger sits behind the driver while he navigates the chaotic, but reasonably slow traffic. There are few stoplights here and most intersections are like a four way stop except that none of the traffic actually stops. The drivers seem quite good, though, and I have yet to witness an accident. Fitting three people on a moto is quite routine here and I have sometimes seen four.
Wat Phnom sits on a small hill in the French Quarter in the middle of a large roundabout. The encircling road sits about fifty feet from the foot of the hill. There is a brick pathway that circles the hill up to a side entrance, but the stairs are more direct. The temple building is at least twice as long as it is wide--the entrances are on the short east side. There are varieties of Buddhas, flowers, incense, and random offerings inside that occupy the western half of the building and three long mats spread across the floor for people praying near the entrance. I saw probably two dozen monkeys roaming the hill. They all seemed docile except for one that chased some screaming school children up a slippery brick channel build to drain water from the hill.
In the afternoon, I walked down to the National Museum. The streets in Phnom Penh are laid out logically and are nicely numbered, which eases navigation, except that only about half of the intersections have street signs and of those that do, the print is often small and faded. I finally arrived after getting lost three times and inadvertently seeing some cool sights.
The National Museum was created at the beginning of the twentieth century and was run by the French until the 1950's when a Khmer curator took over. The Khmer Rouge made a mess of the museum, neglecting what they did not loot or destroy outright. When Cambodia was liberated by the Vietnamese the museum housed broken exhibits and thousands of bats. The restoration has produced a nice building with a beautifully peaceful courtyard.
1 comment:
Hi Aaron, Do you have any pictures of the temple? Your description is suggestive but I'd love to see on if you do.
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