Phnom Penh - Capital Of Cambodia

Fresh Flower Stall

Beautiful Bouquet Of Lotus Flowers

Fragrant Liliums

This is one of the fresh flower stalls from Central Market in Phnom Penh. While pronouncing Phnom Penh, please keep in mind that Ph at the starting and h at the end are silent. So you have to say only nom pen! If you think that this is difficult, you can try saying the city's old name..it's Krong Chaktomuk Serimongkul!!!

The Central market is a must visit place in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.

Central Market
📷Wikimedia Commons

This building is built in Art Deco style. A huge central dome painted in bright yellow has four wings, all of them are lined by shops. Jewellery, gemstones, gift articles, souvenirs, clothing, watches,toys.. name anything and most probably,you will get it here in Central Market.

Central Dome
📷Wikimedia Commons

Wing of the Central Market, bustling with shops.
📷Wikimedia Commons

This building is built in 1937. When we went there in 2012, it was recently renovated. The height and ventilation of this building bring in fresh air in this otherwise very crowded place. This is the place where you can see tourists as well as local crowd.

Phnom Penh is capital of Kingdom of Cambodia (Kampuchia). Cambodia has a really turbulent past. Cambodia had human settlements even in 4000 B.C. Surely some glorious centuries in the history were there with Hindu and Buddha influence, nearly till 14 th century. For four centuries after that, history is very poorly recorded, and this period is known as dark age of Cambodia. There were many invasions and wars and Cambodia was on the verge of getting destroyed. Then came the indirect French rule nearly for a century. The second half of the twentieth century was marked with shifts in political and administrative systems, not once or twice..but many times.The genocides, massacres, massive killings in the Khmer Rouge or Polpot reign from 1975-1979 will always be remembered as a dark spot on humanity.

Currently Cambodia has constitutional monarchy. Currently Norodom Sihamony is the king since 2004. His father King Sihanouk died on 15 October 2012 in Beijing and his funeral took place on 4th Feb 2013 in Phnom Penh. When we had visited Cambodia in December 2012, his body was kept in Royal Palace. All over the city, we could huge hording and photos of the deceased king.

Late King Norodok Sihanouk

Phnom Penh is a city built by French and is located on the confluence of Tonle Sap, Mekong and Bassac rivers. Phnom Penh has beautifully developed river front areas at many places in the city.

Riverfront area

The evening stroll on the riverfront or a boat ride in the river is surely makes the evening more enjoyable.

Boat ride

From the boat you can see many constructions of tall buildings which are rapidly filling the skyline. Rising over the turbulent past, Cambodia is trying to go with the modern world, the technologically advanced world. In that process, the urban facilities are not enough for the huge population which now wants to settle in cities. Traffic jams are a common sight. But some people have overcome many of the hurdles and are living on floating houses! They even have a dish antenna on the boat.

Floating homes

How the city is named as Phnom Penh? The legend tells us that once in 14 th century, an old lady named Penh found a wood floating in the river. When she brought that wood on the banks, she found 4 statues of Buddha. Somewhere it is mentioned that she had also found one statue of Vishnu in it. The temple was built on a hill and so the name of the city is Phnom Penh- hill of the Penh. The temple built by her is known as Wat Phnom- Temple on the hill.

The hill is about 30 mt in height and the campus is huge with many structures in it and is known as Wat Phnom Historical park.

Stairs leading to the main pagoda

Main Pagoda

Mural on the wall

Buddhist Shrine Inside the pagoda

Main Stupa in Wat Phnom

View from the hill

National museum in Phnom Penh is a must see place. The building itself is very artistic. It is a traditional terracotta structure with courtyards and garden. It's nearly 100 years old building.

Entrance of the National Museum

Garuda

Photography is not allowed inside the museum. There are beautiful Vishnu and Shiva statues, as well as a huge collection of Angkor- the golden period of Cambodia historical artifacts. You can see the main points in history of Cambodia. It is such a huge collection in the museum. You can read some Sanskrit inscriptions in the museum.

Though you can't take photographs in the museum halls, you can take photographs in the courtyards. So here are the photographs of the beautiful building!

Courtyard with garden and pond

Typical traditional architecture

The pond

Ganesh in the Garden

The Royal Palace complex consists of many buildings including the residential quarters of the present king. Many other buildings are open for public. There is a silver pagoda having Silver tiles. There is one emerald Buddha statue made up of solid gold and is decorated with diamonds and other precious stones. There are royal throne hall, pagodas and other building. Taking photographs inside the building is not allowed. On the walls of the oldest part of the palace, some frescoes of Ramayana scenes can be seen.

Pagoda in Royal Palace Complex

One of the buildings in Royal Palace Complex

Golden colour is abundant!

Interesting tower

Ganesh Statues collection in the palace

Royal Throne Hall

Pagoda in Royal Palace Complex

In Phnom Penh,The Killing ground where thousands and thousands of people were killed as well as Genocide museum are included in the tourist list. But I could not gather enough courage to see both of these. Both the places are a dark spot on humanity. You can surely search on net and read about it. Please do that.

Near the Royal museum everyday there is a musical show where we could see some of the Cambodian Customs and rituals. Interestingly some of the wedding rituals were same as Hindu wedding rituals in India.

Wedding Rituals

Wedding Rituals- Praying

Scaterring of flower petals on the Bride and Bridegroom

walking with each other around the central prayer

The major tourist attractions and must see places are near by. If you walk along the Sisowath Quay riverfront, you can cover most of them!

Panoramic view from the riverfront garden.

Statues of soldiers in the park

Riverfront

Apsara Dance ballet is very famous in Cambodia. You can see beautiful posters of the dancers at many places in Phnom Penh.

Poster of a ballet dancer.

There are taxis available easily in the city. There is one more interesting mode of transport.

Scooter Rickshaw

While in Cambodia if you need vegetarian or vegan food, you have to be really cautious. At least in 2012, every time we had to inquire a lot about the ingredients of the food, even if they call it vegetarian! We were walking in the city and near the market I saw this cart. I couldn't understand what it was, so I went near to it and took a photo. Can you make it, what is it??? People were buying this like we buy some corns or fruit slices!! The vendor was packing this in a bag with the sauce in that jar!

Can you guess it?? Write in the comment box!!

Phnom Penh is having international airport and is well connected with many countries. We spent here two days and two nights while going to Siem Rip- Angkor wat from Singapore. If you have lots of time in hand you can spend two or three days in Phnom Penh. Otherwise one day in Phnom Penh is sufficient. The museum is a must visit place in Phnom Penh. It gives you an overall idea about the history, religion, art and culture of Cambodia which helps you while seeing Ankor Wat and other temples near Siem Rip.

Angkor Wat... in another post ..some other time!!

Comments

देवरियाताल चंद्रशिला ट्रेक- भाग 1 - तयारी !!

आपण स्वप्न पाहतो… आपण स्वप्ने पाहतो… त्यातील एखाद दुसरेच प्रत्यक्षात यावे म्हणून धडपडतो आणि बाकीची स्वप्ने कधीतरी नवलाईने आंजारायला गोंजारायला असावीत म्हणून त्यांना स्वप्न म्हणूनच राहू देतो. हाय अल्टिट्युड ट्रेक हे माझे एक असेच स्वप्न होते, नेहमी भुरळ पाडणारे आणि तरीही प्रत्यक्षात आले तर इतक्या उंचीवर चालताना काहीशी धास्तीच वाटावी असे. त्यामुळे वर्षानुवर्ष ते स्वप्न प्रत्यक्षात न येता स्वप्नच राहिले होते. नोव्हेंबरमध्ये माझी मैत्रीण धनश्री जगताप इंडियाहाईक्सबरोबर देवरिया ताल चंद्रशिला हा ट्रेक करून आली. तिच्याशी गप्पा मारताना या ट्रेकची सविस्तर माहिती मिळाली. मार्च एप्रिलमध्ये या संपूर्ण रस्त्यावर ऱ्होडोडेंड्रॉनची फुले फुललेली असतात असेही कळले… आणि मनातल्या स्वप्नाला पुन्हा एकदा जाग आली. असे म्हणतात की देवरिया ताल म्हणजे जिथे यक्षाने युधिष्ठिराला प्रश्न विचारले ते तळे. वाटेत लागणारे तुंगनाथ हे तर जगातले सर्वात उंचावर असणारे शंकराचे मंदिर, पंच केदारापैकी एक. हे पांडवांनी बांधले आहे असे सांगितले जाते. ट्रेकचा समिट पॉईंट...

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राष्ट्रीय अस्मितेची चिन्हे परकीय आक्रमक पुसून टाकायचा प्रयत्न करतात, करतातच. जगभर अशी असंख्य उदाहरणे सापडतील. कारण त्याशिवाय त्यांना त्यांची सत्ता निर्माण करता येणार नसते. पण मग त्या त्या देशातील, देशावर प्रेम असणारे लोक काय करतात हे जाणून घ्यायचे असेल तर एक उदाहरण सांगते. आपल्याला सेऊल मधील ग्यानबोक पॅलेस याच्याविषयी वाचायला हवे. ------------- तसा पोचायला आम्हाला थोडा उशीरच झाला होता. शेवटची इंग्लिश गाईडेड टूर चुकते की काय अशी भीती वाटायला लागली होती. अनेक कोरियन युवक युवती राजवाड्याकडे जाताना दिसत होते. विशेष म्हणजे त्यांनी पारंपरिक कोरियन पोशाख घातले होते. फार छान दिसत होते ते सगळे. आम्ही गेलो होतो, कोरियाच्या सार्वभौमत्वाचे मानचिन्ह असलेल्या ग्यानबोक पॅलेसला ( Gyeongbok Palace ) भेट देण्यासाठी. तिकिटाच्या काउंटर जवळच राजवाड्याचे मुख्य प्रवेशद्वार आहे. त्याचे नाव आहे ग्वान्गमन गेट.( Gwanghwamun) . सेऊलच्या पुरातन इतिहासाचे प्रतीक असलेले हे प्रवेशद्वार १३९५ मध्ये बांधले गेले आहे. आज हे प्रवेशद्वार कोरियाची ओळख बनलेले आ...

Deoriatal - Chandrashila trek - Part 1 - Preparation

We dream… we dream about many things … but we strive to make only few of them a reality and leave the rest of the dreams as dreams only, to cherish them someday in our leisure time. A high altitude trek was one such dream of mine, always enthralling and yet a little daunting. So for years that dream remained a dream without becoming a reality. In November, my friend Dhanshree Jagtap did the Deoria Tal Chandrashila trek with Indiahikes. While chatting with her, I could get detailed information about this trek. She told that in March and April, rhododendron flowers will be blooming in this region … and the dormant dream was awakened once again. It is said that DeoriaTal is the lake where the famous Yaksha and Yudhishthira conversation had taken place. On the way to the summit, Tungnath is the highest temple of Shankara in the world, one of the Panch Kedars. It is said to have been built by the Pandavas. The summit point of the trek is Chandrashila. The place where Chandra did Tapas. It i...

Deoriatal Chandrashila trek - Part 2- - Sari to Deoriatal.

The next morning, the trek started with a steep climb!! At one point during the climb, we turned back and bade goodbye to the Sari base camp. It was not known whether we would successfully complete the trek or not. But I was sure that we will definitely come back with a life changing experience. Sari Base camp 📷 Supan Shah The road was paved with rough stones. But while climbing I was telling myself that these stones were better than walking in the slippery soil. 📷 Pawan Gowda You can guess how much the climb was, from this photo, but if you want to know how we were climbing, there is a video! विडिओ - सम्राट दर्डा https://youtube.com/shorts/CJuWDSml8XU?feature=share The initial, few meters part of the road passed through populated areas. But the houses there were very few and sparse. Green fields were visible everywhere. Farming was done on the mountain slopes, by step method. This greenery enlivened the entire slope. The view 📷 Supan Shah 📷 Samrat Darda After walking o...

Deoriatal Chandrashila trek - Part 3- Deoriatal to Syalmi

That was the third day of the trek. I was feeling contented. Yesterday's journey from Sari to Deoria was beautiful. Neither were my legs paining nor was I feeling tired. Today was surely going to be a tough day. I had read the description on the Indiahikes website, which gave a rough idea about the day. Today the distance was more than nine kilometers. But there were many peaks which will be visible on the way. We were going to pass through a dense forest, so there was a chance to watch variety of birds. So I was curious and excited about the journey. All of us, left from Deoriatal campsite and started our journey. Even though we had only been there for a day, we had already grown attached to the place. Even if it has only been a day, surely there is always attachment with the place.There was a fork in the forest path on the left side of the road to Deoriatal. We went that way. After walking for a while, most likely we were goi...

Deoriatal Chandrashila trek - Part 5(Last part)- Baniyakund - Tungnath- Chandrashila

📷Samrat Darda A beautiful photograph of the moon taken from Baniyakund campsite, April 15. That day should be Saptami or Ashtami of Shukla Paksha. Because Ram Navami was on 17th April. In the intense and tranquil darkness of the beautiful night, though the full moon day was still seven or eight days away, the moon was already bright. The shining moon, occasionally hiding behind the clouds, the curiosity of the summit in our minds.. it was a very unique night. There was going to be a two o'clock wakeup call tomorrow. we had to pack up, have breakfast, and be ready to leave for the day at three o'clock. I packed the essential things in the day pack and packed everything else in the bag to be offloaded. That bag was to kept in the main tent while leaving in the morning. Tomorrow, in few hours we would gain an altitude of 4000 ft. I closed my eyes to sleep, but even before my closed eyes, the images of the snow-capped peaks were floating. I woke up at quarter to two in ...

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