Phnom Penh - Day 2 (Part 1)

2 May 2025

Today is a busy day! Woke up at 5, coffee, shower and then down for breakfast at 7.

I booked a whole day tour around the city today which started at 7.45 am. It turned out that I was the only tourist on this tour, as no one else booked the tour for today, and my guide was kind enough not to cancel it. So it was sort of like a private tour, which suited me just fine!

First destination: Wat Phnom which literally means ‘mountainous pagoda’. According to legend, in 1372, there was once a wealthy old lady known as Madam Penh, who lived near the bank of the confluence of the four (three rivers). One day she found four Buddha statues, and one of Vishnu. The belief is only sacred people are ‘chosen’ to find religious relics. Madam Penh then asked some of the villagers to build an artificial hill and build a small wooden temple on top of the hill to house the statues. She invited monks to bless the statues and the monks named the hermitage Wat Phnom which is ‘wat’ it is known to this day. 😊

We walked around the whole complex; there were many beautiful paintings on the walls, which I guessed (correctly) to be Cambodia’s version of the Ramayana. There is a stupa at the complex containing the ashes of a former King of Cambodia. My guide informed me that most Cambodians are khmers, which is a distinct race with DNA most similar to Polynesians. He was quite firm in informing me that they were NOT Chinese, like most Vietnamese and Thais. I got the impression that Cambodians do not like Vietnam and Thailand for various geo-political and ideological reasons – Thailand because of territorial disputes, and Vietnam because they seek to spread communism.

There was a shrine dedicated to Madam Penh, but the most interesting shrine was in a room that contained a statue of Buddha made of pure gold, another statue made of emerald, and the floors made of pure silver. No videos or pictures were allowed here, and I mentioned to my guide that this would be a perfect place for a modern-day heist (me and my imagination – roll eyes). He was not amused.

Second destination: the Royal Palace. Cambodia still has a King (a constitutional monarch) whose powers are more symbolic than anything else. Supposed to be the same in Malaysia but that’s a story for another day. The King still resides here, but other parts of the palace not in use are opened for the public daily as a tourist destination. The main elements of the palace which I saw were the Throne Hall, which contains the three main royal thrones and is the place kings are crowned and where foreign ambassadors are received; the Napoleon Pavilion, which King Norodom used as a reception hall and is today a museum; the Phochani Pavilion, a banqueting hall; the Chan Chhaya or Moonlight Pavilion on the northeast section of the wall, used for state banquets and dance performances; and the Damnak Chan behind the Napoleon Pavilion, an administrative building. Across the road from the Moonlight Pavilion is a building which, as informed by the guide, used to be the place where an elephant was to be brought for the King to mount either for battle or for royal processions. How cool was that, but not so cool for the poor elephants, I’m sure.

 

Third destination: Monument of friendship between Cambodia and Vietnam. This monument commemorates the alliance between Vietnam and Cambodia, particularly the Vietnamese intervention in 1979 to overthrow the Khmer Rouge regime. It's a prominent concrete monument located in Botum Park near the city centre, featuring a gold-topped tower and statues of soldiers and a Khmer woman and child.

Next, the Constitution Monument in Phnom Penh which celebrates the 1993 Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia. It features a unique design, combining Greco-Roman and ancient Khmer architectural styles, and stands at 23.4 meters tall, weighing 112.9 tonnes.  Across the Constitution monument, built in the centre of a roundabout, is the Independence Monument built in 1958 to memorialise Cambodia's independence from France in 1953. It is in the form of a lotus-shaped stupa, and stands at 37 metres tall.

The last monument for the day was the Monument of Norodom Sihanouk, a monument commemorating the former King Norodom Sihanouk. The bronze statue is 4.5 meters tall and is housed under a 27 meter high stupa. King Norodom Sihanouk died on 15 October 2012 in Beijing, China, and is survived by his son, the current King Norodom Sihamoni. The statue is dedicated to Sihanouk's accomplishment on liberating the country on 9 November 1953 from French colonialism. He is a revered King due to economic rejuvenation in Cambodia in the 1960s. From 1941-1954, he abdicated the throne to his father because he wanted to get involved in politics. He was arrested by Pol Pot and put under house arrest in the Royal Palace.

In 1991, the United Nations came to restore damaged property, develop, and help to run the economy and administration in Cambodia. They were the ones who introduced the dollar into Cambodia’s economy so that everything has a dollar price, together with the local currency which is Cambodian riels. From this monument, you can actually see the other two monuments (the Independence Monument and the Constitution Monument) which makes for a good photograph.