Palace Grounds - Cambodia blog entry #5

 Monday afternoon, after wandering the Central Market and touring Wat Phnom, we stopped for a tour of the extensive grounds of the Royal Palace. It wasn't on our most recent schedule, but K said we had time. However, it did take way longer than we had imagined; our tour guide was very knowledgeable but sometimes went into too much detail. 

The Royal Palace is the residence of the reigning monarch – King Norodom Sihamoni. Since 1993, the king of Cambodia has been an elected monarch, making Cambodia one of the few elective monarchies in the world. The king is elected for life by the Royal Council of the Throne, which consists of several senior political and religious figures. Candidates are chosen from male descendants of King Ang Duong, who are at least 30 years old, and are from the two royal houses of Cambodia (the House of Norodom and the House of Sisowath). The current king’s father and predecessor was Norodom Sihanouk.

Following are the notes I took, with some supplementation from the internet. 

There was a beautiful Banyan tree next to the Victory Gate and the dancing hall. 

Also called Preah Tineang Chan Chhaya, the dancing hall or Moonlight Pavilion was built in 1913. 

 The Throne Hall or coronation hall hosts the coronation and other special occasions and was built in 1919. We couldn't go inside or even take pictures of the inside. There are three different thrones inside used at different times by different people. It got me very confused. 

I loved all the details. 

The grey building is the Pavilion of Napoleon which was being redone when we were there so we couldn’t go inside.  

This unique palm tree comes from Madagascar and is called Ravenala or the traveler’s palm. Not a true palm tree, its fronds grow in the pattern of a fan. 

The royal treasury room displayed costumes for royalty and even commoners when they got married. The clothes were very fancy and would be rented, not owned, by the bride and groom. There were a lot of other items crammed in the small building, but this is where I started to lose it. I was getting so hot and weak. There was a fan in the building so I focused on staying in front of it, while everything our guide said sounded like an adult talking in the Peanuts cartoon. 

When we came out of there, we crossed a small sunlit courtyard and then went under the roof over the Ramayana Frescoes. That’s when I started seeing black spots. “Can I seat down here,” I asked, pointing to the floor. Not that it mattered coz I would either sit right then or pass out full blown.   

 I sat down and immediately just laid back on my side on the cool tile. The others kept walking, but I asked K if he'd wait there until I gathered myself, drinking water and dribbling some on my face.

 Typical guy, he said, “it will be even hotter at Angor Wat”. How helpful is that! 

Anyway, I felt better after a few minutes and tentatively sat up. Soon I was able to continue the tour with our little group. 

The last building we went in was the Silver Palace, aka temple of the Emerald Buddha. The Silver Pagoda is a highlight and is named for the silver inlaid floor. There was only a section of it exposed, the rest being covered with carpet, but you could hear the tiles crinkling as you walked across the floor. Along with cases full of artifacts along the walls, there were several large, ornate Buddhas in the center of the room. I assume that the largest one was the Emerald Buddha. (And maybe I was still out of it, coz I remember taking pictures inside, but I have none on my camera! Or maybe we weren't allowed to take pictures inside and I was really still spaced out. As it is, I stole the picture of it below from Denise.)

Just beyond that and a replica of the Angkor Wat was a small refreshment stand, where I bought a cold water and drank it in the shade. Thankfully, I was back to my usual self.