Our First Two Stops - Cambodia blog entry #4

         Though Sunday, September 15, was our first full day in Cambodia, it wasn’t until Monday that we actually got out and started experiencing things on the ground, instead of riding by in our tuk tuk.

First though, here’s a picture of our tuk tuk, in case you were wondering what it really is. I’ll post a blog about all the different ones we rode in during our two-week trip, but this is the one we used in Phnom Penh. Our driver was a sweet man named Wo-Tea. He didn’t know much English, but K was almost always with us and otherwise pointing,  hand gestures, and the few words we knew in common worked.

We went to Central Market first. What a maze, filled with hundreds of vendors, hawking everything from watches to silks to fruits to fish. Also called Phsar Thmei, it’s a massive, mostly-indoor shopping center, which has everything you could want to buy.

Built in 1937, in the art deco style, by a French architect, it is a bright yellow building with an 85-foot-high central dome, with four tall arch-roofed arms branching out diagonally across the block. In between each of those halls, is an opening for more vendor’s stalls leading out to the street. (I plucked this photo from Google, full credit to whoever took it. I hate borrowing pictures from the internet, but I left my drone at home.)

Supposedly when it was built, the architect designed it with open air windows at the top, which were intended to allow air currents throughout the building to cool it. It didn’t feel like that was working to me. But the architecture was beautiful. 

Just like in Kenya, you can't even stop to look at something without being pressured by the vendors. First stall we stopped at I bought a scarf for four dollars, because I knew I wanted one. Then we wandered. D and I separated, and I couldn't find the way back to where we had come in. It's arranged like a wheel with eight spokes and after a while they all look the same. Finally found my way out, and they were all waiting for me.

Next stop was Wat Phnom temple, a Buddhist temple (which are called wats). It is the tallest religious structure in the city, with a total height of 150 ft.

It is a historical site that is part of the Khmer national identity. The pagoda is named after Lady Penh from the story of the discovery of the five statues: four Buddha statues and one Vishnu statue.

Set on top of a tree-covered knoll, Wat Phnom is on the only hill in town. According to legend, the first pagoda on this site was erected in 1373 to house four statues of Buddha deposited here by the waters of the Mekong River and discovered by a woman name Penh. The main entrance to Wat Phnom is up the grand eastern staircase, which is guarded by lions and naga (snake) balustrades.

We saw hundreds of pagodas throughout Cambodia. A pagoda is a tiered building with multiple eaves and ornate details, that is often used for religious purposes. Pagodas are common in many parts of Asia, including India, China, Japan, and Thailand. They are often Buddhist and can also serve as community venues, schools, and places for sharing knowledge.

This is the stupa of Ponhea Yat who was the last king of the Khmer Empire and the first Khmer king of the post-Angkor period, from 1421until his death in 1463. A stupa is a steeple-shaped mausoleum holding the bones and ashes of the deceased, usually placed around the grounds of a pagoda. They can be made of sandstone, laterite, brick, and more recently of cement, and some are huge.