Cambodia Trip 2009 Day 1

Some people asked us why we intended to go to Cambodia. This country is so dusty, dirty, unsafe, full of mosquitos & bees....so why?

To me, 3 reasons : 1) Angkor Wat is one of the Seven Wonders of the World 2) Phnom Penh is hometown of mom 3) Lara Croft : Tomb Raider was filmed there

Before we arrived at the Phnom Penh Int'l Airport, we already saw one of the spots that we would go during the tour. It's Mekong River which drains accross 6 countries in Asia. I just remember 3, it includes Thailand, Laos, Vietnam. And the well-known Tonle Sap Lake drains into this famous River...Splendid, eh?

Before going to this Lake, we went to a casino. Nothing special for this. :\

To get rid of the boredom at the casino, we hanged around outside no matter we were going to MELT under a SUNNY day...(still remember it's around 36C that day)

see, blue sky + beautiful clouds = HOT... it's diff. to open the eyes even under a cap.  : |

Next, we went to the famous lake and boarded a sight-seeing boat.

Floating villages. Most of the residents are the poor.

And the cows in Cambodia are all white. They look skinny and poor coz their ribs are exposed.

Much more worse, a birdie was resting on our boat due to its broken legs...

After that, we went to the Royal Palace which was dedicated to King Sihanouk. The architect is a bit like the one in Thailand. Haha.

The Cambodian has belief in the microcosm of the Hindu universe. So its architectural style is just like the one below.

pillars around with Khmer buddha

pediment on the top

'naga' serpents (with 7 heads) on the both side of the doorsteps, they respect the serpents so much that just like their gods or mascots.

some other style too with beautiful stained glass inside

After visiting this palace and another one called 'Kinkaku' temple (not the one in Kyoto), we headed back to the Phnom Penh hotel.