PHNOM PENH – (Capital)
19TH DEC 2015
We arrived in here from Saigon (Ho Chi Min City) Vietnam, the Tour Agents received us from Airport and checked in Hotel in the city. It was a pleasant evening, and the Guide took us for a Sunset cruise in the Mekong River running parallel to the city, witnessing the golden colors of Phnom Penh’s skyline at sunset. Cruise along Phnom Penh’s landmarks like the Royal Palace, National Museum, Parks, and the floating fishing villages of Tonle Sap and the beautiful Mekong river.
The Royal Palace, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is a complex of buildings which serves as the royal residence of the king of Cambodia. The beautifully manicured grounds and ornate buildings also offer a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of surrounding capital life – without a trip to the Royal Place, the tour to Phnom Penh is not complete. The Royal palatial grounds that were made of marble, gold and other precious stones literally fit for a king, with construction carried out by the French Protectorate in 1866. The city was officially inaugurated as the capital the same year. the Royal Court became a permanent fixture, with the palace’s iconic walls added in 1873. The Napoleon Pavilion was gifted to the royal family by France in 1876 and remains today.
The Silver Pagoda is an impressively ornate structure that is also known as Wat Preah Keo, or ‘Temple of the Emerald Buddha’. Originally built as a wooden construction in 1892 under King Norodom, it was rebuilt in its current state in 1962, dripping .with silver and jewels,. It is one of Cambodia’s only temples to survive under the Khmer Rouge regime . However, half of its contents were pillaged or destroyed during the Vietnamese invasion and years of turmoil that followed.
