Thailand Trail aka Cambodian Caper, South to Phnom Penh

 If you remember the bus company that we are using is called Giant Ibis and we are with them again for the 6 hour journey south to Phnom Penh. I have learnt that a group of ibises is called a congregation, so we are about to join the congregation. 

Lunch break at the service area off the main road to Phnom Penh. Driving in this country is rather like India without the cows. You can overtake on any side and drive against the flow of traffic, anything goes, size is what really counts. 

The Mekong River divides Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital into two. As it is so wide it is expensive to bridge, consequently there aren't many of them. This is the view from the bedroom of our hotel. 

We paid a tuc-tuc driver $15 for the use of his knowledge and vehicle for the afternoon so we could see Phnom Penh's highlights. The first sight we went to was Wat Phnom. Free to locals but $1 for foreigners. It is built on top of a man-made hill and gives you a good idea of how an active Buddhist temple functions.  Here we look back down the hill while we get our breath back. 

These cages contain a lot of tiny finch type birds. People come along and pay to be given a couple of birds into their cupped hands which they can then open and hence release the birds to freedom, I'm sure that this is a very symbolic Buddhist thing to do and deeply meaningful, however it is also a great money spinner. Buddhism is all about the cycle of life and this is certainly a cycle, catch 'em, release 'em, catch 'em, release 'em, catch 'em, release 'em and so on ad infinitum. Just had a thought, perhaps they are homing finches so we could cut out the middleman. Now I know why the caged bird sings.

Looks a bit like a thriving market place, and it is but the purchases are not for consumption by the people. They will all be left at one of the shrines for Buddha's midnight feast. This will ensure good luck for the believers. To me its a bit like leaving that glass of sherry out for Father Christmas. 

Here it is all happening, Buddha presiding over his gifts and devotees. 

We moved on to the National Museum which had a lot of ancient bronze sculptures, but no photography allowed. It also sold some excellent coffee in an attractive garden. Next it was either on to the Royal Palace or the S21 Genocide Museum as both had a last entry in about an hour. There was no contest. The Genocide Museum is so serious and of such importance to the whole world that I am going to devote a discreet blog to it. Meanwhile here are some of the other sites that we took in with our tuc-tuc. 

This is the large park which was decorated to celebrate the very recent Chinese New Year. I hope you can spot that this year is the Year of the rabbit. 

Here we are in Independence Square and it's monument. I never did ask, "Independence from whom?" The French? The Kymer Rouge? The Vietnamese? or The USA? Take your pick I suppose. 

A final photo for the night. We got back to our hotel bedroom after a visit to the night market where photographs were not reccomended for reasons of personal security so this is the same view I posted earlier but this time with the lights reflecting in the Mekong.