Sunday, May 13, 2012

Cambodia Trip part 3


Hello! Here’s where we tell you about the King’s Palace we entered! :) It’s such a dream come true.. Haha!

During our trip in Cambodia, we visited the royal palace in Phnom Penh. The palace is spacious and lavish, with the structures in traditional Khmer architecture covered with gold finish roofs. Throughout the tour, we learned the history and uses of the buildings in the past.



We first made our way to the throne room, which is a building by itself. It is where the king and his officials conducted their business many years ago. It is still used today for royal ceremonies and for meetings for guests of the king. In fact, our prime minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, was in this throne room a few days ago for an Asean summit.Unfortunately we were not allowed in the room. But of course we peeked, and the whole room was filled with golden furniture! A sight to behold it was, but no pictures were allowed.


Our next destination is the Silver Pagoda aka The Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The king prays at this temple. It is filled with artifacts made of gold and the floor is tiled with silver. The main attraction is a life sized Buddha made of gold and decorated with diamonds totaling up to 25 carats. Various statues of buddha made of pure silver chronicling his life history fills the room. It is a privilege to be able to enter the temple. 
No footwear is allowed in the temple,by the way~ 

 

Following that is the white elephant room. A life sized white elephant statue made of marble and sculpted with decorative elephant carvings is the centre of attraction. In front of it, a sort of alter has been created as a homage to the influence that Indian culture has had on Cambodian culture. 
 

And that concludes our trip to the palace!  =)


No comments:

Post a Comment