The Royal Treatment
- Ruth Mcbride
- Oct 15
- 4 min read
#phnom penh
Day 4 Avalon Saigon Mekong Delta River Cruise
Docking in Phnom Penh for a few days meant that we could have some free time this afternoon and we could go on an included excursion this morning.
Cyclos all lined up to take us through the streets of Phnom Penh.
Phnom Penh has a population of 2.8 million and the traffic is very chaotic. Rather than have a tour bus to drive us around in today, Avalon chose to hire local Cyclo Tour operators to bike us around this morning.
Richard ready to cyclo!
My cyclo lady was #88 and I had to remember her after each one of our stops.
Richard’s cylo man was having a difficult time cycling him and my cyclo lady thought that she should follow Richard since we were together. We were going very slow though and the entire line of cyclos was getting ahead of us, so I told her to pass Richard and his cyclo man and keep up with the tour.
As we approached the Royal Palace which was our destination for our tour, Richard’s cyclo driver had to switch with another driver and finally Richard and a different driver showed up. From following Richard’s first cyclo driver he seemed to be sitting side saddle and only using one leg to pedal, so perhaps he had an injury and couldn’t keep up.
Royal Palace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Royal Palace Pavillion, Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Our Cambodian guide showed us around the beautiful Royal Palace complex, with its many intricate mausoleums which were built to bury their ancestors. Some of the more ornate areas of the Palace we were not allowed to photograph, and we also had to be covered up on our shoulders and knees to visit the Palace. At 39C with a 90% humidex, it was extremely hot as we wandered around the busy grounds on a Sunday morning in Phnom Penh.
A 5 year old Cambodian “influencer” video taping and posing in front of the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh.
After spending some time at the Royal Palace it was time to meet our cyclo people and be shuttled over to the National Museum of Cambodia.
Statues National Museum of Cambodia
More old statues…
While we enjoyed seeing the stone sculptures which date from the 800’s to 1400’s or the Khmer period, once you’ve seen a big stone sculpture, they all start to look sort of alike!
Aspara Grannies.
We did enjoy an exhibition which is only at the museum for a month called Aspara Grannies. Eight grandmothers from ages 61-105 have donned traditional Aspara costumes (which are usually reserved for much younger Aspara dancers as we saw in Siem Reap when we were taken out for dinner to see traditional Cambodian dancing) and had their photographs done with full costumes and makeup.
Information on the Aspera Granny exhibition
The oldest granny at 105 years old (above), lost her husband and 6 children during the Khmer Rouge regime and ended up scavenging for survival in a dump. She never thought that she would be revered or honoured to be an “Aspara”. The photographs and paintings that have been done of them were wonderful and we thoroughly enjoyed this modern twist on their Aspara culture of dancing!
The side streets of Phnom Penh from a cyclo.
A local market with some kind of sketchy meat!
We met our cyclo driver after visiting the museum for our shuttle ride back to the Avalon Saigon.
We could see that there was many tuk tuks waiting around the port to take people out for free time in the afternoon and we agreed that we would go out to the Central market in Phnom Penh after lunch and split a Tuk Tuk with a couple from Barrie, Ontario Canada that we have gotten to know quite well.
Ha, our Tour Leader accompanied us to the Tuk Tuks after lunch and we were able to find a driver who spoke fluent English. The cost of the Tuk Tuk would be $10 per hour and he would wait for us outside the Central Market while we shopped.
Central Market, Phnom Penh in the art deco style.
The Central Market in Phnom Penh is an Art Deco style market. It is massive inside and has an extensive amount of vendors with many wings leading out from the centre of the market.
Dried fish in the market
Negotiating for a ‘boho’ skirt in the Central Market, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Scarves, jewellery, shoes, clothing, live fish, drying fish, watches, you name it, they had it! And everyone was willing to negotiate and with us for our US dollars!
The inside of the market was extremely hot as it was not air conditioned inside. The sweat was running down our back as we tried to negotiate for silver jewellery, scarves and clothing.
Doug and Richard waiting for me and Joan, having a local beer and waiting for us in teh tuk tuk.
After about 1.5 hours of being at the Central Market we hopped back in our Tuk Tuk and headed back to the ship.
Orphange children with their dance teacher performing on the Avalon Saigon in Phnom Penh.
The little monkey. They had the monkey antics down pat!
During cocktail hour this evening Avalon arranged for children from a local orphanage to come onboard to perform for us. The children did traditional Cambodian Aspara dancing as well as monkey dancing, and finally a Gangdam style dance with the younger children performing backflips and knowing all the moves. It was very heartwarming to have the chance to see the children perform and their teacher thanked us for our support. We gave a $20 donation after the show.
We really have been treated to some royally entertaining opportunities on this cruise. From cyclo touring, to tuk tuks, to visiting royal palaces and seeing museums and having children entertain us! Busy, hot days, but very special “royal” days too!
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