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Day 11 - Silversmiths, a Buddhist Blessing and Deep-Fried Tarantulas

Writer's picture: SElliottSElliott

This morning was an early start for our tour to Koh Chen and Oudong.


We took a bus to Koh Chen and then transferred onto tuktuks to ride through the narrow streets into the town. Although it’s only the morning it’s already pretty hot! Our guide, Bumpta, commented on the bus that he dislikes winter in Cambodia – the temperature drops to a freeing 18C. We told him he was always welcome to visit us in Scotland. We’re lucky if we get that in summer!!


Koh Chen is known for its’ silversmith shops where local artisans create copper and silver items, hammering the designs in by hand. Only five families returned to this village from the killing fields, some with bad injuries, and so the craft has had to be retaught to many. Like all of the industries we’ve seen this holiday the Health & Safety is practically non-existent. The finished silver articles were lovely although we didn’t buy any. From the silversmiths we took the tuktuk back to the bus, which was conveniently parked next to a shop selling cold drinks!

Picture 1 – Koh Chen Silver Smith

Out next stop was Oudong. This was the royal capital of Cambodia from 1618 to 1866 and the surrounding hills have a number of stupas built on them to house the remains of different kings.


Oudong is now the location of the Vipassana Dhura Buddhist monastery, one of the largest Buddhist monasteries in the country, where we went to have a traditional Buddhist blessing ceremony. The Vipassana Dhura Buddhist monastery is a massive complex. The buildings, as with most of the buildings in Cambodia, are colourful - it makes a difference from the usual dull red and grey building of home.


There are 5100 monasteries in Cambodia, often called Wat which means monastery, with 70000 monks, both male and female.


The females dress in white and do the indoor tasks such as cooking and serving and cleaning. The males do the outside, more strenuous, jobs. A person can become a monk at any age from about seven upwards and can remain a monk for as long as they wish to do so. To a certain extent it is more of a philosophy than a religion. The monks wear robes of red, brown, orange or sometimes yellow, depending on what the people give to them. Monks wear three layers of robes. If they have been a monk for eight years the top layer, worn as a sash across the body, is red. If twenty years then it is black and if more than thirty it is gold. Monks are not allowed to touch money.

Picture 2 – Oudong Monastery & Main Hall

We had to take our shoes off prior to entering the main hall and were not allowed to wear hats either in the temple or the grounds, although umbrellas were allowed. Once we entered the main monastery building, we were seated on floor mats carefully ensuring that our feet were not pointing towards the monks who were carrying out the blessing. The blessing was carried out by two monks, one senior and one junior, who chanted the blessings. The chanting was a prayer to which us longevity, property and happiness. It was very musical, with a nice cadence. I went into a sort of meditation. At the end of the blessing the monks scattered jasmine flowers over us and we had to say “ash tu” three times to accept the blessing.


After the blessing we reclaimed our shoes and then meandered through the complex back to the buses. We returned to the ship for lunch before setting out on our afternoons’ excursion.


Our afternoon excursion was to explore Phnom Penh by cyclo. We each had our own cyclo, with driver thankfully! Phnom Penh has a population of 2.8 million with 1 million scooters and 0.5 million cars. There are a maximum of two people per scooter. If there are more the police fine is $10 per person. Failure to wear a helmet has a fine of $15 as does failing to wear a seatbelt. The most usual currency in Cambodia  is the American Dollar. Cambodians often do not put their money in a bank and keep any dollars at home. There is often a new regime and new money and then the existing money loses all value and so is lost.

We travelled through Phnom Penh, entering the French Quarter to see the Central Post Office, a grand building of French design which is still the head office of the Cambodia Post system. We also visited the Railway Station, which was where the Workers Party of Kampuchea was founded in September 1960. This party was to later become the Khymer Rouge lead by Pol Pot. It was here in April 1975 that the decision to evacuate the cities was taken after the Khymer Rouge had successfully captured Phnom Penh.

Picture 3 – Phenom Penh Post Office and Main Station

Our next stop was the Independence Monument, located on the intersection of Norodom Boulevard and Sihanouk Boulevard. This was built to memorialise Cambodia’s independence from France in 1953 and is a lotus-shaped stupa. From the monument we walked down Sihanouk Boulevard before getting on the cyclos to travel to the Royal Palace. We didn’t go in the Royal Palace this time but visited some food stalls outside it near the river. These were selling all types of food – included tarantula, cricket, snake and frog. Mum and I declined to partake but others tried them – apparently they taste like chicken.

Picture 4 – Cambodian Street Food

We then travelled to the central market before returning to the ship.

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