Days 12-13: Phnom Penh

 Day 12: Phnom Penh 

This morning, we started the day by visiting the Royal Palace, and its Throne Hall and Silver Pagoda.

Silver Pagoda (not allowed to take pictures of the inside)

Stupa at the Royal Palace

From there we made our way through parts of the city

on the way to the Central Market, where we bought a glass of sugar cane juice, some fresh coconut water, and Steve bought a pair of pants.

Layer in the afternoon, we visited theTuol Sleng (S21) Detention Center

Then we went to the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center (killing fields).

Memorial stupa at the killing fields.

It felt morbid to take many pictures there, so I focused more on taking pictures of these mushrooms 

and this cannonball tree

It was getting dark as we headed back to the port, so the brightly lit bus ceiling showed up

And we could see food stands setting up for the night

Day 13: Phnom Penh

Our first excursion this morning was to visit the Oudong Buddist Monastery. On the way there, we also passed a big fish market.

Oudong Buddist Monastery

Inside the monastery for monk blessings

blessing ceremony 

After the blessing, I walked the grounds

and saw the Vipassana Dhurak Buddhist Centre, while Steve opted to climb over 400 steps

To reach the shrine at the top of the hill 

From there, we headed back to the ship for lunch. 

While there was a tuk tuk tour of the city planned, we were going to skip it and wander around on our own. As we were getting ready to leave, we saw a storm moving into the area. The next pictures show the progression 

sunrise from our balcony

afternoon view from our balcony

start of storm view

middle of storm view

heaviest part of storm view

night view after the storm ended