Onwards to the Mekong

Breakfast did nothing to improve our impression of the hotel. It was practically inedible. Enough said.

Throne room at the royal palace

We only had a few hours this morning to allow for sightseeing, and had pre-selected the royal palace and the genocide museum as things we'd like to see while we are here. The royal palace was first, and we chose the guided option. Although the buildings and the grounds are immaculate, the exhibits in various parts of the palace were not. There were several places where various pieces were on display and it looked like the inside of the display cabinet hadn’t seen a duster in years. Our guide talked about the current king, a bachelor and devout buddhist, and of course gave us a brief run down of the history of the palace. Luckily, when the Khmer Rouge were in power, the palace was left untouched. So, all of the historical artefacts dating back to the palace inception in 1886 have all survived.

Reliefs in the walkway

However, due to an apparent lack of funding, restoration activities are only partially complete. One of the unique things about the palace is a covered walkway that has 506 meters of painted reliefs around the outside. The same details as what were carved on the temples at Angkor Wat and Bayon – except apparently the whole story is told here. Only a small portion has been restored, which is a shame.

Another unique feature of a building in the palace complex is the silver pagoda. So called because the floor is covered in approximately 5 tonnes of silver tiles. The criminal thing is, that at some point in the past, where the tiles have lifted, attempts have been made to fix the problem by using masking tape. The pagoda has a collection of impressive buddha statues, the main one of note was made of gold and covered with diamonds (the largest was 25 carats). The king still comes here to pray when he is in residence (however, today he was off in China for a medical appointment).

Barbed wire was used to stop people jumping...

The genocide museum is a horrible reminder of the atrocities that occurred under the Khmer Rouge regime. The complex has been retained in its entirety, from the old S21 prison, which started life as a school. There were many graphic pictures, displays of the different types of cells, commentary about perspectives from all sides – those who joined the Khmer Rouge, survivors, families, and accounts from international bodies involved in observing the Khmer Rouge regime. There was also a display of a large number of skulls from the time – a bit morbid, but necessary to the overall experience. The fact that no prosecutions were commenced until about 30 years after approximately 1.7 million Cambodian people were slaughtered just beggars belief.

Views along the Mekong

After one last argument with the hotel receptionist, we were collected and whisked away to our speed boat for the ride to Chau Doc. Apparently we are VIPs, as there are only two of us, 3 staff, 45 seats inside, plus some benches outside (enough room for 10 odd people). We quickly spread out and set about enjoying the views along the Mekong. Eventually we reached the Cambodian border and had to get off the boat and show our passports. If you didn't know this was a border spot - you could so easily miss it. We also had to stop at the nearby Thai border to repeat the process and a third stop was to refuel (414 litres). A right hand turn off the Mekong to get us on to the right part of the river to get to Chau Doc was very picturesque. We waved at many local children, watched car ferries cross the river at multiple points, saw a couple of people washing their hair in the river and looked on at the ramshackle huts that lined the river. About 2 minutes before we docked (after a 4 hour journey), the afternoon rains hit. HARD. We got drenched despite the best efforts of the staff to keep us dry. The Victoria hotel in Chau Doc is a stark contrast to the previous hotel - for which we are eternally grateful.