The King's Palace

We were tourists today.  We've been here over 6 months now and have yet to do many of the "touristy" things Phnom Penh has to offer.  We thought Saturday morning would be a good day to tour the King's Palace.  After all, how often do you get the opportunity to visit the home of a real King??  This one here is the home of Cambodia's King, King Norodom Sihamoni.

The boys were comfortably dressed in t-shirts in shorts and I was in a cute tank top and my denim shorts, but the guards deemed that "inappropriate" for visiting the grounds, so I had to rent this cool outfit to wear over my clothes.

I guess if I have to wear special clothes I get to actually meet the king?  Well I hope they'd give me something better to wear if that were the case.  I got this white tee for $2 and the pink pants were rented for 1000 Riel, which is about $0.25.  It all went over my clothes so it didn't make for flattering family photos in front of the Royal Palace or anything.  Oh well. There goes that New Year's Resolution to be in more photos with my kids!

I don't remember what each building was.  Here are some photos.

Murals lined the whole compound and were worn away but still quite beautiful.

Stage for private performances for the King.

Scale model of Angkor Wat.

These are the seats that go on an elephant's back that the King and Queen could ride in during a parade.  There was a room full of different styles and sizes of these types of seats.

The gardens were beautiful but had all sorts of strange looking plants as well as beautiful ones.

This plant was growing out of the tree trunk

Even strange little things guarded the plants

 More photos on the grounds

 After we finished touring the grounds we went outside and chased some pigeons.  It was silly and fun.  We could have fed them but then they would have come near us, which I'm quite sure would have terrified my kids. I think they were much happier having them fly away from rather than toward us.

It was a fun day to be a tourist!