Celebrating Pchum Ben in Phnom Penh

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Our timing is excellent. We are in Cambodia for Pchum Ben, the Buddhist Festival of the Dead. It's a time to visit where ancestors lived, bringing offerings of food for hungry ghosts. Everyone is heading for the countryside except the monks tending to their temples.

We take a tuk-tuk tour of the city, visiting a few places on Road Scholar's optional itinerary. Tuk-tuks are motorbike-driven sedans, covered to protect passengers from sun and rain. They're a great way to see the city, and would be a great addition to Boston's roadways, at least in the warm weather.

One stop on our self-guided tour is Wat Ounalom, where we are greeted by a monk who blesses each of us with a sima, a thin red yarn bracelet to protect us from harm. He engages us in conversation about our homes and his, before wishing us well and telling us to wear our simas until they fall off from natural causes.

The Royal Palace, just a few blocks from the pier where the Toum Teave is berthed, is hard to miss. We will visit later today, but photographs are prohibited inside, as they are in the National Museum, another destination for this afternoon. The highest spire of the palace features four benevolent faces, evoking the architecture of the Khmer temples we will visit at Angkor Wat. 

The palace and museum are spectacular, needless to say. Even though much of the royal treasure and many historical artifacts were lost in Cambodia's civil war, the collections are impressive, and well-presented. 

At night, before dinner, Captain Prunier has invited local children to perform a traditional Apsara dance on the Toum Teave, transforming our upper deck into a center for the performing arts. It's a spectacular show, set against the warm evening glow of Phnom Penh's waterfront.