Phnom Penh, Cambodia - February 1, 2018

Once again I forgot to say "le lapin, le lapin;" the rabbit, the rabbit - a French tradition that if one remembers to say these words first thing in the morning on the first day of a new month, great things will come to him. Bum!! Missed it again! But how could things become much better for us? Thank you, dear Lord, we are very grateful.

Here we are in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Somehow I was expecting cool green lands watered by clear, flowing streams.

We are staying at a very nice hotel and so far all encounters with the people of Phnom Penh and their visitors have been nothing but exceptionally pleasant.

We were met by our guide after breakfast thast and headed straight to the Royal Palace.

Streets were blocked-off and heavy police guard was positioned here and there along the street. The jailed leader of the opposition party was being brought to the city today to go before the courts seeking release. The government in control is Communist and very conscious that there could be protests and uprising. They fear losing control. There were no protests; even though the people are aware of the control placed on them, they seem to prefer peace over protest. My thoughts are this will not persist; they know better and are gaining courage.

The Royal Palace is no actual palace at all by English translation. It is a huge section of land, perhaps half mile north and south and quarter-mile east and west from the river; a total of 43.2 acres. It is located at the meeting of the rivers, Tonle Sap River and the Mekong. It was here that King Norodom declared this place as capital of the Khmer empire in 1858. Kings have occupied this complex of buildings since the 1860's. It is home to the Silver Pagoda; the Emerald Buddha, many spirit houses, and great monuments holding bones of dead kings. Inside the Silver Pagodas is over 1,000 budda, each give as a gift from other temples or other countries . The Silver Pagoda has a floor inlaid with over 5,000 tiles of pure silver and houses the 90-kilo standing buddha, Maitreya, adorned with over 9500 diamonds. The diamond on the buddha's breast weighs 25 carats. This Buddha was commissioned by a king during 1906-1907, who asked that his gold treasure be melted down at his death and a the Buddha be built in his honor. He believed this sacrifice might earn him reincarnation at the time the next Buddha is enlightened in the year 5000.

The original pagodas, houses and pavilions were originally made, they now stone and concrete. People from all walks of life come here to pray, light incense and to make sacrifices in hopes of great luck, good health and great fortune. There are donation boxes readily available, and on the altars are plates of money, cakes, fresh fruit and vegetables, whole roast pigs, and roast chickens. Recall, most of the people praying for good fortune have nothing. Yet they believe their sacrifice will grant good life. I did hear that big dishes like roast pigs were taken back home after prayers. Someone needs to eat them.

Next we visited the Russian market. It is not run by Russians and there are no Russian made goods there; Russians merely funded the construction of the market, thus the name. Same for the Japanese Bridge, currently the only bridge across the Mekong River to the Silk Island. It does not look Japanese, it was just built by the Japanese as a token of friendship. .

Russian market is busy and like most others we have visited iin SE Asia, virtually anything can be negotiated and bought. We bought a couple of souveniers and had a stall (recommended by our guide as good and even more important, safe to eat) Cambodian lunch of deep fried spring rolls, sliced into a spicy soup with fresh vegetables. After lunch, We meandered through the tight isles for only about 45 minutes, found a couple of souveniers and then got out of there. It was afternoon and the fish began to smell.

After a little break at the hotel, a new guide, Kanya, a graduate of architecture college who guides architectursl tours now to better her English. She had commissioned three cyclos - these are one-person carriages pushed by a man on a bicycle. We cruised through the old town learning about the architecture. We visited the old post office - still in full swing with postage, mail boxes, facilities for sending telegrams, phone calls and other essential financial/communications needs. This building like all the remaining beautiful buildings in Phenom Penh was built by the French. Typically they are ochre-colored and are in French Colonial style. Many of the buildings built by the French during their occupation are still standing. Some are literally falling down; owners pay families to live in lower floors to keep squatters out. Others have been renovated and turned into gorgeous old-world restaurants, fancy coffee shops or even a grand, upscale KFC. Some, no matter how beautiful and grand they once were, have deteriorated so badly, they will be torn down. There is no historical preservation society here.

Still others have been turned into family dwellings centers. When the French were run out of Cambodia in about 1946 and the protective status was abolished 1949, the beautiful structures, hotels and administrative buildings, were left abandoned. They stood like that until 1979 when Khmer Rouge was finally defeated by a Vietnamese Communist Army. Country people began to come to the cities and set up housekeeping in the buildings. These people lived there without paying a dime. They had no running water or electricity at that time but again, they had none of that in the country either. At least they were near a place where some sort of work could be found and they had a roof. In 1999, squatters were granted ownership of the area in which they lived. They now have water and electricity but please know, these people are still well entrenched in poverty. Their property is a tiny, former hotel room with bathroom but no kitchen facility. They cook outside on balconies and outdoor walkways. Those who squatted in other buildings not set up as a hotel simply have a square of space with no kitchen or bathroom. They share bathroom with maybe 20 other people. As we walked through a neighborhood that was once a temple that had been sectioned off into living squares, we passed women in doorways talking to other women, kids running about. We say laundered clothes hanging in doorways. People were beginning to light tiny charcoal burners to prepare the evening meal or to prepare foods thaey might sell to others. Finally, and most moving to me was passing a doorway and seeing a young woman, all dressed-up, sitting on the floor by the door where she could get light. She was applying beautiful red lipstick. She was going out.