Field of Reeds

After the Independence Monument the next stop would be the palace. While we were in the bus, guide told us in time about the origin of the name of Phnom penh. Although I have already read the story in a book before I went to Cambodia. The name of Phnom penh means the hill of lady Penh. Hill in Cambodian culture means a lot. Long long ago there was an old lady named Penh who lived near the river of Mekong. One day she was washing her cloth near the bank of the river, suddenly she noticed a bole was floating in the river. Then she got the bole because it maybe usefull for making a fire. To her great surprise, when she cut the bole up, there was a statue of Buddha. She though it must be a message from Buddha that people in Cambodia should worship Buddha. The old lady built a small hill for the Buddha, avoiding the inundation of the Mekong River. Later people called the place where there was a hill Phnom penh, in honor of this devout old lady. When I was listening to this story, a beautiful sight all of a sudden jumped into my eyes, this was the Mekong river! What a beautiful river, with those legends and myths, this river is no longer a river, it is a spiritual symbol for Cambodian people. Like the Nile in Egypt. Honestly, Mekong is very different from Nile, of couse, I am joking now. Nile is my favourite river, but I was excited to see another great river in the world. Guide said the palace was built along the river. And he was not sure whether we could make the visit or not, because sometimes, the palace would be closed if the King had some important events.

Unfortunately, on that day the King must have something to do, so the palace was closed. Ok, we made the Wat Phnom (Hill Temple) first. Guide told us that this hill temple was believed to the legendary hill where the Buddha was placed. But the reality is that it is a renewed temple. The temple is located on a man-made hill 27 meters high. It is a very important temple for Buddha religion. Tens of thousands of believers worship the God in this temple. In front of this temple, I saw the snake symbol again, "the second time in a day." I said to myself. Climbing up to the main temple, we had to take shoes off on get into the internal temple. It is a custom in Cambodia, showing respect. Inside the temple, there is a Buddha, but it is not the Buddha saved by that old lady, around the main big Buddha, hundreds of small buddhas surrounded. Looking up, there were some slight remains of old paintings on the ceiling, which are not yet renewed, now I believed that it is an old temple with a long history. Behind the temple there are some towers, guide said these are the tombs of Kings, I remember...The visiting temple was quick, at the exit of the temple I saw quite a munber of children begging. Some were sisters with brother in their hands, some were just children no more than 6,7, some were naked, some were disabled fathers with their sons. I suddenly remembered that guide said that Cambodia is a country recovering from her past wars. Those scenes were extremely..I felt painful, I wanted to give those kids some candies, but I did not.And I did not know why, I regreted so much...