Walk: Cambodia National Museum To The Royal Palace
Let the walk continue!
This was the last segment of my sight-seeing walk for the day, and just a short one, likely only 600 meters from the National Museum to the Royal Palace of Cambodia.
Yes short. The shortest distance in fact, of a cumulative 5 kilometers I have already walked earlier. But as I've told you in that previous story, it was fun and educational!
Fact: Cambodia's National Museum and Royal Palace are actually right next to each other. However, the vastness makes their visitor entrances about 600 meters apart!
Veal Preah Meru Square
From the museum, you skirt half the Veal Preah Meru Square perimeter. Ano yan?
It is a very wide park-like, well-maintained grass field, with no permanent structures.
Weh, bakit me building sa picture? Ah eh.., depending on the date/period of the year there can even be a lot. Not just 1, 2 or 3, but many! And sometimes those can even be bigger/taller, than what you see in the photo above. But, everything is temporary'!
As in? As in anything built inside the 22,500 square meters of land!
Veal Preah Meru Square is a very important 'public space' in Phnom Penh, well, in all of Cambodia, actually. They don't usually call it "park" in the westernized sense, even if it looks or feels like one, adjacent to both Royal Palace and the National Museum.
Ang hirap i-translate, but word-for-word, Veal = field/square/plaza or something like that; Preah = sacred/royal/holy/kataas-taasan; and Meru is that mythical mountain (Mt. Meru) na siya daw ang "center of the universe" sabi sa Hinduism and Buddism.
Some people call it Veal Preah Man which I think is more informal.
But foremost in functionality, this field is their Royal Cremation Ground as it is most famous (or significant) being a designated venue for Royal Cremation Ceremonies.
In Khmer tradition, it is the site where elaborate, temporary cremation structures are built to honor deceased members of the royal family. Those solemn occasions - like King Norodom Sihanouk's cremation - draw big crowds of mourners and dignitaries.
Ay, tanungin nyo pa si Jejomar Binay! I saw him (as vice president) representing our country, na nakiramay sa Cambodia during their 04FEB2013 cremation ceremonies.
You can also google for photos and videos of that cremation. Any structure you will see (aside from the fence and gate), from 01 to 04 February 2013, were 'temporary'.
Giniba lahat yon after the ceremonies (according to tradition). In ancient times daw, a friend told me, hindi lang ginigiba lahat, talagang sinusunog din kasama ng patay.
Lately though, the square is also already used as venue for other important national events such as Preah Reach Pithi Chrot Preah Neangkol (Royal Plowing Ceremony).
Ah, masaya yan! There are serious ceremonies attended by their king. But there are also parang trade fair, na parang tiangge, na parang fiesta, na parang lahat lahat na!
It is (still) a sacred/religious festival though. And ceremonies are "ancient", cultural" that we outsiders may consider fun or even funny. It is similar to our "fiesta", though ours is thanksgiving for a good harvest, theirs is to pray for a good planting season.
In any case, after said events, all built structures are dismantled to the ground.
Anyway..,
Along Street 178
As I said above, it's a spacious field that I had to skirt halfway around. From the exit gate of the museum, if I turned right, nadaanan ko na yun kanina, so sa kaliwa tayo!
That, is the last picture in my previous story - as I exited the museum. Puntahan nyo nalang doon ang description, baka sabihin nila inuulit-ulit ko pa ang hindi kaayaaya!
I can assure you though, everything else is worth the walk! This street is lined with a bevy of commercial establishments like hotels, 24/7 stores, coffee shops even this:
I did not enter for the sake of time. I knew if I did, mauubos ang oras ko. Aliw eh 'no?
That black cat at one corner of the window, was busy looking at something outside. Others are 'only' upstairs. Aliw! I did not know, uso rin pala yan dito sa Phnom Penh.
If you look back at that previous photo above, that cat café is at the left-side-end of that street, near the corner with the riverside highway. One café staff who came out told me there are more than 10 cat cafés in this city - plus Siem Reap has many too.
Boulevard 3 [Update 2025: googlemaps screenshot of my walking path - blue dots]
Alright, after reaching the corner-most establishment (River Crown Restaurant) just beside the cat café, I decided to backtrack a bit towards Sothearos Blvd. (Blvd 3) to continue my walk to the Royal Palace. I needed to be there at 2:30PM opening time.
I still had about 600+ meters to walk!
By the way, the royal palace always has two schedules each day: one in the morning (8AM~11AM), and another in the afternoon (2PM~5PM). I aimed to enter at 2:30PM.
2:15PM na! 15 minutes from the cat café was doable for me. At 2:20PM, I was here:
If you're not familiar with that blue-and-white logo, that's UNESCO or United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. That is their Cambodia field office.
Where I stood to take that photo is the southeast corner of Veal Preah Meru Square, diagonally across from where I started this walk at the national museum's gate. So,
This corner is also the northeastern corner of the Royal Palace's grounds...
Entrance is still far (about 300m onwards) and as you can see, no vehicles allowed.
Let's describe that corner: No drones, of course; Green trashcan at right, is still part of Veal Preah Meru Square; Gold sidewalk, dyan tayo papunta malayo ang entrance. Left of the tuktuk, UNESCO Bldg.; Cambodian flag and the trees at left, another park!
Ito yan, Royal Palace Park, and this is not even the last park in this vast vicinity!
That big building at left is Sokha Phnom Penh Hotel/Resort complex. That's already across the Tonle Sap River, on an island-like peninsula, called Khan Chroy Changvar.
That small "house" in the park is Ponlea Chey Pavilion or Victory Pavilion.
That is primarily where the king watches parades and public performances, both on land and on the river - tatalikod lang sya, if that is the case! It has a great river view.
But I couldn't allow distractions on this walk. Alas dos na! I must enter the palace!
They were building some kind of a decorative or artistic wall when I passed. May be for a ceremony. But that's not where visitors enter anyway. Dun pa sa bandang dulo!
That building, the Moonlight Pavilion is the most easily seen from the road. Ito yun.
I think the royalty had the pavilion made that way, so they have somewhere to perch on, without crossing the park, to the Victory Pavilion - in some parades or activities.
It looks different viewed from inside. I'll show you later when we enter.
I was still out on the boulevard walking, and this was next I saw, the Victory Gate.
It is also called (mainly by palace and government workers) as the East Gate. And it is not for us the madlang pipol hehe! Only for royal family and official palace guests!
Let me describe the scene since it's rather far. Colored sky-blue is the massive steel gate. There's a man with a backpack peeping inside - maybe a curious alien (tourist)!
Both flanks of the gate have a topiary tree na parang Christmas Tree natin! Tunay at buhay na puno yan, meticulously maintained by topiary experts. We'll see more later.
After each of those trees (to the outside), are royal guard houses (yung parang doon sa Buckingham Palace). Each has a guard inside - not clear, but just zoom the photo!
Oist Marites muna! Scoop ito! A reliable source told me, any guard who "may" stand in those two positions (for hours) may look like any ordinary 'sekyu', but they are not.
Aw, my reliable source made a disclaimer saying "supposed to be ha? di ko lang alam kung nasusunod o sinusunod pa as of now". So ano ba dapat iyang kelangan sundin?
Ay, kikilabututan ka, pramis!
Per confidential rule daw (na hindi nila pwedeng aminin in public)... is that, ANY guard assigned on that post, must fluently speak in (at the very least) English AND French.
Aside from their own Khmer language and dialects yan ha? But almost all (daw) are fluent din in Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian and/or Arabic with recurrent training. Ta!
Ang sabi pa.., they belong to the elite of Cambodia's elite forces. Like they can drive any vehicle on land, sea or air; and can even do minor surgeries - all trained abroad!
But my reliable source repeated: "kung sinusunod pa nila ang patakaran na yan"! Pero wow kahit in principle lang, di ba? And if you'll go near, mukhang 'sekyu' lang talaga!
Anyway, we the mere public, as curious visitors, enter via the South Gate. It's this:
Where, which one? That was also my question while walking! But I soon learned it is that nearest one. That gate with only 1 guard-house - with no guard. Nasa labas sya!
That next gate (with no guard-house) leads to the Silver Pagoda, but it's permanently or semi-permanently closed, used only on special occassions or logistical movements.
Hard to see but there's one more gate over at the far end, and that's actually the exit for us tourists visiting the palace. Can you see the blue bus? The Khmer-style house behind it isn't part of the palace. That is the Supreme Court already across the road.
We'll get nearer, but let me tell you that, I took that photo mainly with the pigeons as the subject. There are a lot of those and other birds in this area of many open fields.
Here's another shot (a clearer angle) of the gate where we tourists should enter:
Plus, I actually just wanted to capture: 1) the birds in love; and 2) si manong guard!
If you can't see them in the picture above, then look down here. I "magnified" them!
The two birds seem to have decided to live in their own world, away from the rest of their fellow feathered friends! While si manong guard, wala sa kanyang guardhouse!
At pumagitna talaga sa kalsada in a monobloc chair, busy on his phone hahaha! 'Di ba familiar? Palagay ko, sya ang katapat nung naglipanang "blue guard" sa atin, no?
Ibang-iba doon sa naka-post sa Victory Gate. Ito si manong, baka kahit GMRC wala!
But let's stop it here muna, for I already arrived, and ready to enter the Royal Palace!
And I'll tell you about it in my next story!
This was the last segment of my sight-seeing walk for the day, and just a short one, likely only 600 meters from the National Museum to the Royal Palace of Cambodia.
Yes short. The shortest distance in fact, of a cumulative 5 kilometers I have already walked earlier. But as I've told you in that previous story, it was fun and educational!
Fact: Cambodia's National Museum and Royal Palace are actually right next to each other. However, the vastness makes their visitor entrances about 600 meters apart!
Veal Preah Meru Square
From the museum, you skirt half the Veal Preah Meru Square perimeter. Ano yan?
Weh, bakit me building sa picture? Ah eh.., depending on the date/period of the year there can even be a lot. Not just 1, 2 or 3, but many! And sometimes those can even be bigger/taller, than what you see in the photo above. But, everything is temporary'!
As in? As in anything built inside the 22,500 square meters of land!
Veal Preah Meru Square is a very important 'public space' in Phnom Penh, well, in all of Cambodia, actually. They don't usually call it "park" in the westernized sense, even if it looks or feels like one, adjacent to both Royal Palace and the National Museum.
Ang hirap i-translate, but word-for-word, Veal = field/square/plaza or something like that; Preah = sacred/royal/holy/kataas-taasan; and Meru is that mythical mountain (Mt. Meru) na siya daw ang "center of the universe" sabi sa Hinduism and Buddism.
Some people call it Veal Preah Man which I think is more informal.
But foremost in functionality, this field is their Royal Cremation Ground as it is most famous (or significant) being a designated venue for Royal Cremation Ceremonies.
In Khmer tradition, it is the site where elaborate, temporary cremation structures are built to honor deceased members of the royal family. Those solemn occasions - like King Norodom Sihanouk's cremation - draw big crowds of mourners and dignitaries.
Ay, tanungin nyo pa si Jejomar Binay! I saw him (as vice president) representing our country, na nakiramay sa Cambodia during their 04FEB2013 cremation ceremonies.
You can also google for photos and videos of that cremation. Any structure you will see (aside from the fence and gate), from 01 to 04 February 2013, were 'temporary'.
Giniba lahat yon after the ceremonies (according to tradition). In ancient times daw, a friend told me, hindi lang ginigiba lahat, talagang sinusunog din kasama ng patay.
Lately though, the square is also already used as venue for other important national events such as Preah Reach Pithi Chrot Preah Neangkol (Royal Plowing Ceremony).
Ah, masaya yan! There are serious ceremonies attended by their king. But there are also parang trade fair, na parang tiangge, na parang fiesta, na parang lahat lahat na!
It is (still) a sacred/religious festival though. And ceremonies are "ancient", cultural" that we outsiders may consider fun or even funny. It is similar to our "fiesta", though ours is thanksgiving for a good harvest, theirs is to pray for a good planting season.
In any case, after said events, all built structures are dismantled to the ground.
Anyway..,
Along Street 178
As I said above, it's a spacious field that I had to skirt halfway around. From the exit gate of the museum, if I turned right, nadaanan ko na yun kanina, so sa kaliwa tayo!
I can assure you though, everything else is worth the walk! This street is lined with a bevy of commercial establishments like hotels, 24/7 stores, coffee shops even this:
That black cat at one corner of the window, was busy looking at something outside. Others are 'only' upstairs. Aliw! I did not know, uso rin pala yan dito sa Phnom Penh.
If you look back at that previous photo above, that cat café is at the left-side-end of that street, near the corner with the riverside highway. One café staff who came out told me there are more than 10 cat cafés in this city - plus Siem Reap has many too.
Boulevard 3 [Update 2025: googlemaps screenshot of my walking path - blue dots]
I still had about 600+ meters to walk!
By the way, the royal palace always has two schedules each day: one in the morning (8AM~11AM), and another in the afternoon (2PM~5PM). I aimed to enter at 2:30PM.
2:15PM na! 15 minutes from the cat café was doable for me. At 2:20PM, I was here:
Where I stood to take that photo is the southeast corner of Veal Preah Meru Square, diagonally across from where I started this walk at the national museum's gate. So,
This corner is also the northeastern corner of the Royal Palace's grounds...
Let's describe that corner: No drones, of course; Green trashcan at right, is still part of Veal Preah Meru Square; Gold sidewalk, dyan tayo papunta malayo ang entrance. Left of the tuktuk, UNESCO Bldg.; Cambodian flag and the trees at left, another park!
Ito yan, Royal Palace Park, and this is not even the last park in this vast vicinity!
That small "house" in the park is Ponlea Chey Pavilion or Victory Pavilion.
But I couldn't allow distractions on this walk. Alas dos na! I must enter the palace!
That building, the Moonlight Pavilion is the most easily seen from the road. Ito yun.
It looks different viewed from inside. I'll show you later when we enter.
I was still out on the boulevard walking, and this was next I saw, the Victory Gate.
Let me describe the scene since it's rather far. Colored sky-blue is the massive steel gate. There's a man with a backpack peeping inside - maybe a curious alien (tourist)!
Both flanks of the gate have a topiary tree na parang Christmas Tree natin! Tunay at buhay na puno yan, meticulously maintained by topiary experts. We'll see more later.
After each of those trees (to the outside), are royal guard houses (yung parang doon sa Buckingham Palace). Each has a guard inside - not clear, but just zoom the photo!
Oist Marites muna! Scoop ito! A reliable source told me, any guard who "may" stand in those two positions (for hours) may look like any ordinary 'sekyu', but they are not.
Aw, my reliable source made a disclaimer saying "supposed to be ha? di ko lang alam kung nasusunod o sinusunod pa as of now". So ano ba dapat iyang kelangan sundin?
Ay, kikilabututan ka, pramis!
Per confidential rule daw (na hindi nila pwedeng aminin in public)... is that, ANY guard assigned on that post, must fluently speak in (at the very least) English AND French.
Aside from their own Khmer language and dialects yan ha? But almost all (daw) are fluent din in Chinese, Vietnamese, Russian and/or Arabic with recurrent training. Ta!
Ang sabi pa.., they belong to the elite of Cambodia's elite forces. Like they can drive any vehicle on land, sea or air; and can even do minor surgeries - all trained abroad!
But my reliable source repeated: "kung sinusunod pa nila ang patakaran na yan"! Pero wow kahit in principle lang, di ba? And if you'll go near, mukhang 'sekyu' lang talaga!
Anyway, we the mere public, as curious visitors, enter via the South Gate. It's this:
That next gate (with no guard-house) leads to the Silver Pagoda, but it's permanently or semi-permanently closed, used only on special occassions or logistical movements.
Hard to see but there's one more gate over at the far end, and that's actually the exit for us tourists visiting the palace. Can you see the blue bus? The Khmer-style house behind it isn't part of the palace. That is the Supreme Court already across the road.
We'll get nearer, but let me tell you that, I took that photo mainly with the pigeons as the subject. There are a lot of those and other birds in this area of many open fields.
Here's another shot (a clearer angle) of the gate where we tourists should enter:
If you can't see them in the picture above, then look down here. I "magnified" them!
At pumagitna talaga sa kalsada in a monobloc chair, busy on his phone hahaha! 'Di ba familiar? Palagay ko, sya ang katapat nung naglipanang "blue guard" sa atin, no?
Ibang-iba doon sa naka-post sa Victory Gate. Ito si manong, baka kahit GMRC wala!
But let's stop it here muna, for I already arrived, and ready to enter the Royal Palace!
And I'll tell you about it in my next story!
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