The structures of Wat Phnom had a pinkish hue, which made it somewhat "girly". My dear liked it for the pastel-ry colors, me on the other hand, thought that everything just looked similar. The naga snakes, the slim lions, the bodyguard like warriors, the hot red intricate cravings on the wall, the paintings of Buddha's life journey within the inner walls of the temple at the top, a flying angel, so on and so forth, nothing I've not seen before. 
Other than the colors which was distinct for the Pagoda, there was also another "con" prevalent... the releasing of caged birds. I couldn't really tell what breed of birds they were, all I know is that there were faint yellow in color and were not common in Singapore. But what I could tell, is that after any gullible tourist pays money to release the birds, the locals will catch them and cage them up again.
We quickly moved on to the National Museum, which we didn't enter cos both of us weren't fond of looking at artifacts (from the experience we had at Taipei's National Palace Museum). The exterior was nice though. Very reddish, very classy. However, there weren't many tourists around as well. If I'm not mistaken, entrance fee about $5-$10.
What we wanted to check out, was the Royal Palace, and that we did, because of the other attractions inside. However, it wasn't cheap, about $6.25 for tourists. Locals could enter at a cheaper rate, from what I observed with a huge group of locals having a "special" queue.
The map was highly complicated, with all the Cambodian terminologies and names. So we explored it simply by walking around aimlessly. It's not difficult to navigate your way around the ginormous compound, because the routes were well paved out and there were many parts of the compound which were out of bounds. 
I would describe the Royal Palace as having 3 main sections, the main palace compound, the Sliver Pagoda, and the "walkway". The main palace compound is a huge open compound with a good 5-7 structures situated all around. It's like walking in a big park, similar to Singapore's very own Istana. There's a main structure, which I think is called Throne Hall (based on the guide book but not from over there), where there's a throne of the king with some really posh looking sits. Has a very "where one is knighted" kinda feel. 
It's so "exclusive" the guards and gate keepers were on high alert and wouldn't give 2 hoots about shouting at you even though you're taking a photo nowhere near the hall. We even saw a royalty wedding when we were there! We snapped multiple shots of a group of well dressed Cambodians in the distant and asked one of the bodyguards when they approach the hall to take more photos. From what the guard told us, it was one of the prince's wedding. Why it's so "unguarded" really beats me, or perhaps I've been living in such a "secured" environment that it was a totally different experience for me. 
When they approached the hall, the guards didn't stop us from taking photos of them. We could even go close to them (not to the extend of shaking their hands cos everyone else didn't really care about them, more of being "kapo"). The guards were not armed, and it was so open and carefree. The royalties just walked past us and it felt like an everyday affair for them. I mean, aren't they scared they would be stabbed or something? Where I'm from, stealing a peek at such an event might already get me into hot soup!
The structures were similar, only difference lies in their colors. At Wat Phnom, they were pink, at the National Museum, they were red, but at the Royal Palace, they were golden/yellow. The flying angels, which my dear was so fond of looked the most prestigious at the Royal Palace.
One of the caretakers over there hurried us to enter the pagoda because they were about to close.. at 11am! That's what I didn't like about the palace. The opening hours are from 7.30-11am, and 2-5pm. We couldn't take our own sweet time to check out the place and the caretakers shoo-ed us out promptly. 
The highlight for the Sliver Pagoda must have been the Emerald Buddha/s. There was an Emerald Buddha which was glowing green inside, a refreshing sight and mesmerizing sight. Unfortunately, like in the Throne Hall, we couldn't take any photos so I had to record everything down in memory. The setting around the Sliver Pagoda was beautifully scaped, however, as I've said, the caretakers were rushing us out so we couldn't really enjoy the experience.
We even had to give a miss for the Elephant Terrace (I think that's the name, similar to Siem Reap) and it was only at the 3rd and final main area, that we could take as much time as we want - the walkway, the entrance and exit for the palace. It's not just a door but an entire walkway of exhibits along the way. There were a couple of interesting Buddha nature (flowers) fused structures and there was even a "live demonstration" of a lady knitting Khmer scarves.
After the Royal Palace, we proceeded to the much anticipated Genocide Museum. Along the way, we saw the Independence Monument which was located in the middle of a round about. We just snapped shots of it but didn't alight our Tuk Tuk to check it out since it looked "comprehensive" enough from a distance.
It was lunch time when we reached the Genocide Museum, and was told that there was no food inside. Therefore we went to a nearby home stall to feast on the local foods. We decided to settle for local "zhi cha" with seemingly plain dishes. In general, they were quite salty but tasty and the water they poured for us had bits of leaf fibers in them. We were so paranoid we left the water pretty much untouched, though I did try a few gulps of it... tasted... leafy, raw, and sandy, groundy (if that word even exist). Was very cheap though, don't think we paid anymore than $5.
The Genocide Museum looked like a Detention Barracks from afar (considering that I was in the Provost unit back in my NS days). Wasn't what I had in mind, 2nd stunner that day (first being the Sliver Pagoda). I had initially visualized it to be a air-conditioned museum, not the actual site where the genocide was carried out! Thought only the killing fields would be that! 
The mood was intense and gloomy when we first stepped in. It felt dark, sad and extremely depressing. The blockish white walls, the tombs, the torture devices, the countless photos of the victims, the dried blood stains, the barbed wired blocks, the brick and wood prison cells, were all too disturbing. The cumulative photos and evidences of the nightmare really got to me. In my 2-3 hours over there, I felt like I could feel their pain, and suffering. I didn't feel too good being there, eye-opening nonetheless, but it made me question what humanity really was. Made me wonder to myself, if I were a soldier of the Khmer, would I have opposed the authority to free the prisoners, or would I subject myself to believing that those acts of horror were only "normal".Even as I type the post now, and viewing the photos, it would still send a shiver down my spine... I shan't describe too much about it, but to give you a general idea of the place, apart from what I've mentioned, there's 3 main blocks over there - one for the high officials near the "back" entrance where we came from (more spacious and lotsa torture devices over there), one which I can't remember, and the last where the brick and wood cells were. If my memory doesn't fail me, the one with the brick and wood cells had barbed wires surrounding the entire building. It was also the place where they were more things to read about, the tyrants responsible for the massacre and few remaining survivors of the nightmare. I believe that block was supposed to be the "first" block and that our route was in reversed order.
Phew* I survived subjecting myself to take a trip down memory lane because if given a choice, I would gladly leave the sick memories of the Khmer Massacre behind at the Genocide Museum. I shall quickly move on a lighter, happier part of our trip there... the Russian Market!!
The Russian Market, like Singapore's Bugis Street, was one of the main reasons we extended our stay in Phnom Penh, because we heard we could get cheap branded goods over there. The branded goods were pirated ones though, but there were different grades of it. However, much to our dismay, the "branded" goods over there were mainly Levis and some other less attractive "branded" goods. So we ended up shopping for other stuff, which wasn't a bad thing after all. Bought a matching pair of Nike shoes over there for less than $30 each. 
It was there that we also chanced upon the "Best Iced Coffee in Phnom Penh". At least that's what the store owner claimed. It was an unexpected encounter, because we did include it in our itinerary but totally forgot about it since I hardly referred to our itinerary during our stay there. The shop owner, with a ever smiling face and an amicable tone, even has a facebook account and decorated his shop with flags of other countries. What I liked about the shop is that we could even ask for a one time refill with no extra charge! The condensed milk was "gao gao" (very thick) and the service, if you call it that, was excellent. His daughter cum assistant was always on the ball. It's a small cosy shop in the middle of the Russian Market and there's also another stall selling the "Best Khmer Coffee" or so it claimed.
Either way, the iced coffee actually tasted... in all honesty, like any iced coffee one could drink at a coffee shop in Singapore. But the friendliness of the shop owner and the free refill made it a much better deal, of course, it's way way cheaper as well. The Tuk Tuk driver left us at the Russian Market, but we managed to find our way to Central Market to do further shopping. It was there we bought another pair of sunglasses for myself (lost the previous one I bought at Siem Reap after the bus ride) and a degree sunglasses for my dear. Had to wait about an hour for the glasses to be ready though. Gave us the perfect excuse to be shopping around. Bought a couple of other goodies there. Great shopping spot for tourists, Central Market that is.
After which, we returned to our hotel room to put our barang barang down before heading out to Sisowath Quay again. This time, we decided to take another route, and turned up at the other end of the Quay. Took a romantic couple-ly stroll along the Quay and we settled our dinner at the Phnom Penh Night Market yet again. French guy was still there, roads were equally as busy but we tried a different stall. However, I thought the previous day's food was nicer.
I figured that we could take a "shortcut" back to our hotel, which we did. We passed by the shopping mall near to our hotel which was still opened, and we had dessert at Swenson's! However, the quality of the food wasn't quite up to standards and the ice cream felt like those cheap ice creams (ice bits). My dear had waffles, wasn't that great either. Despite her ecstatic facial expression, the meal "costs" us more than just $$$, for the next few days, it made dear queasy. It was a great experience overall, having to chill out at a "Malaysian type shopping mall" at such an hour, in a foreign country and not worrying about how to get back to our hotel room because it was all just within walking distance.
