It's the third day of our river cruise in Cambodia with CF Mekong by CroisiEurope and today we are learning all about the role of Buddhism in the life of Cambodians as a remarkable 95% of Cambodians practice Theravada Buddhism. We visit one of the most striking palaces in Oudong before arriving in Phnom Penh and watching an Aspara show.
It's day 3 and today's excursion starts at 9am and is broken up into two parts with lunch on the ship in between. This morning's visit is to Kampong Tralach - Kampong means port and Tralach is the name of Winter Melon that is grown here and exported to Vietnam to make juice. This juice is said to be good for cooling and hydrating the body in the hot weather.
Today's excursion shows us the role of Buddhism and what it means to the Cambodian people. Cambodia is a land of temples with around 5,000 temples housing 50,000 Buddhist monks. In the recent past the Pol Pot regime destroyed 1,500 temples converting them to prisons or killing sites. These have now been reclaimed and used for educational purposes, as nursing homes and to house monks. We are visiting the Kampong Tralach temple.
Monks are an integral part of Cambodia's Theravada Buddhist society. They invite monks to giving blessings at weddings, funerals, births and for business openings and the monks are accompanied by a priest and a nun. The monks chant in a Pali language that only monks understand. We sit in front of the monk with our toes pointing away from him. He chants for 7 minutes blessing us with holy water. Afterwards we say Satuk 4 times to accept his blessing.
Our next stop is to meet the women that volunteer every day to feed the monks. They're busy frying fish and cooking small crabs. The fish are absolutely delicious and they offer us a taste of this along with the crispy rice from the base of the wok. They use wood from the trees to cook the crab and fish as this gives the food a better flavour.
All of these women are volunteers who offer their time as they don't have money to donate. Every day they cook food for good karma. The monks eat 2 meals a day: breakfast and lunch and they do not eat after 12pm.
We also meet a 12 year old novice monk who has has been here for a year. Any monks under the age of 18 are called novices.
Our last stop is to the outdoor crematorium and mausoleum at the temple complex. There are three options to bury the dead in Cambodia. The first is by building a stupa and then you put the ashes in an urn. The second is buying a spirit house like a small tiny temple that you normally see at the front of the houses or the front yard. The third is having your ashes scattered into the river or the sea.
Our guide Theany explains that people can choose which level of practising Buddhism they want. The entry level is 5 precepts where they are forbidden against killing, stealing, become intoxicated, adultery and lying. The Eightfold Path adds three more precepts like no dinner, no entertainment and no sexual temptation on Buddha day four days a month. And if you choose 10 precepts you need to purify yourself by shaving your head and wearing white. You also abstain from eating dinner and from sexual activity. There are actually 227 rules for monks - for example they are not allowed to cut trees because this can kill ants and bugs.
We return to the ship for lunch which is again served buffet style. Lunch on board is my favourite meal because of the soups and salads on offer. These change every day and today I help myself to some beef salad, German sausage salad, a spicy cabbage salad and some stir fried eggplant and green beans, wok fried sweet and sour fish and stir fried beef with peppers. The beef salad is fantastic with lots of finely chopped peanuts for flavour and texture and I also enjoy the other two salads.
The soup of the day is spinach and sausage which honestly does sound a bit of an odd combo but it's actually very tasty with a simple broth, wilted spinach and chopped sausage pieces. Dessert is sweet pineapple, watermelon and lobes of pomelo with a sweet coconut soup with tapioca noodles and coconut.
After lunch we head out for our afternoon excursion. The temperatures are hot today but with a breeze. Nevertheless we take an umbrella along which turns out to be a fortuitous decision as we are visiting the Vipassana Dhura meditation centre which is Cambodia's first meditation centre and has the largest praying hall in Cambodia.
Spread across 64 hectares, it also encompasses a Buddhist nursing home which offers free entry for anyone around the world that needs a mental health reprieve and to learn meditation. There are 886 people living here and we walk past the nun's houses. Each house has one nun and this afternoon we see some climbing into the hammocks underneath the house to escape the heat, some with cats sitting on their stoop.
We meet a 31 year old nun who has been here for 15 years. She explains the reason why she lives here is because she feels that life has too many problems and suffering so she is here to resist the suffering. We can tell from her look that she is abiding by 10 precepts as she is wearing white and has a shaved head.
Near the Vipassana Dhura is Oudong at the base of the mountain Phnom Oudong. This was the former capital of Cambodia for two and a half centuries from 1618 until 1866 when the capital switched to Phnom Penh.
Those willing to take the 10-15 minute climb up sacred Oudong Mountain or Phnom Preah Reach Troap ("Mountain of the Royal Fortune" in Khmer) are rewarded with a breathtaking series of 16 stupas that represent all of the former kings. This royal necropolis houses the ashes of former Khmer sovereigns as well as the collarbone of the Buddha at its highest point.
I don't get very far, only to the first stupas before turning back in the heat. Mr NQN valiantly climbs to the top to get these images while I stay on earth sipping a passion fruit drink made with fresh passion fruit at Honey cafe, the best 5000KHR or $2AUD /$1.24USD spent that day.
We return to the boat where we have a couple of hours free before dinner. One of my favourite things to do is to open the curtains wide to see the changing landscape outside our window. We start with quiet fishing villages that ebb into upmarket waterfront homes to temples to the increasingly spectacular variety of buildings as we approach Phnom Penh. The cloudless sky turns into a deep blue and then we see the jewel tone buildings of Phnom Penh twinkling in the distance.
Tonight's program begins at 7:45pm with an Aspara show of dancing and singing. Sometimes timings run a little late so this starts later than scheduled and the show runs for over an hour. It's lovely to see although our English guide has the night off and we can't really understand the French guide so it's more about trying to interpret things through the dance. It's after 9pm by the time the show has finished and we sit down to dinner.
I've enjoyed all of the salads on board immensely and this is no exception. It's a sesame shredded cabbage salad with finely sliced fish cakes on top. I go back for seconds and thirds of this, not only because it is tasty but also because I am famished having last eaten at 12pm.
The soups have also been excellent. The mung bean soup is like a split pea soup and is very tasty, comforting and familiar.
The chicken masala is well cooked with tender chicken and a masala sauce with it. It goes well with the ginger rice below.
The prawns are very cooked through and I prefer them to be a bit less cooked but the sauce is tasty.
I'm a little obsessed with the sesame flavours in the split poached baby wok choy. In fact I think I ate most of this plate along with the ginger fried rice. I love the fragrant aroma of the ginger and although this is a fried rice, it isn't greasy or oily at all.
The fruit crepe has a fruity chocolate cinnamon sauce. The thin crepes are filled with the mixed fruit soup served at breakfast (according to Mr NQN). One day I'll make it to breakfast to see the selection for myself!
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever taken part in a blessing or ritual while travelling? Would you try a monk's blessing?
NQN and Mr NQN were guests of CroisiEurope but all opinions remain her own.
CroisiEurope
To celebrate 25 years of cruising the Mekong, CF Mekong and CroisiEurope are offering a 25% discount code for tours departing October-December 2025 on a first come first booked basis.
25% discount prices begin at AUD$2,371 (US$1,559)
October 2025 Departures
Upper deck price per person in a shared cabin: USD$2,279 (25% discount USD$1,709)
Lower deck price per person in a shared cabin: USD$2,079 (25% discount USD$1,559)
November to December 2025 Departures
Upper deck price per person in a shared cabin: USD$2,569 (25% discount USD$1,926.80)
Lower deck price per person in a shared cabin: USD$2,369 (25% discount USD$1,776.80)
https://cfmekong.com/cruise-types/discovery-cruise/
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