Pchum Ben

What is "Pchum Ben?" Pchum Ben means Festival of the Dead when Buddhists will go to the pagodas/temples to offer food to honor their ancestors and pray to their ancestors. It is also a time for families who live far away from each other to come together for reunions.

Below, is the bus that we took to Kompong Sam (Sihanoukville). Many Khmer (Cambodians) were on the bus leaving Phnom Penh to visit their families in the provinces and to visit the pagoda with their families. Actually we were the only foreigners. Here you see where we picked up a few more people than the bus had seats for, so they sat on buckets in the aisle. You can see two people here sitting in the aisle. Tim and I are sitting just behind this guy to the right (in real bus seats). I wonder if they had to pay the full price of a seat - $7.00 - or if they got a discount.



A pogada/temple entrance - we saw this while we were driving along in bus.

More pagodas

packed in tight!

the pics below are of the countryside as we drove along

For Khmer Christians and westerners who don't visit the pagodas, the holiday is usually spent as a time to relax or get together with families. Tim and I chose to come back to the Sokha Hotel at the beach. They were offering an online holiday discount, we couldn't pass it up - 5 star resort for $57.00 a night!

gorgeous bathroom

jacuzzi bathtub

Our wardrob is teak and the floor and bed is teak and natural wood - beautiful!

here is Tim on The Deck - a restaurant at the resort that overlooks the ocean. We ordered grilled Bass - delicious!

look at this view! cool bamboo decor too :) that's the beach in the background!

Tim with his Banana Boat (banana, coconut shake) - oh so yummy

our Banana Boat shakes - yes, that's the ocean in the background

me on the deck of the restaurant

inside of the restaurant - intersting decor

I loved this bamboo ceiling - the lights were under the bamboo

cool art huh?