Acting like a tourist

Today our organization went on a tour of the king's palace- king's football field sized property with multiple palaces and stupas is a more accurate description. While touring we learned about a special tree (sala) that grows fruit and flowers all year long. Pregnant women drink tea made from this tree during their 8th month to protect their unborn child. We also saw a banana tree. Banana trees grow out like a fan. They produce one crop of fruit and then need to be cut down and replanted. This banana tree is just for show. They also have trees with fruit bats. We learned about the buddhas, the colors that are to be worn on different days of the week at the palace, and the special white elephant that used to transport the king until the Kmir (sp?) killed it in the 1970s.
We also toured Watt Phnom, which is a beautiful garden and Buddhist sanctuary with actual greenery (the cambodia city centre has almost no green but instead is roads and dirt) Cambodians pray to the buddhas and bring them gifts of food and money. You must take your shoes off when entering the Buddhist temple.