After lunch at Friends Restaurant, an eatery that trains local young adults to work in the hospitality industry, I was waiting at the gate when the Royal Palace reopened at 2:00 PM. Only parts of the compound are open to visitors since the King still lives there. The buildings are in remarkable shape, in part because the Khmer Rouge preserved them to suggest to outsiders that they weren’t demolishing culture. The gardens are amazing, but I can’t help but wonder how many things (like education) could be better funded if they scaled back just a bit.
