Riel reminder

Yesterday I was given a brand new 1000 riel note (about 20p) in my change. Nothing major about that except that it was brand brand new. And the King-Father, who normally only graces 5000 and 10,000 riel notes, was there, staring back at me, looking a lot older. And as I flipped over, his presence was there again, only this time hidden away in a coffin in the gilded chariot that took him to his cremation:



So these really are hot off the press.

It was only 3 weeks ago, when I was down in Kampot, that crowds of mourners turned out in Phnom Penh for the funeral. And having missed it entirely, it was good to see at least something of it on this 1000 riel note. And to be reminded of my promise to say at least something about it in this blog.

So here's a wee bit of blurb from the BBC......

Fri 1st Feb
A coffin carrying the embalmed body of the late monarch was paraded through the streets of the capital. It was taken to a crematorium, where his funeral pyre will be lit by his wife and son, King Norodom Sihamoni on Monday.

King Sihanouk died of a heart attack in Beijing at the age of 89.

His embalmed body has been lying in state at the royal palace for the last three months to allow people to pay their respects.

Crowds began lining the streets of Phnom Penh at dawn ahead of the parade.

King Sihanouk's gold casket was carried on a golden float, surrounded by officials wearing white, the colour of mourning.



Sihamoni and his mother, Norodom Monineath, followed the seven-foot-high casket with Sihanouk's body as it was moved from the palace past a line of bemedaled officials. The former queen wept quietly.



The casket was laid beneath a temple-like structure on one of several funeral chariots and accompanied by court Brahmins and women dressed as Apsaras, the celestial dancers of Cambodian mythology. Marching with the procession were courtiers dressed in pantaloons and spiked helmets, bearing five-tiered umbrellas and other royal regalia.

Many wept as the kilometer-long (0.6-mile) procession slowly proceeded, watched by more than half a million people. Reflecting the respect Sihanouk still commands in Cambodia, especially among the older generation, most knelt and clasped their hands in prayer as the cortege passed while Buddhist monks chanted.



After cremation, his ashes will be placed in an urn at the royal palace.

King Sihanouk remained an influential figure until death, despite abdicating in favour of his son in 2004.

He became king in 1941 while still a teenager, and led Cambodia to independence from France in 1953.He was a presence through decades of political and social turmoil in Cambodia, despite long periods of exile overseas. In later life he emerged as a peacemaker who helped bring stability back to his country, after an ill-fated choice to back the Khmer Rouge in its early years.