Wat the...?

Ahhh, sleep in...well, sort of. Our day started at a luxurious 8:30 a.m. We had breakfast at the same place we had dinner last night (pancakes!!!) and then walked around Phnom Penh. PP is the capitol of Cambodia, about 1.2 million people (just like Adelaide). It is a fairly pretty city, and no high-rises to be seen. There are plenty of parks around and lots of activity along the banks of the Tonle Sap river. And lots of wats too. What's a wat? It's a temple. Our first stop of the day was at Wat Phnom, right in the heart of the city. Phnom means 'hill' and the wat is built on the only hill in the city. Supposedly a woman by the name of Penh discovered 3 Buddha statues washed up on the shores of the Mekong, and she brought them here and built a temple for them. Thus, 'Phnom Penh' means 'Penh's hill', or something like that. Despite the children and limbless beggars about, it's still a beautiful place, and the shady trees provided some relief to us from the searing heat. There is an elephant here, where you can pay to have a short ride around the temple grounds. We watched the elephant trainer hose him down and feed him sugar cane. Later that evening we were to learn the story behind this elephant and his trainer. They were separated in 1975, at the beginning of the Khmer Rouge domination in Cambodia (If interested, we suggest you brief yourself on Cambodia's history from about 1970 onwards to fully understand the places we will be writing about). After they were ousted, the trainer and the elephant crossed paths at some point ten years later, and immediately recognised one another...they haven't been separated since. Such a good story. Also about were some cheeky monkeys. At the gift shop, there was a female monkey asleep on the step. The girl in the shop said the monkey only likes men, and she has a scar to prove it.

To kill some time before our next location opened after the lunch hour, we went to an internet cafe, where we enjoyed the serenity of a computer in our own bamboo hut along a trickling pond. We headed to the Royal Palace, the home of Cambodia's King Sihanouk. We wandered around this old, beautiful complex and enjoyed some different architecture for a change. Amid the traditional Khmer style buildings, there is a random French architectual piece, given to the reigning King by Napolean III. Inside the complex is the Silver Pagoda, so named for its 5,000 silver tiles covering the floor. Among the beautiful things inside is a life-sized gold Buddha statue decorated with 9,584 diamonds, the largest being 25 carats. There is also an Emerald Buddha, said to be made of Baccarat crystal, although it looked like jade to us. We don't normally like these shiny gold temples, but this one is truly incredible. It helps that the walls are painted a chocolate brown to accent the individual pieces instead of completely decorated and painted with murals. This place was luckily saved from destruction by the Khmer Rouge, unlike the majority of other ancient Khmer sites around the country.

We then walked down to the river to observe the activity going on. There were plenty of monks walking about in their bright orange robes, women selling gorgeous flowers, and kids playing around. People also sell small birds in cages, which you buy, say a few prayers and then release. Just before sundown, we went to the National Museum as we had heard that hundereds of bats fly from the roofs at sunset. We waited a while but didn't see any bats. But we did find Rory's Irish Pub, again conveniently in time for happy hour. $1 Bailey's and $0.75 beer. Sweet. We also enjoyed all of the activity at the park outside, full of families with their children, walking their dogs (they're actually pets here, not food), and playing soccer or 'kien', a hacky-sac game played with a modified shuttlecock type thing (badminton for those of you less knowledgeable). After our few pre-dinner drinks, we went to a place on the river for some traditional Khmer (Cambodian) food. Nigel had a curry noodle dish, and Kel had amok, a traditional dish of a fish, coconut milk and peanut curry baked in a banana leaf. The meal was absolutely delicious. We were relieved that the local food has so much flavour so we can look forward to enjoying it for the rest of our stay (unlike the disappointing Vietnamese food). Stuffed, we found some room for an after-dinner drink at a cute place on the river, then headed back to the hotel and to bed.