Published: April 27th 2018
Woolly says – As we sat munching on our cheese on toast (you have to love the choice of foods in Cambodia) we considered our plans for the day, the humidity was horrendous and even sitting still leaves you in a sweating mess, so it needed to be an easy plan. As we studied the map the Palace looked like a good place and having unstuck the cheese from my tummy we set off to find it. The fifteen minute walk felt like hours, I used my bandanna to keep wiping my brow as sweat slid down my trunk landing on the pavement leaving a sweaty trail behind me. As we panted into the entrance, ready to drop with our exertions, a man waved his arm at us whilst shaking his head, well wouldn’t you know it, the palace was closed to the public!
You really have to laugh sometimes and once he had explained that an unexpected guest had arrived to see his Majesty, which was why no one was aware of the closure, we turned around and sweated our way back the way we had come.
Woolly says – We had already passed the National Museum and thinking that it might at least be cool we headed to the ticket desk. I nearly fell over when they told us the price ($10 per human and $5 for mammoths), that’s a lot especially given that the Khmer Rouge (Killing Fields) and the prison from yesterday had cost less than half that, I just hoped it would be worth it and that they had plenty of fans to cool us down. The foundation stone for the museum was laid on 15th August 1917 but work wasn’t completed until 1920, as I peered up at the building I could understand why, it was stunning. Based on ‘traditional Khmer’ architecture and the Cambodian temples the wooden structure was an intricate design, we climbed the steps to the interior to find that the whole place was filled with statues and bronze Hindu relics. Having thought that Cambodia was a Buddhist country I was interested to read on the information board that it had been a fifty fifty split in centuries gone past and that most of the royal families had in fact been Hindu’s. It was great to see Nandi, Shiva and all of the other Hindu gods again and there were some very fine examples to view. The exhibits were placed in an open sided area which surrounded a beautiful courtyard with a Buddha centre piece.
Having walked past all the displays we sort refuge in the shade along with all the other visitors and sat with cold drinks admiring the ponds and the lush lily’s that graced the water. The museum had been good but certainly not worth the money we had paid, which hadn’t included an audio guide as that was at an extra cost.
Woolly says – With Zoe’s watch telling us that it was only ten thirty I studied the map in the hope of inspiration dawning, which it did. I suggested that we take in one of the cities many wats before heading onto the riverside which was met with approval. Luckily the wat was only a few metres away but even that short walk required a sit down as soon as we arrived. Wat Ounalom is the seat of Cambodia’s Mohanikay order, it is the most important wat of Phnom Penh and the centre of Cambodian Buddhism. I peered up at the building next to me which looked as though it was still under construction and certainly didn’t warrant a second viewing. I sighed, the wat had been established in 1443 and consists of 44 structures, other than the building site I failed to see the other structures, as the thought popped into my mind that maybe they had demolished it once they knew we were going to arrive!
His small sweaty face looked mournful and trying to bring a lighter mood in I suggested we walk through the compound and have a look at the river.
Woolly says – With nothing to lose, I sighed again and followed the women. Just as we had managed to climb over the bricks and cement that was dotted around I caught a glimpse of something gold with my peripheral vision and raced round a large building to discover a wonderous sight. Not only was there a full sized wat it had golden stupas and silver elephants to admire, I bounced in delight and set about admiring each and every item as Jo took shot after shot. The complex had been damaged during the Khmer Rouge period but has since been restored and continued to be by the work we had already seen. The main temple was a splendid building which was known to house an eyebrow hair of Buddha but which we decided not to visit and instead sat looking around at the flags and wonders it had to offer outside.
It was a treat and completely unexpected given our first view, as we crossed the road towards the river we had a lovely view of its finery which was well hidden from the rear.
Woolly says – The Tonlé Sap River was wide and had plenty of boats and ships going up and down it, we planned to take a boat later in the week and had hoped for yet another shady spot to sit and enjoy the view. Shade wasn’t an option and having taken a couple of pictures we returned across the road to a small café which provided us with a fan, cold drinks and some food. Not quite the day we had planned but with the palace still on the ‘to do list’ along with another wat and a trip down the river we had plenty to look forward to, for now I just looked forward to feeling cool and not dripping over everything!