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Overnight the temperatures had dropped as rain thundered down on the roof above us, sadly by morning it hadn’t made a difference to the humidity and as we walked down the road looking for some breakfast we had already started to seep water from everywhere.

Woolly says – For a small cost it seemed much more sensible to grab a tuk tuk and at least arrive at our first destination able and dry enough to enjoy it. As we sped past market stalls and some lovely French colonial buildings I was delighted to see that trees lined the pavements giving shade and a much needed absorbance for the carbon monoxide in the environment. As we pulled into the side of the road I jumped out and trotted over to admire the building on the highest point of Phnom Penh. Wat Phnom was built in 1372 and stands 27 meters (88.5 ft) above the ground. Legend tells that a wealthy widow called Penh (commonly referred to as Daun Penh – Grandmother Penh – in Khmer) found a large koki tree in the river. Inside the tree she found four bronze statues of the Buddha and decided to construct a small shrine on an artificial hill made by the people living in the village to protect the sacred statues. The story then came to the year of the snake 1437 and suggests that King Ponhea Yat ordered the mount to be made even higher and to its current height, to overlook the palace a few kilometres away. The steps leading up had rose coloured beasts guarding the temple above us, without waiting for the women to sort the tickets out I started to climb upwards.

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As we reached the halfway mark a tree lined path led us around the sanctuary and gave us an excellent view of the white stupa that looks out across the city.

Woolly says – We circled the complex before going up to the top level, the top of the steps were marked with colourful flags whilst two large dragons guarded the temple entrance. As the ladies removed their footwear I wandered inside to find an incredible space with walls covered in murals of the Jataka stories of Buddha’s earlier reincarnations that had taken place prior to his enlightenment. The artwork was wonderful and having sat admiring each section my attention turned to the Buddha that sat in the centre of the room. Unlike the Thai glitzy Buddha’s this one was burnished over time and was a beautiful example of the serenity that is portrayed by the religion. Jo came over and we sat for a while just enjoying the atmosphere around us.

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The lack of tourists helped in our levels of enjoyment and as we finally took our leave we noticed a line of young monks clad in their orange robes, the eldest no more than fourteen the youngest maybe six or seven. Within South East Asia most men at some point or another will spend some time as a monk, this might be for a few days in atonement for a lost loved one or through the summer holidays. Families encourage this as it is felt that once the young man has spent some time as a monk he is more respectful and that their behaviour is more in keeping with the culture of Buddhism. A lot less drastic than national service which is still legal in Turkey and a few other countries and possibly with similar results in attitude!

Woolly says – A few steps down form the main temple was a small area that seemed to have a rather large dalek in attendance, I sat down under a tree wondering how Dr Who might be involved with a Wat! A few minutes passed, and a couple approached the dalek and a gentleman appeared from nearby, pressing his hands together in prayer he blessed the couple who offered some meat to one of the nearby statues, he then waved some burning paper over their heads and throw the remnants into the dalek, obviously a blessing and a very useful dalek role! As we ascended the steps I spotted a small café and feeling parched I hurried towards it and flopped onto a handy seat. The ice cold water was a relief and as we sat mopping our brows, noses and trunk we considered what to do next. We’d talked about a trip on the river but having researched the ferries and come up empty pawed on schedules or prices I wasn’t sure it was worth a long walk to find we couldn’t get a boat. Jo retrieved the map for her bag and we sat contemplating it, when I spotted something that we hadn’t been to since Athens, over three years ago!

Without a word we went from the three of us sitting in a shady garden area of the complex to my small companion racing off into the distance, I looked at the map, a large piece of breakfast jam had stuck to one area and having scraped it off I had an inkling as to where he might be headed.

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Woolly says – I raced along the streets with water flowing from my fur, luckily it didn’t take long and before I had melted completely in the heat I arrived panting and hot at the latest addition to the Hard Rock Café chain, who knew that Phnom Penh had only just opened up one of my favourite places in the world. The welcome air con dried my soggy fur as I ambled from costumes from Elvis, past a music score from the wonderful Mr Clapton before admiring a floral jacket used by Jimi Hendrix, it was wonderful and as the women finally caught up with me I knew they wouldn’t be able to resist sitting over a drink and listening to the music for a while.

I do love the chain but I’m not convinced that my purse does and having a drink equated to a days spend for us, the last of the treats for quite a while I stated, my small friend nodded his head and trotted over to look at the cymbal from the drum kit of ACDC leaving Zoe and I to enjoy the view and the sounds that were surrounding us.