Woolly says – Our last day in Phnom Penh hadn’t gone according to plan, having set off for the palace once again, I had my paws crossed that this time we would gain entrance. Given the queues and coaches outside my pace increased to get a place in the line. As we stood waiting to enter I peered through the gates and imagined the delights inside, which is when I noticed a guard speaking to each person who then left the queue and started walking away, this didn’t bode well. As he reached the people directly in front of us I heard the words closed and my heart sank. It appeared that it was Buddha’s birthday and rather than allow us into the palace to celebrate the great occasion the gates were going to remain shut, I sighed in exasperation and considered our options.
So frustrating and by the number of coaches there we were going to be the only ones that found it annoying, why not put the information on the website I pondered before looking at my small companion’s sweaty brow, I suggested the Wat across the road and we wandered over.
Woolly says – This to was closed and having found a small café with wifi Zoe checked for other options, which was when we realised other than eating and people watching we weren’t going to be doing anything. Sadly, as it was the last day in the city, the palace wasn’t going to happen and as we left Phnom Penh behind the next morning I felt sad that we had missed one of it’s highlights. The onward journey although long was easy enough and as we bounced along the roads to our new lodgings I looked at the resort complex’s of Siem Reap. Known primarily for the ruins of Angkor Wat, Siem Reap was once the seat of the Khmer kingdom from the 9th to 15th centuries and was a place that had been one of the first on my travel list for the trip. Having found our beds and filled our bellies I was ready for sleep and the start of our adventures in a new place. By the time we had breakfasted, and Jo had wiped the egg yolk from my tummy…. No idea how runny egg gets so far!….. we ordered a grab tuk tuk (farcheaper than just flagging one down) and set off to the Cambodian Cultural Village. Constructed in 2001 and opened to the public on 24th September 2003 it covers a total area of 210,000 square meters, although classed as a theme park on arrival it appeared to be a rather sedate tree lined park with plenty of shade and not a ride in sight.
Having secured our tickets, we were first shown into two areas of exhibitions using wax figurines to give an impression of how things had once been in the country before looking at famous people and royalty, it didn’t take long to view and before we knew it we were in the shady delights of the park itself.
Woolly says- The grounds are split into 10 unique villages representing the different cultural heritages. The pathways themselves were excellent with small waterfalls tucked away and trees filled with birds and monkeys and Jo was already clicking away (I apologise now for the amount of pictures). A four headed monument led us to the first of the village situations. The floating village was wonderful and having raced backwards and forwards across the wooden decking and bridges I came to the conclusion that the houses were just the right size for a single mammoth but might have been a tight squeeze for a family of more than two. The views across the water just wetted my appetite to see more. As we crossed a small bridge that covered a lily pad display we came to the Cham Village with a lovely mosque which had been the main religion for these fishermen. There house was high up on stilts and slightly larger than the floating village ones but still not overly large. Next came the Chinese Village with a lovely blue temple that was based on a replica from the Song Dynasty. As Jo stood admiring the roof tiles I spied something even better next door.
As the mammoth bounced into the children’s area I could understand his enthusiasm as it was filled with Buddha heads of different colours and displaying different emotions, they were delightful and well worth pausing to take a closer look.
Woolly says – Having been physically prised off the grumpy Buddha I set off along the path once more, only to be stopped by a young man who invited me to his wedding, I looked down at my sweaty fur and crumpled bandana feeling rather underdressed but as the girls seemed happy to oblige then who was I to argue. Inside the building that is known at the Millionaire House which is a traditional Khmer building I settled myself onto a wooden stool to watch the celebrations and wondered what they might be serving for the wedding breakfast! Although not a word of English was used the wedding went off without a hitch and was colourful with lots of music being played and gongs being banged at various intervals. Most enjoyable and just as I thought the food would be circulating and wondering what excuse we were going to use for the lack of wedding gift the women stood up to take there leave, what about my vol au vents I shouted, only to be ignored.
It took a while before the small furry one realised that it was a ceremony purely done for the tourists benefit and that there wouldn’t be a sausage roll in sight!
Woolly says – We moved on and found ourselves in the stilted houses of a village known as Kola, nothing to do with the fizzy drink, but the buildings that the early Burmese had built it on their arrival in Cambodia. They had a lovely temple which having climbed the steps up to led us into a beautifully painted area showing paintings of Buddha’s reincarnation. The sweat was dripping off all of us and with a lack of shade in this part of the park I was grateful to find a cave called the Cave of Punishment and thinking that I might get some ideas on how to keep Jo in line I headed into it’s cooling depths. It was literally pitch black, I could just about make out some shapes of bodies before falling down a step and decided that the cave wasn’t’ very good.
The signs were impossible to read, and it was a problem to make out anything, lots of small bulbs were scattered around but not enough to allow you the option of actually knowing what was going on or where you were, having fallen up a bridge and then jarred my back falling down a step that was completely invisible I just hoped the exit would appear soon.
Woolly says – It wasn’t a great experience and having finally arrived back in daylight we wandered past two more village complexes, of reed roofed buildings and the small one roomed housing that we had already seen. A small wooden bridge gave us a chance to admire the green water and we found ourselves on what appeared to be an animals love island with parrots, frogs and rabbits all cuddling up to each other. I paused and looked at the map, the heat was oppressive and having seen that there was a café near to the agriculture display I led the women forward again. A lovely field of sunflowers greeted us but sadly no fluids, having entered the café the lady there shook her head when we pointed to the fridge and asked for drinks, I considered lying down on the floor and showing her how broken I was in the heat, but in the interests of thirst had to stagger onwards. We passed through an area with miniatures of famous buildings in Cambodia including the Palace we hadn’t got to see and the National Museum that we had, although beautifully done I had little energy to enjoy them. My tongue was hanging out and I was finding it difficult to breathe as we finally found ourselves at the exit to the centre and a full fridge of cold beverages that a young man was happy to serve us with.
We gulped the cold refreshments down and sat wiping our brows, the Cultural centre had been an excellent find but I knew that tomorrow should be even better!