--- Archive files ---

He Faithfully Waited

ACCORDING to a local legend, in the year 1373 AD, the wealthy widow Daun Penh found a large koki tree in the river beside where the city now stands. Inside the tree she found four bronze statues of the Buddha. Lady Penh constructed a small shrine upon an artificial hill twenty seven metres above the surrounding ground to protect the sacred statues. Eventually this became the sacred site of Phnom Wat where people would make blessings and pray to this day.

Our van arrived back at the hotel quite a bit later than expected. Sot was not outside the alley way waiting for me. He either had not come, or had given up on me and found someone else to take on a tour in his dilapidated cyclo. We walked around the road for lunch for about half an hour. By the time we had finished lunch, the previously bright blue sky was covered in thick cloud. We now had a free afternoon, so I made it my mission to explore this amazing city before going on a sunset cruise.

Some of the others in my group were going to the small port to get catch a boat for a sunset cruise. I told them that if I was in the area, I would join them.

I returned to the alley outside the hotel where Sot had agreed to wait for me, but he was still nowhere to be seen. That didn’t matter though as there were plenty of tuk tuks parked outside, so I hailed one and told the driver I wanted to go to Phnom Wat, having heard it was an amazing place to visit. The driver Rangsei negotiated three dollars for the return trip.

Rangsei put on a proper crash helmet (the first one I had seen the entire trip through Vietnam and Cambodia so far) and sped his motorbike tuk tuk through the insane traffic. The tuk tuk seating was amazing with intricately carved storage boxes under the seating. He briefly stopped at a stall to buy a plastic soda bottle full of what seemed to me like ginger beer, but it was apparently cheap homemade fuel they use here. He quickly filled up his tank with the bottle before continuing our journey. I wondered what this crude unrefined home brew would do to the engine of his tuk tuk. Surely it wasn't good.

We reached the forested hill of Phnom Wat about five minutes later where he dropped me off beside a large clock with cleverly positioned plants and hedging. He told me to go up the hill to the temple and take as long as I needed because he would wait across the road for me. I told him that it didn’t matter as I will be here for a long time. He insisted he would wait.

I walked into the park, following the path between large bell shaped marble statues similar to the golden ones I had seen at all the Buddhist temples and palm trees. The grass here was perfectly green highlighting the occasional gold plated pagoda with the usual Cambodian flourishes. There were bright pastel coloured statues positioned on the hillside sitting on what appeared to be small thrones.

I walked up to the start of a long stone stairway going up the hill very gradually at first, but eventually becoming quite steep. I followed the staircase about two thirds of the way up the hill when I saw a small paper sign marking the entrance of the temple. It was free for locals, one dollar for foreigners. I paid up and continued walking up the stairs. I wasn’t sure whether the lady collecting the money was working for the temple, or whether it was a cunning con for suckers like me who didn’t know any better.

I suspected the latter.

Once at the top, I saw the large Buddhist temple. Although the temple was quite old, the detail was amazing.

The eaves of the roof were held up by a long row of small statue women each with a light hanging from a wire going around their necks. There were a couple of protection animal statues – somewhere the cross between a lion and a griffin. There was also a small golden incense offering stand with a small marble Buddha inside it.

The temple had initially been built 626 years ago in 1373, but it had been rebuilt in the nineteenth century, and again in 1926.

There was no one else up here on the top of the hill, so I entered the temple. The inside of the temple was dark, but I passed a huge bronze Thai style Buddha statue wearing a bright orange cloak surrounded my many smaller statues both male and female and a clutter of other religious artefacts. All the statues were facing in the same direction as the large statue, even the small ones behind it. A monk suddenly appeared from nowhere and passed me as I continued walking to the front of the temple where the monks would worship.

I walked all the way around the temple and was quite awestruck with the level of detail in the walls, beams and ceiling. It was just a shame that there wasn’t much light to show it all off. The frescoes on the ceiling were paintings of oriental style angels. The murals on the walls told of a story of an old man and a monk – the Jataka stories of the Buddha’s earlier reincarnations before his enlightenment. Below that were numerous other paintings of religious scenes. The worn wooden floor was constructed in a tight form of parquetry.

There was quite a reverend presence in the temple, as you would expect in all large religious temples or cathedrals. It was very quiet and sombre though. It was a much better presence than what I had felt this morning at Tuol Sleng and the genocide centre. The humidity carried a slightly musty smell of antique timber with it.

I walked out of the front entrance to where a more elaborate stairway going down the steep hill, with trees obscuring the city. I walked around the temple along the flat stoned paving surrounded by a waist high wall. Over the wall were buildings with intricate gardens around them. An old lady was pruning some of the bushes.

As I continued walking around the temple, I noticed the presence of someone behind me. I turned around. A young girl no more than nine or ten years old was following me looking all prettied up. She continued following me until I realised she was a child prostitute. This is highly illegal where I come from but seemed to be acceptable here.

An elaborate staircase went down the hill from the front of the temple, so I walked down towards the bottom. The rails of the staircase had large snake carvings ending in a seven headed snake on either side at the bottom. There were a couple of larger than life sized statues on either side all in the very pale soft pink colour along with statues of the dog lions. Behind one of these statues sat a man with no feet – a victim of land mines no doubt.

As I climbed down the stairs down the hill I thought about the incredible poverty here, and what it must take to survive around here. The child prostitute at the temple must have come from a family so poor that they resort to sending her out to prostitute herself at a holy temple in the hope that some foolish foreigner would pay up and defile her frail body to support her impoverished family. The old man with no feet who would have to drag himself to the temple stairs every day to sit there playing the dreadful incident of standing on a mine in his mind over and over again begging because no one would hire him.

I walked around the park looking at the amazing trees and things when I saw a couple feeding an elephant. I realised this was probably the same elephant I had seen being walked down the main road yesterday. It was wearing a bright orange patterned cloth over its back and a seat high over its back. The seat seemed too precarious to sit upon though.

There were two men there and one asked if I would like to feed the elephant while I got my photo taken. I thought what a wonderful idea. I have never done this before. They gave me a large bunch of bananas and I fed the elephant, feeling its strong trunk. I posed with the elephant as I gave the camera to one of the guys. Then he thanked me and I continued walking along when the other one suddenly called out “You pay, you pay”. Gosh I didn’t realise they were charging for this – hard sell Cambodian style. Fortunately it was only a dollar, so I paid up and left.

I continued walking around the park, seeing more amazing stone monoliths each with a beggar sitting or lying under its base. Soon I reached the spot where Rangsei the tuk tuk driver had dropped me off earlier this afternoon. I had been here on this hill for quite a while now, so I assumed he had long given up on me and had gone off in search for another ride. I looked out across the road to where a few riders were parked and to my amazement he spotted me and immediately came over to pick me up.

I climbed on board as quickly as I could because Rangsei said he wasn’t supposed to park there. Once on board, he took me back to the hotel along the busy streets. I was amazed as his reliability. I had never seen this level of loyalty to a one-off customer before.

View all photos...

--- Archive files ---

© 2001-2020 walkaboutjeff.com - Copyright - Disclaimer - Who is Walkabout Jeff?