For the next 3 days Geraldine and I have the afternoons off. This actually means we have completed our days work by 10.30 am as we start at 7.30. Hurrah!! ( a Troupe of Korean volunteers arrived this morning and have been given our afternoon kindergarten shifts so this means I get to do my favourite lessons and miss the bit with the 36 eight year olds in a garage!)
So! we went to Wat Phnom. This is a beautiful temple on the only Hill in Phnom Penh, right in the centre of town. Its kind of on a big roundabout now. Its surrounded by worn brown cobbles and wonderfully green grass and trees and is by far the nicest part of Phnom penh. The Guide book says something about the Temple being founded by and old woman called Penh who had 3 Buddha statues washed into her house on the hill during a flood, so she dedicated her life to making a temple there.
So! we went to Wat Phnom. This is a beautiful temple on the only Hill in Phnom Penh, right in the centre of town. Its kind of on a big roundabout now. Its surrounded by worn brown cobbles and wonderfully green grass and trees and is by far the nicest part of Phnom penh. The Guide book says something about the Temple being founded by and old woman called Penh who had 3 Buddha statues washed into her house on the hill during a flood, so she dedicated her life to making a temple there. 
It's very beautiful and peaceful inside with seemingly thousands of Buddha statues everywhere, between enormous candles, pots with handfuls of incense sticks smoking away and jars of floating lotus flowers. The do love their fairy lights here too; everything is draped with them so these temples always look particularly lovely at night.
Around the bottom of the hill Monkeys lounge in the grass, (no one else but the monkeys are allowed on the grass - if you step on it a man in uniform blows his whistle and shouts at you) .
I was unable to find a monkey that would pose for a photo until my camera ran out of space! However the highlight was Sam Bo the elephant who is an institution here.
For the last 20 years he has taken visitor on rides around the Wat every day. (He is 49)
He wears shoes to protect his soft feet from the hard cobbles around the Wat and as you can see by the mess at his feet, he loves to chew on sugar cane.
He also loves bananas which he flicks into his mouth with his trunk, so I fed him some and stroked his lovely trunk and ears.
As you can see I was exceptionally thrilled by this! Sam Bo was perhaps less impressed but tolerated my presence admirably, and also appeared to be posing, as you can see below.... I got a good "mid ear flap"picture.
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