Wat Phnom

Wat Phnom is a nice place to spend a half hour or so in Phnom Phen. Perched on a little hill, the pagoda is a very pretty structure with a lot of random stuff around it. There's an elephant that you can ride in circles around the bottom of the hill, lots of monkeys just running loose around the place, food carts, birds to release, people praying, roast suckling pigs being presented in shrines, stairways, statues and more. There's nothing to keep you here for too long, but it's fun to play with the monkeys and wander around for a bit.

Next up was Wat Phnom, a small temple on a 27 meter high hill where many people come to pray for good luck; something I completely forgot, though The temple could be reached by climbing a stair with Naga snake heads and I bought two small birds from a woman to release for good karma. There were quite a few monkeys which were amazingly well-behaving running around the hillside, as well as many stray cats. Compared to some Thai temples I have seen this one was rather basic and felt like a poor men's version of Doi Suthep, but it was a nice visit nevertheless.