Phnom Penh
PHNOM PENH is Cambodia’s busy capital. It sits at the junction of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers and is home to 2,3 million people. It was a hub for both the Khmer Empire and French colonialists. On its walkable riverfront, lined with parks, restaurants and bars, are the ornate Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and the National Museum, displaying artifacts from around the country. At the city’s heart is the massive, art deco Central Market. It has been the national capital since French protectorate of Cambodia and has grown to become the nation's economic, industrial, and cultural center. Phnom Penh was founded in 1434 to succeed Angkor Thom as the capital of the Khmer nation but was abandoned several times before being reestablished in 1865 by King Nondom. The city formerly functioned as a processing center, with textiles, pharmaceuticals, machine manufacturing, and rice milling. Its chief assets, however, were cultural. Institutions of higher learning included the Royal University of Phnom Penh. Once known as the "Pearl of Asia", it was considered one of the loveliest French-built cities in Indochina in the 1920s. Phnom Penh, along with Siem Reap and Sihanoukville are significant global and domestic tourist destinations for Cambodia. It regained its capital status during the French colonial era in 1865. There are a number of surviving colonial-era buildings scattered along the grand boulevards.
HISTORY. The initial settlement of Phnom Penh is believed to have been established since the 5th century, according to the discovery of ancient kiln site in Choeung Ek commune of Dangkao District, southern part of central Phnom Penh in early 2000s. In the 17th century, Japanese immigrants also settled on the outskirts of present-day Phnom Penh. A small Portuguese community survived in Phnom Penh until the 17th century, undertaking commercial and religious activity in the country. Phnom Penh remained the royal capital for 73 years, from 1432 to 1505. It was abandoned for 360 years (from 1505 to 1865) by subsequent kings due to internal fighting between the royal pretenders. It was not until 1866, under the reign of King Norodom II (1860–1904), the eldest son of King Ang Duong who ruled on behalf of Siam, that Phnom Penh became the permanent seat of government of Cambodia and also where the current Royal Palace was built. Beginning in 1870, the French colonial authorities turned a riverside village into a city where they built hotels, schools, prisons, barracks, banks, public works offices, telegraph offices, law courts, and health services buildings. In 1872, the first glimpse of a modern city took shape when the colonial administration employed the services of a French contractor to construct the first 300 concrete houses for sale and rental to Chinese traders. By the 1920s, Phnom Penh was known as the "Pearl of Asia", and over the next four decades, Phnom Penh continued to experience rapid growth with the building of railways to Sihanoukville and Pochentong International Airport (today’s Phnom Penh International Airport). Phnom Penh's infrastructure saw major modernization under the rule of Sihanouk. During the Vietnam War, Cambodia was used as a base by the People’s Army of Vietnam and the Viet Cong, and thousands of refugees from across the country flooded the city to escape the fighting. The Khmer Rouge cut off supplies to the city for more than a year before it fell in 1975. Reports from journalists stated that the Khmer Rouge shelling "tortured the capital almost continuously", inflicting "random death and mutilation" on millions of trapped civilians. The Khmer Rouge forcibly evacuated the entire city after taking it, in what has been described as a death march. All of its residents, including the wealthy and educated, were evacuated from the city and forced to do difficult labor on rural farms as “new people”. Tuol Sleng High School was taken over by Pol Pot’s forces and was turned into the S-21 prison camp, where people were detained and tortured. Pol Pot sought a return to an agrarian economy and therefore killed many people perceived as educated, "lazy" or political enemies. Many others starved to death as a result of failure of the agrarian society and the sale of Cambodia's rice to China in exchange for bullets and weaponry. The former high school is now the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, where Khmer Rouge torture devices and photos of their victims are displayed. Choeung Ek (The Killing Fields) 15 km outside the city, where the Khmer Rouge marched prisoners from Tuol Sleng to be murdered and buried in shallow pits, is also now a memorial to those who were killed by the regime. The Khmer Rouge were driven out of Phnom Penh by the People's Army of Vietnam in 1979 and people began to return to the city. Vietnam is historically a state with which Cambodia has had many conflicts, therefore this liberation was and is viewed with mixed emotions by the Cambodians. A period of reconstruction began, spurred by the continuing stability of government, attracting new foreign investment and aid by countries including France, Australia and Japan. Loans were made from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank to reinstate a clean water supply, roads and other infrastructure.
GETTING THERE. Phnom Penh International Airport (PNH) is the largest airport in Cambodia, located 7 km west of the city. The new terminal is a thoroughly pleasant and modern facility. Phnom Penh is served by roughly 20 international airlines, most of them from the Asian region. Some domestic airlines offer flights between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, as well as between Siem Reap and Sihanoukville. There are numerous transportation options to get between the airport and the city, including taxi, shuttle bus, public bus, train, and Tuktuk. Phnom Penh is the domestic transport hub and direct buses run to just about every provincial capital. The main roads that run on either side of the Tonle Sap from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, Battambang, Sisophon and Poipet are well paved and in good condition. There are numerous bus companies running services to all these places, but also to most other provincial capitals, including Sihanoukville, Kampot, Kampong Chhnang, Oudong and Takeo. An international bus service to Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) is available as well. About boat services. Ferries connect Phnom Penh to Siem Reap via the Tonle Sap and usually take 5-6 hours. Fast boats leave every morning for Chau Doc in Vietnam's Mekong Delta and take 5 hours. The boats make the return journey the same day. Cambodia's rail network has recently been restored and provides a cheap and comfortable way to travel. Services between Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville restarted in 2016. Trains between Phnom Penh and Poipet on the Thai border resumed in 2018.
ATTRACTIONS. On top of the sightseeing list for most travelers in the Cambodian capital is The Royal Palace, which includes two magnificent pagodas, the Silver Pagoda and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha. They were built in the 19th century with French technology and Cambodian designs. In general, the Palace complex has a more structured, formal, organized and harmonious layout with a clear and specific architectural style compared to that in Bangkok, which has more styles. The National Museum of Cambodia contains an excellent collection of art from Cambodia's "golden age" of Angkor, and a lovely courtyard at the center. Wat Phnom on a hill at the center of a small park is notable more for its historic importance than physical structure, but the park is a pleasant green space and a popular gathering place for locals. Sisowath Quay is an attractive boulevard running along the banks of the Mekong and Tonle Sap. It's fronted by a large, long open space with manicured lawns, palm trees and open pathways, all recently re-done as part of a Japanese funded project to upgrade the flood infrastructure along the river. Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum was a school converted into Cambodia's most important prison in 1975. More than 14,000 people were tortured here before being killed here or at the Killing Fields by the Khmer Rouge. Only 8 prisoners survived. The museum is a must-see for everyone interested in Cambodia's horrific recent past. The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek (a former Chinese cemetery), is where the Khmer Rouge killed many thousands of their victims during their four-year reign of terror. Today the site is marked by a Buddhist stupa packed full with over 8,000 human skulls. There are also pits in the area where mass graves were unearthed, with ominous scraps of clothing still to be found here and there. It is a serene yet somber place. The dark-yellow Art Deco Phsa Thmei (New Market) is also referred to as the Central Market, a reference to its location and size. The Art deco building is shaped in the form of a cross with a nice central dome. And has four wings filled with shops selling gold and silver jewelry, antique coins, fake name-brand watches, clothes, souvenirs and a variety of other goods.