Cambodia Part 3 - Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is a crazy and chaotic city. Many say it is the real Asia. Others cannot cope with the traffic, the smells, the way it confronts your senses. I liked it from the moment I arrived.

Located where the Tonle Sap and Tonle Bassac Rivers meet the mighty Mekong, there is a beauty to be found amongst the hustle and bustle. The riverfront is lined with elegant old old buildings and a cool breeze blows off the water and along tree-lined streets.

It is hard to believe that in 1975 the residents of the city were forced to evacuate by Pol Pot to go work in the country. It is a place desperate to recover and optimistically looking to the future but the horrors of the past are a prominent part of any visit to the capital of Cambodia.

Nothing can quite prepare you for the gruesome story of what Pol Pot and his henchmen did to their own people. First stop on a tour of Phnom Penh is Tuol Sleng Museum, a school that was converted to Security Prison 21, where thousands were tortured before being transported to the Killing Fields to be executed.

The black and white faces of the men, women and children who were killed is haunting.

The Killing Fields themselves are about 15km south of the city, the tranquil rural setting somehow feeling not quite right. The centrepiece of this moving place is the Memorial Stupa, which contains the skulls of over 8000 people stacked high.

It is a history that is disturbing and sickening but that needs to be told. The remains of all those people are still crying out for justice. Hard to believe it was only about 30 years ago and that the rest of the world sat back and let it happen. Mans cruelty to man is astonishing.

There are some peaceful oases amongst the city, being the Royal Palace and the National Museum. The Royal Palace is famous for the Silver Pagoda, with its silver floor tiles and ancient relics. The walls surrounding the couryard are adorned with amazing murals telling the history of the Khmer people.

The National Museum of Cambodia is a beautiful building in itself but its treasures are the ancient Khmer artifacts, including many from the temples of Angkor, although there is even pre-Angkorian pieces as old as the fifth century. The beautiful couryard is a nice place to have a rest or at least get your photo taken!

The streets of Phnom Penh are busy with traffic, road works and business. I hired a moto for the day to get me around. You get an idea of the traffic in the photo below.

There are however plenty of wide boulevards, especially around the palace.

There are also lots of charming smaller streets.

You don't have to go far, though, to see the real Cambodia, a poor but very beautiful rural country with water stretching to the horizon filled with growing rice. It is well worth a visit or two!