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VISIT: PHNOM PENH CITY

Phnom Penh, once ‘Paris of the east’, is a city of opposites, a modern South-east Asian capital which retains the laid-back charm of its colonial past. Phnom Penh (‘Penh’s mountain’) is named after its legendary founder, a rich 13th century landowner named Penh. The leafy Wat Phnom commemorates her discovery of several Buddha idols in the nearby Tonle Sap river.

‘Chatomuk’ (the four faces), the Cambodian name for the confluence of the Mekong, Tonle Bassac and Tonle Sap Rivers, has historically been the foundation of Phnom Penh’s economy, although riverine trade has today taken a back seat to industry, business, and aid. Phnom Penh is still small and underdeveloped compared to other regional cities such as Bangkok or Saigon, with few international brands and franchises.

Though most visitors spend little time in Phnom Penh, the French legacy of wide dusty boulevards, picturesque villas, and peeling colonial edifices gives the city an air of sophisticated melancholy.

The riverfront is the focal point of morning and evening life, locals promenading along the river front whilst foreigners sip cold beers in street-side tables across the road.

Development is slowly changing the face of the city, mostly for the better. Although charmless concrete high-rises and heavy-handed evictions are a concern for some, reliable electricity, modern accommodation, new roads, and public parks have vindicated governmental strategy in the eyes of most.

Phnom Penh has no man-mad and natural sites. It has many attractive places such as museum and historical zones include:

Royal Palace:

The Royal Palace was built in 1866 under the reign of King Norodom and located along the Sothearos Boulevard.

The Royal Palace was built in 1866 under the reign of King Norodom and located along the Sothearos Boulevard.

Inside the Royal Palace, there are:
- Tevia Vinichhay Temple: The place where the King is one throne.
- Khemarin Temple: The place where the King and Queen live.
- Somran Phirum Temple: The place where keeping the throne objects and Accessories.
- Chan Chhnya: The Royal dance hall for king and relatives and high- ranking officers. In front of the Royal dance hall, there is a platform for the King to hold the meeting with people and levels of officials.
- Wat Preah Keo Morakot: Had been built since 1892 to 1902 imitated the Cambodia architect, and was removed and reconstructed in 1962. We called Wat Uborsoth Rotannaream where as the King of Cambodia hold in of Kings and officers held other ceremonies abide with Buddhism. In this Wat does not have any monk, but only his majesty Preah Bat Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk there, at the time being a priest for a term (in the year of pig AD2490 correspondence the 31th July 1947).

National Museum:
The National Museum of Phnom Penh is instantly recognizable, with its warm red terracotta and its gracefully curved roof topped by dozens of guardian nagas. Located just north of the Royal Palace, off the street of Artists (178 Steet), it was designed in 1917 by famed French architect George Groslier and the Ecole des Arts Cambodgiens, who made the most of traditional Khmer style. It was inaugurated by King Sisowath in 1920.

Worth visiting for its beauty alone, the National Museum also houses the world’s foremost collection of ancient khmer archaeological, religious and artistic artifacts. The Angkorera is the museum’s specialty, but it also features other important periods such as the Funan and Zhenla, the two empires most closely seen as precursors to Angkor. More than 5,000 objects dating from the 4th to the 13th centuries are on display. And these are only the tip of the iceberg Lack of funding and special restraints have meant the museum’s vaults remain full of more objects, many of them priceless.

The museum is open daily from 8 am to 11:30 am and from 2:30 pm to 5 pm. French and English spoken guides are available, or visitors can purchase one of the books or pamphlets available and wander the four courtyards, each facing out into a garden, and try to piece together the complex history through these magnificent works of ancient art them selves.

Among the most memorable of these is an eight-armed statue of Vishnu dating from the 6th century, but even the smaller, less imposing pieces gives a unique insight in to the skills of the craftspeople that had inhabited this area through the centuries.

Wat Phnom:

Located a short distance from the Royal Palace, the heart of the capital Wat Phnom is popular with Cambodians and tourists alike. It is the center of Phnom Penh that gives the city its name. At 27 meters above sea level, it is the highest point in the area, and, as town gradually grew up around it, the settlement became known as Phnom Penh, the hill of Penh. It is zero point of the city.

Legend has it that a wealthy widow named yeay11 Penh was walking by the Mekong River one day when she spied a koki12 tree log floating near the bank. She found some locals to help her pull it to shore, and inside she found four statues of the Buddha. In AD 1372, she built a hill, or Phnom, and placed a shrine on top to house the precious artifacts. In AD 1434, King Ponhea Yat came and constructed a city and gave the name Phnom Penh.

Today, the original shrine has been rebuilt many times in AD 1434, 1806, 1894 and 1926-and each incarnation has seemed more beautiful than the one before. On the hill there is a large stupa that holds the cremains of King Ponhea Yat and his royal family. Inside the stupa, there is a Buddha statue from the Angkorean era, from the 9th to 13th centuries. At the base of the hill, on the southern side, a huge clock, illuminated, has become one of Phnom Penh’s nighttime landmarks. To the north, at the traffic roundabout, a cluster of European restaurants line the beginning of French Street, purveying fine wine French and Italian cuisines.

The climb up the hill via the grand eastern staircase takes visitors on a path guarded by stone nagas and lions and through tree-lined Lushness to temple, which glitters with golden decorations and is always piled high with offerings.On weekends especially, locals flock here to pray for good luck and prosperity, returning when their wish is granted to bring offerings of thanks such as bananas or fragrant rings of orange blossoms.

Plenty of hawkers sell offerings for the gods of the hill. People with wire cages filled with small birds offer tourists and locals alike the chance to pay a small sum to set a pair of their charges free, and thus earn merit from the gods. Children selling lotus flowers and incense may follow visitors up the hill asking their name and where their come from.

During the Khmer New Year, Wat Phnom becomes the center of festivities. No one visiting at that vibrant time of year can escape the good-natured throwing of powder and water, all of it accompanied by shrikes of laughter, that mark new year’s celebration.

Wat Unaloam:

Wat Unaloam, located near the Royal Place, is an ideal monastery for tourists to learn about Cambodia’s Buddhis. This pagoda serves as the headquarters for one of Cambodia’s most revered Buddhist patriarchs. In addition to the pagoda, there is a post-Angkorean stupa at this monastery.

The Riverfront:

A stroll or cyclo ride along the park lined riverfront is a must-pub, restaurants, shops and tourist boats line the way. Chhroy Changva Park is another newly attraction at the other side of the river opposite the Royal Palace. The view of the confluence of the Mekong and the Tonel Sap is geographically unique. Early risers, check out the spectacular sunrise the river in front of the Royal Palace.

Relaxing Places:

In addition to the main tourist attractions above, Phnom Penh offers a number of other cultural sites and place to relax. They include Chatomuk Hall, south of the Royal Palace and along the riverfront, where dancers perform traditional Cambodian dance. Independence Monument, near down town, is the site of many ceremonial events. It adjoins a long mall that stretches east toward the riverfront, where it meets Hun Sen Park, near Naga Casino Resort Complex. There are also numerous popular bars and nightclubs for visitors looking for something to do after dark.

Central Market (Psar Thom Thmei):

The distinctive art-deco styling of the Central Market makes it stand out among the architecture of Phnom Penh. The Central Market was built in 1937. Today, most visitors to Phnom Penh tour this market, where they can shop for souvenirs. Clothes, jewelry, silver products, house wares, postcards, flowers, and electronic good are in abundance in fact about anything visitors could wish for.

Russian Market (Phsar Tuol Tom Poung):

So-named because of the prevalence of items from the Eastern Bloc in past times, the Russian Market today is a treasure trove for tourists. Particular items worth seeking out include CDs, fabrics, jewelry, carved handicrafts and ceramics. There are also a large number of clothing outlets and on site tailors and seamstresses can make alteration quickly. The food and drinks stalls are a good place to take a refreshment break between the bargaining.

Tuol Sleng Genocidal Museum:

Tuol Sleng Genocidal Museum is the former Tuol Sleng High School. In 1975, during the Khmer Rouge regime, the school was used as a prison and torture center, known at the time as S-21. Thousands of Cambodians and a number of foreigners were housed and tortured there until they were executed. Today the site is a museum, where visitors can walk among some of the cells and look at the photos of hundreds of people who died there. There are also paintings, painted by artist Vann Vath, a former prisoner, that depict the torture of prisoners.

Cheung Ek Genocidal Site:

In addition to Tuol Sleng, there is another place where khmer Rouge killed people. That place is in Wat Chheung Ek, in Chheung Ek commune, Khan Donkaor, about 15 kilometers from the center of Phnom Penh.Visitors to the killing Fields of Chheung Ek can walk among 86 mass graves where hundreds of men women and children were buried. Nearby is a massive stupa that holds skulls and bones unearthed at the site, as well as piecies of clothing? According to statistics, 8985 corpses were unearthed from the mass graves in Chheung Ek area.