Holiday in Cambodia

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I was not really sure what to expect, but I have been intrigued by Cambodia for some time. To me, Cambodia is the ultimate paradox, a place that represents the absolute worst and best of humanity. On the one hand, you have a glorious civilization for almost as long as the Roman Empire and left behind the amazing temples of Angkor Wat (featured in the movie "Tomb Raider"). On the flip side, Cambodia was terrorized and turned into a murderous slave labor camp by Pol Pot and his genocidal Khmer Rouge regime (depicted in "The Killing Fields"). Although these are important parts of Cambodia's history, there is a lot more to this country than temples and genocide.

We have been pleasantly surprised by what we have experienced so far. The people are lovely, very friendly and sweet. It can be a bit difficult traveling here, as the roads aren't so great and there are usually several power outages a day in Phnom Penh, but we like it. The French architecture adds an interesting aura to the city and it is nice to stroll along the river on Sisowith Quay dodging the moto and tuk-tuk drivers.

We arrived in Phnom Penh after a brief flight from Bangkok and felt like we were in a different world. I am used to rundown airports with surly officials in developing countries, but the Phnom Penh airport is brand new and the officials were quite friendly, though slow because they are learning a new computer system. Even the airport's paint is still fresh. We later learned that the airport is new because it was destroyed some by heavy fighting and mostly by looting during the 1997 coup.

We spent 2 days in Phnom Penh. On our first day, we visited the National Museum and Royal Palace. The National Museum has a great collection of Khmer sculpture. Many pieces are from the ruins around Angor Wat and Battambang. The Royal Palace was also beautiful, especially the Silver Pagoda. A lot of the Thai pagodas are very shiny and decked out with gold, but the Khmer architecture is more graceful, at least in my opinion. Some of the royal treasures at the Silver Pagoda survived the Khmer Rouge years, though many of the Buddhas are replicas of the pieces smashed by the Khmer Rouge.

On the second day, we hired a tuk-tuk driver to take us to Wat Phnom, some markets, the Tuol Sleng Museum (S-21) and the killing fields. We have a lot of thoughts about the killing fields and S-21, so I will save our impressions about these terrible places for a separate post.

There are not so many cars here, but motorbikes are everywhere, which makes crossing the street challenging. I must say, this is the only capital city that I have ever seen with almost no traffic lights.

We have also been pleasantly surprised that Cambodians (especially in Phnom Penh) seem to speak better English than the Thais. Cambodia may be new at the tourist game, but this country has definitely come a long way in the past 25 years.

We still have not been able to find PC's with Windows XP or fast enough connection speeds to post photos, so please be patient. I promise it will be worth the wait.

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Photos

Traffic crossing in Phnom Penh
Notice the lack of traffic lights, even though this is a major intersection.

Spooky old French building next door to our guesthouse
This would be a really nice building if someone fixed it up. Ironically, it is located next door to the UNESCO office.

French addition to Royal Palace
This building style looks out of place. It was added during Napoleon III's reign.

Wat Phnom
This is the highest point in the city and is where the city's name likely came from.

Three happy pizza places in a row
Technically, marijuana is illegal in Cambodia, but "traditional use" is tolerated. This includes putting ganja on a pizza and selling it to foreigners, as long as they call it a "happy pizza" and don't mention ganja.

Commuters in Phnom Penh
Perhaps the overloaded wiring is why there are usually several power outages a day in Phnom Penh?

Comments

[Ken]

Crossing the streets in Cambodia
Crossing the streets in Cambodia... Remember the Atari Frogger game? Just remember to walk slow and steady and DON'T RUN!

[K. Pipat (from Thailand)]

Khmer and Thai Styles
You are correct about the superior ancient Cambodian achitectural style. Attacking and seizing Ankor Wat, The Siamese liberated themselves from the Khmer rule in the 1200's and became a group of sovereign states with Sukhothai as their centre of power. The centre later shifted to Ayuthaya in the 1300's. The Khmer civilization is much older and had much influence over the Thai's. This is comparable to what we can find in Italy and Britain. To me, British achitecture is newer, more vibrant than and often influenced by the Roman's but with less extravagance and grace. Perhaps the American Capitol building also tells the same story.