What to See in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, has a distinctly provincial feel about it. Hoards of scooterists mingle with gas-guzzling 4×4’s at chaotic cross-roads and on streets where the people and their stalls seem to spill over into the traffic. It is a little quieter during the late evening when the stalls are packed with diners tucking into local savoury favourites from the rivers and surrounding fields.

The main road runs parallel to the river from Phnom Wat to the Royal Palace and measures about half a mile.

The National Museum, Phonm Penh

This is right next door to the Royal Palace and the two can be incorporated in a visit on the same day, provided the visitor doesn’t linger too long admiring the gardens and pagodas of the Palace. It is noted for its impressive collection of Khmer sculpture from the Angkor temples. Mostly these depict Hindu gods, Buddhas and the kings of ancient Angkor.

The Royal Palace of Cambodia

The Palace is still the official royal residence which means that most of the buildings can not be visited. The Silver Pagoda is the exception. This magnificent building is famous for its floor of 5329 silver tiles, an impressive emerald Buddha which sits high up on a gold dais and below which stands a Golden Buddha encrusted with 2086 diamonds. The Palace is actually a complex of pagodas and gardens set within a huge compound and enough time should be allowed for walking around and admiring the many different buildings.

Tuol Sleng Prison Museum

The Prison Museum is a short way out of town, about 5 KM, but it should be visited if at all possible. Few people can be unaware of the terrible history of Cambodia’s recent past. Tuol Sleng was once a High School but it became the site of hideous torture and killing when Pol Pot, once a teacher at the school, became head of the Khmer Rouge and turned the country and its civilisation upside down. He presided over the death of more than 2 million inhabitants in his vision of Year Zero and a new world. Friends and neighbours became enemies, young boy soldiers tortured parents, grandparents, friends and family, before taking them to the killing fields to be beaten to death. For a fairly accurate portrayal of this period in Cambodian history, see the film The Killing Fields directed by Roland Joffé, screenplay by Bruce Robinson, starring Sam Waterson and Haing S. Ngor.

The actual Killing Fields lie some 15 Km from the Tuol Sleng Prison, and the focal point at this place of torture and death is a glass-sided tower piled high with skulls.

Shopping in Phonm Penh

Silks, cottons, traditional carvings and sculptures are some of the best things to buy in Cambodia. The Russian Market is a good place to start closely followed by the Art Deco food market for novelties like fried crunchy cockroaches, caterpillars and other unrecognisable insects. For more protein-rich food there are frogs and some river rats.

What visitors will get in these localities of Phonm Penh is cultural shock, if indeed, any is needed after a visit to Tuol Sleng Prison Museum.