Phnom Penh is the penultimate destination of my nearly 4 months trip in Southeast Asia. I went from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh by bus and the journey was ok. But now, I can say that this was the place I less enjoyed the whole trip.
Besides having not much to do, the city is a boring place as it doesn’t have any beautiful place to chill. The people are very annoying shouting tuk-tuk all the time as I’m clearly a tourist. It is a poor place and you can see it. I saw many people begging and many kids selling things on the street. You can feel that it is a poor place.
Some streets can be really chaotic with loads of motorbikes carrying up to 5 people, just like in Vietnam. Also, my trip was almost ending so everything I explored was on my own by foot.
Maybe I stayed in the wrong area of the city as I saw almost no foreigners in that place and the touristic offer was none. I stayed next to the central market.
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I thought the royal palace was kind of expensive so didn’t visit inside besides looking like a nice building. I went to a temple next door, the Ounnalom Pagoda, where I guess, someone tried to scam me. I was walking on the street towards this temple when all the sudden I’m approached by a tuk-tuk guy stating that I can’t go inside has it is closed. He was very insistent and was trying to pursue me to visit other locations with him that would be open for sight. I decided to ignore him as the temple looks open and I step inside. That’s why I say it was a scammer, this temple wasn’t closed and I visited it. It is a beautiful temple where you can clearly see the Cambodian architectural features.
Next, I walk close to the river and sit next to Preah Ang Dorngkeu Shrine that was for me the most interesting part of Phnom Penh. The place is full of people and lots of things going on. In fact, I went there two days in a row and just sat looking and observing what is going on for hours.
It seems to be an important temple as many people come here to do some offering to the Buddha statue inside. There is a group of people playing music, disabled people begging, street sellers and many pigeons to feed. This place is next to the river, so the breeze was pleasant. Here you can see some of the Cambodian people rituals like offering things to the river. I saw many people going downstairs close to the river to put flowers, golden boats, or other things into the river. I saw one kid being paid to swim with a golden small boat a few meters away from the margin. you can also see a lot of caged birds that people pay to set free. Yes, I guess there are people catching these birds to get money for setting them free. There are two species and one is more expensive than the other. I’m sure the act of freeing this birds means something very important for their religion as many people were doing some prayer with the bird in the hands to then set him free.
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But, the offering that touched me the most was from an old man, that sat very close while another man is cutting all his hair off into a plate. After turning bald, the man goes downstairs towards the river with a plate full of his hair, and “gives it” to the river. He places all his hair in the water and that’s it! This is a nice to place to emerge in their culture.
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Other places I visited were the statue of King Father Norodom Sihanouk and the Independence monument that are actually in a quite nice place of the city with green places to chill and many people doing exercise. I guess this is a place where many Cambodians go after work as it was full of people and some music too.
Another place I visited was Wat Phnom that was actually a really nice place full of trees and many shadows to relax on a very hot Phnom Penh day. The temple is beautiful and worth a visit. It is a place surrounded by gardens and you can actually have a seat and relax for a bit. I saw some monks here too.
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I skipped what I now believe to be the most interesting thing to visit in Phnom Penh, the killing fields. It is an overwhelming place with a dramatic history. I pity I haven’t visited but my budget was running out and I still have Ho Chi Minh to visit.
Cambodia looks very poor and it actually looks the poorest country I have been to. I spent only 1 week there, so I can’t talk much about its charm, but it isn’t a country that I would go back to explore. Although, I truly believe that the rural areas should be amazing unexplored places.
