Phnom Pehn is growing fast- and yet it has a fascinating ( if Ghoulish) history. The hotels there are plentiful and cheap and so are the restaurants. On the three occasions I visited ( 2016, 2017 and 2019) I stayed in the area near the Royal Palace which is in walking distance from the Mighty Mekong River. Here one can see a slice of Cambodian life from morning exercise , one can sit and read the newspaper with a coffee and cake ( Gloria Jeans), have lunch ( FCC) and watch the ferries come and go.
In my previous Blog I remembered my trips to Siem Reip in the North of Cambodia and in this Blog I will try and remember my trips to the capital. In an earlier blog I talked about the various museums dedicated to the Khmer Rouge ( https://thebritishkabayan.blogspot.com/2020/06/cambodia.html ) so I will not mention them in this Blog. All I will say is that if you are planning to visit PP allow plenty of time to visit these places. The Killing Fields are a long way out of town and the Genocide Museum needs time for quiet reflection after your visit so do not try and do them in the same day.
The markets are well worth getting up early for and you can get a cheap breakfast there or at the many roadside stalls.
A variety of Tours are available and you will be constantly asked if you want a Tuk Tuk to take you somewhere. I went to see the Floating village on a boat- the one in Cambodia is different to the one in Thailand. In Thailand you are in the land and the boats come up to sell you food , in Cambodia you are in a boat and go and visit the stalls which are built over the water.
Amongst the Pasalubong ( gifts) that I bought were a toy frog ( which I still have) and a set of teaspoons for Mama Jam in El Nido .
It is easy to get around Phnom Pehn on a moped, bike, in a Tuk Tuk or in my case I preferred to walk. There is always something fascinating to see like this monkey, guys chopping down a tree above a busy road ( how no one was injured still amazes me) , or the errection of displays at the Royal Palace ( and painting the footpaths yellow) for a special event!
There are some magnificent old buildings around the capital like the Post office ( in the days when I bothered to send people post cards!).
Dinner with Panha who I stayed with a couple of times in PP
Few people can afford cars so most people use a Tuk Tuk to move things from A to B. Some of the roads are also closed to traffic ( around the Palace for example) which make them perfect for strolling around and feeding the Pidgeon's.
Taking a selfie while walking in the Pedestrianised area near the Royal Palace
One of my great joys in PP was walking along the River to Gloria Jeans and then sit reading their free newspaper while having a bacon and egg buttie and a cup of coffe and watching the world float by!
I learnt that amongst the river traffic were floating hotels and I believe you could visit more than one country on these hotel boats. However there is a crisis looming as the Chinese have built dams across the river causing water levels to fall in Cambodia and Vietnam.
"Millions of people living along the Mekong River face a possibly irreversible depletion of key food supplies resulting from dam building and other diversions of its waters.
Deforestation upstream along the riverbanks and poor land and water use practices in Vietnam’s downstream Mekong Delta have added to what can only be called a looming crisis.
The Mekong is Southeast Asia’s longest river, with 60 to 70 million people depending on it for food, commerce, irrigation, transportation, and drinking water.
But the river’s slowly developing crisis rarely gains much attention from mainstream Western media."
( accessed 2.6.23)
When I travel I love learning about the places I am visiting and for many years was deciding where to retire to. These figures, which I read in a magazine there, help explain why I decided against retiring to Cambodia!
It was only in the 5 years before my arrival in Cambodia that people started being able to access the internet in large numbers- something we took for granted in Bahrain and the UK and even here in the Philippines. Imagine online learning during COV 19 without access to the internet.
I remember the first time I stayed in Manila in 2000 with work ( Interviewing for Al Homaizi International in Kuwait) and venturing out of our luxury 24th floor suites at the Shangri La , Makati Manila and being shocked by the slum areas . Around 2015 this survey estimated that nearly 41% of the Urban population of the Philippines lived in slums or shanty towns - but the figure for Cambodia was nearly 80% with only Laos being worse. ( That's why so many people from Laos move to the neighbouring countries to work).
At the other end of the scale people leave in Opulent splendour- this is the entrance to the OK Boutique hotel where I stayed a couple of times.
The Royal Palace on the right is well worth a visit as is the nearby National Museum
There is much to see at the Royal Palace and also the National Museum. The last time I visited they also did a Cultural show with Music and dance in the evening at the National Museum which I would highly recommend. There was also a little café with outside seating tucked in the back of the National Museum grounds ( which you could access without going into the museum) . They had great food and music and the staff were young and friendly. There were several educational establishments and hotels nearby so it was very popular.
Another of my favourite haunts back then was the Himawari hotel set in beautiful grounds by the river , with its own Microbrewery, some great food and a perfect spot to watch the world go by and the sun set. They had some great beers too in the days when I drank alcohol!
Just a little further along the river was where the ferries coming in and I used to love watching the chaos as they unloaded the cars, bikes, trucks, animals and schoolkids and workers- especially fun when two ferries arrived at the same time.
Well that's all for now and I hope you have enjoyed reading the latest in my "TBK Remembers" series of Blogs as much as I did researching and writing it.
I found two external hard drives with photos of my trips to Cambodia on but I still can only find a few pictures of my trips to Sihanoukville and Kph Ron Island - so I will save them for another Blog on another day.
If there is anywhere else you would like me to remember please let me know.
Hello, I am The British Kabayan! Feel free to read my stories.
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