Phnom Penh Attractive Sights
Phnom
Penh is the capital of Cambodia. It is a great city with lots of things
to do and see. The town is spread out on the banks of two rivers. The
main sights in town include Wat Phnom from where you have great views
over the city, the Silver Pagoda in the Royal Palace complex, where you
can see the emerald Buddha and a Buddha made of solid gold. The
National Museum is also worth a visit.
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The
Royal Palace and the two magnificent pagodas in the Palace Grounds, the
Silver Pagoda and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, are among the few
public buildings in Phnom Penh really worth seeing.
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Phnom
Penh's Royal Palace complex is reminiscent of Bangkok's Grand Palace
though on a smaller scale. This can work to the visitor's advantage
however when one realizes that with an early start, you can have the
whole place to yourself, a near impossibility in the Thai capital.
Since King Sihanouk's return to power, the actual Royal Palace is off
limits but there are still ample things to explore. The Throne Hall
which is crowned with a 59 meter tower that brings Angkor's Bayon to
mind, is the first thing one sets eyes on when entering the imposing
compound. Though it dates back to 1919, many of the artifacts once kept
here met a fate similar to the general Cambodian populace at the hands
of the Khmer Rouge.
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The Cheung Ek genocide museum is located in Cheung Ek commune, Dankoar district, about 15 km from the centre of Phnom Penh
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 This
is the location where the Khmer Rouge took their prisoners for
execution. The prisoners were made to wait here for 24 hours before
they were killed by a blow to the head after which their throats were
slit. Babies were killed by bashing their heads against a
tree. There were separate graves for men, for women and for
children. Former friends of Pol Pot who were executed here had separate
graves too. Visitors can walk along 86 mass graves from which the
remainders of 8,985 men, women and children were unearthed after the
liberation of the Khmers Rouges. Some of those skulls, bones and pieces
of clothing are now kept in the nearby massive stupa. There were
killing fields all over the country, but Cheung Ek was believed to be
the largest. Every year on the 20th of May a ceremony is held around
the stupa to bring peace to the spirits of the deceased.
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Contains an excellent collection of art from Cambodia's "golden age"
of Angkor, and a lovely courtyard at the center. Main attraction is the
statue of King Jayavarman VII (1181-1219) in mediation pose.
Unfortunately, no photos may be taken. The pleasant little park in
front of the Museum is the site of the annual Royal Ploughing Ceremony,
at which the success or otherwise of the coming harvest is determined.
You may have heard stories of sightseers carrying umbrellas inside to
avoid showers of bat droppings, the bats moved out after the renovation
of 2002.
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About
40 kilometers northwest of Phnom Penh along National Route 5, a
mountain topped with the spires of stupas rears from the plain like a
fairytale castle.
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This is Phnom Oudong, at one
time an ancient capital, bombed and desecrated by the Americans and
then the Khmer Rouge, but still possessing an eerie beauty that no war
has been able to steal from it. As the capital, it was called Oudong
Meanchey Oudong means noble or excellent, and Meanchey means victory.
From 1618 until 1866 it was home to a succession of kings, deposed from
the former capital of Longvek by the invading Thais. The mountain
itself runs from southeast to northeast, with a low saddle in the
middle. Khmers say it has the shape of a Naga the magical multi-headed
serpents that guard the Buddha.
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Siem Reap Province
