Once one of the gems of French colonial Indochina, after years of terror and poverty Phnom Penh is finally re-emerging as a fine South East Asian capital.

Its wide, tree-lined boulevards are now busy with sparkling late-model cars, and more of her long-neglected magnificent colonial architecture is under restoration. The city’s river junction location lends it an added charm, with the riverside Sisowath Quay once again thriving. Waterfront parks and cafes, open-air Western and Khmer restaurants, hotels and even internet cafes are all taking advantage of the city’s new found stability and optimism, and Psar Thmei, the city’s classic Art Deco central market, affords one of the best value and most enjoyable shopping experiences in Indochina.

Phnom Penh also offers the traveler a range of historical and cultural attractions. These include the finest collection of Khmer sculpture in the National Museum - the 13th Century bust of King Jayavarman 7 is perhaps the most celebrated piece of Khmer art. The Silver Pagoda and Royal Palace grounds, despite their massive looting at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, are also impressive testaments to the artistic skills of the Khmers.

Phnom Penh also holds some disturbing reminders of its darkest days under the Pol Pot regime: Tuol Sleng, the eerily peaceful former school grounds which became a detention and torture center under the Khmer Rouge, and outside the city the ‘Killing Fields’ of Choeung Ek where the remains of thousands of murdered Cambodians were uncovered.


However, the Phnom Penh of the 21st Century is predominantly a place of hope ... it's here you'll witness Cambodia's determination to rebuild itself.

ROYAL PALACE AND SILVER PAGODA

The Royal Palace of Phnom Penh is a complex of buildings which are the royal abode of the Kingdom of Cambodia. The Kings of Cambodia have occupied it since it was built in 1866, with a period of absence when the country came into turmoil during and after the reign of the Khmer Rouge. The palace was started after King Norodom relocated the royal capital from Oudong to Phnom Penh after the mid-1800s. It faces towards the East and is situated at the Western bank of four divisions at the Mekong River called Chaktomuk. The Silver Pagoda (official name: Preah Vihear Preah Keo Morokat), is the most notable wat (Buddhist temple) in the city, and is the official temple of the King of Cambodia. It is named for the 5,000 silver tiles which are used to pave the temples floor. Its life-size Buddha image of solid gold is a popular tourist attraction.

NATIONAL MUSEUM

The National Museum is the country"s leading historical and archaeological museum. It houses the world"s largest collection of Khmer art, although as a centre of Khmer historical commemoration it tends to be overshadowed by the great temple complex at Angkor and the associated museums and displays in the Siem Reap region. The museum was built in 1917-20 by the French colonial authorities then in control of Cambodia, in a traditional Khmer style, with French influence.

WAT PHNOM

Wat Phnom is one of the most important pagodas in Phnom Penh. Built in 1373, it stands at 27 metres and is the tallest religious structure in the city. Built on an artificial hill by the wealthy widow Daun Chi Penh after a great flood washed statues of Buddha downstream, it has since been renovated. There have been many additions to the original shrines over the centuries. The largest stupa houses the ashes of King Ponhea Yat and it is the center of city celebration for the Cambodian New Year, and Pchum Ben.

INDEPENDENCE MONUMENT

The Independence Monument was built in 1958 following the country"s independence from France. It stands on the intersection of Norodom and Sihanouk Boulevards in the centre of the city. It is in the form of a lotus-shaped stupa, of the style seen at the great Khmer temple at Angkor Wat and other Khmer historical sites. During national celebrations - most notably, Independence Day - the monument is the center of activity. A ceremonial flame on the interior pedestal is often lit by a royal or high official on these occasions, and floral tributes line the stairs.

PHSAR THOM THMEI (CENTRAL MARKET)

Phsar Thom Thmei is large market built in the shape of a dome in 1937. The market was built in an intensely art deco style by the French when Cambodia was under colonial rule. Nowadays, the market is a tourist hot spot, most tourists that came to Phnom Penh visited this market because they want to see the varieties of products that this market has to offer. The four wings of the yellow coloured Phsar Thom Thmei are teeming with numerous stalls selling gold and silver jewellery, antique coins, clothing, clocks, flowers, food, fabrics, shoes and luggage.

PHSAR TUOL TOM PONG (RUSSIAN MARKET)

This market is of far less architectural interest than the Central Market but has larger and more varied selection of souvenirs, curios and silks. Like the Central Market, it has a good selection of silver, gold and jewels. This market offers the largest selection of bootlegged VCDs, DVDs and CDs of all of the traditional. It"s also a good place to buy fabric for business and casual clothes to take to the tailor. Most of what the visitor might want is in the same general area on the south side but the rest of the market is well worth exploring. Food and drink stands in the middle of the market for hygienically adventurous visitors.

TUOL SLENG GENOCIDE MUSEUM

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a museum. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979 The buildings at Tuol Sleng are preserved as they were left when the Khmer Rouge were driven out in 1979. The regime kept extensive records, including thousands of photographs. Several rooms of the museum are now lined, floor to ceiling, with black and white photographs of some of the estimated 20,000 prisoners who passed through the prison. In each photograph, the mutilated body of a prisoner is chained to the bed, killed by his fleeing captor only hours before the prison was captured. Other rooms preserve leg-irons and instruments of torture.

CHOEUNG EK GENOCIDE MUSEM

Choeung Ek is the site of a former orchard and Chinese graveyard about 17km south of Phnom Penh, is the best-known of the sites known as The Killing Fields, where the Khmer Rouge regime executed about 17,000 people between 1975 and 1979. Mass graves containing 8,895 bodies were discovered at Choeung Ek after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. Today, Choeung Ek is a memorial, marked by a Buddhist stupa. The stupa has acrylic glass sides and is filled with more than 5,000 human skulls. Some of the lower levels are opened during the day so that the skulls can be seen directly. Many have been shattered or smashed in. Tourists are encouraged by the current Cambodian government to visit Choeung Ek. Apart from the stupa, there are pits from which the bodies were exhumed. Human bones still litter the site.