Flow ... a Cambodian woman sails her boat on the high level Mekong River in Phnom Penh. (Picture: AFP)By Tom Cockrem
Herald Sun (Australia)
April 1, 2006
TWENTY-FIVE years ago, Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, housed only 50,000 people. Its finest public buildings, hotels and embassies were occupied by soldiers, their prisoners, or nobody.
Ancient Buddhist temples lay in ruins, telephone lines were cut, and the streets were growing weeds.
There is still, of course, a legacy from those grisly Khmer Rouge times. But the good news is that Phnom Penh is back on its feet.
More than a million of its people have returned, bringing with them that plucky spirit for which Khmers have long been renowned.
That same spirit enabled them, 1000 years ago, to establish a brilliant empire and leave for posterity the most fabulous ancient monument in the South-East Asian world: Angkor.
Phnom Penh has never been an Angkor, but it had splendour all the same, having once been known as the Paris of the East. It is this proud reputation that the people are determined to revive.
Much has been achieved. The river front – showcase of French colonial Phnom Penh – is again a place of trendy international restaurants and bars that look out on a busy esplanade called Sisowath Quay, and to the broad and lively promenade beyond.
Most folk gravitate to the palace of their king. There is a small pavilion here – a front-piece to the palace – and next door, a Buddhist shrine. It's a focal point for devotees, especially at dusk.
Inspired by Bangkok's Grand Palace, Phnom Penh's Royal Palace was built by King Norodom in 1870.
Pride of the compound is the Silver Pagoda, named for the 5000 silver tiles that constitute its floor.
The pagoda contains a wealth of ancient treasures – a 17th-century crystal Buddha, bejewelled masks, chalices and urns, a 90kg solid gold Buddha studded with diamonds.
Next door is the National Arts Museum housing the most venerated treasures from Angkor.
LEAFY Street 178, next to the museum, is home to local painters, wood carvers and makers of temple art.
What all this tells you is that Phnom Penh's people are going back to their roots, rebuilding and refurbishing their temples, sanctifying their homes.
The 15th century shrines have been restored, albeit with a tad too much cement. Wat Phnom, Wat Ounalom and Wat Lang Ka retain a fair bit of the original Khmer temple architecture – enough, you would hope, to inspire more faithful restoration work in future.
Revitalised it might be, but Phnom Penh is still well entrenched in the past.
There are far more cyclos (pedalled rickshaws) than taxis, more hawker stalls than restaurants, more roads that flood than ones that don't.
Absent are McDonald's, KFC, 7 Eleven. Most of the shopping is done in markets, of which Psar Thmei (New Market) is the most tourist-friendly. It is housed in a huge domed Art Deco structure that extends out on four sides. You can lose yourself in here, there are so many niches – for jewellery, flowers, electronics, hawker food, meat and fish, vegetables, souvenirs and books.
The other market drawcard is Psar Tuol Tom Pong, also known as the Russian market, where you can buy wood carvings, Chinese trinkets, basketry and tribal beads.
It's true Phnom Penh's "official" attractions could be seen in a day, but the city deserves more. It's fun just to wander, stumbling across old French mansions, sampling the hawker food, promenading with the locals by the river.
At night you can go to such popular watering holes as Heart of Darkness and the Foreign Correspondents Club.
Phnom Penh through the '80s and early '90s was a wild place, a hotbed of crime. Those days have gone.
As a visitor, you are happy to be sharing its revival with the Cambodians themselves. Great survivors too, their welcomes make it clear they are very pleased you came.
Tom Cockrem travelled courtesy Thai Airways.
Ancient Buddhist temples lay in ruins, telephone lines were cut, and the streets were growing weeds.
There is still, of course, a legacy from those grisly Khmer Rouge times. But the good news is that Phnom Penh is back on its feet.
More than a million of its people have returned, bringing with them that plucky spirit for which Khmers have long been renowned.
That same spirit enabled them, 1000 years ago, to establish a brilliant empire and leave for posterity the most fabulous ancient monument in the South-East Asian world: Angkor.
Phnom Penh has never been an Angkor, but it had splendour all the same, having once been known as the Paris of the East. It is this proud reputation that the people are determined to revive.
Much has been achieved. The river front – showcase of French colonial Phnom Penh – is again a place of trendy international restaurants and bars that look out on a busy esplanade called Sisowath Quay, and to the broad and lively promenade beyond.
Most folk gravitate to the palace of their king. There is a small pavilion here – a front-piece to the palace – and next door, a Buddhist shrine. It's a focal point for devotees, especially at dusk.
Inspired by Bangkok's Grand Palace, Phnom Penh's Royal Palace was built by King Norodom in 1870.
Pride of the compound is the Silver Pagoda, named for the 5000 silver tiles that constitute its floor.
The pagoda contains a wealth of ancient treasures – a 17th-century crystal Buddha, bejewelled masks, chalices and urns, a 90kg solid gold Buddha studded with diamonds.
Next door is the National Arts Museum housing the most venerated treasures from Angkor.
LEAFY Street 178, next to the museum, is home to local painters, wood carvers and makers of temple art.
What all this tells you is that Phnom Penh's people are going back to their roots, rebuilding and refurbishing their temples, sanctifying their homes.
The 15th century shrines have been restored, albeit with a tad too much cement. Wat Phnom, Wat Ounalom and Wat Lang Ka retain a fair bit of the original Khmer temple architecture – enough, you would hope, to inspire more faithful restoration work in future.
Revitalised it might be, but Phnom Penh is still well entrenched in the past.
There are far more cyclos (pedalled rickshaws) than taxis, more hawker stalls than restaurants, more roads that flood than ones that don't.
Absent are McDonald's, KFC, 7 Eleven. Most of the shopping is done in markets, of which Psar Thmei (New Market) is the most tourist-friendly. It is housed in a huge domed Art Deco structure that extends out on four sides. You can lose yourself in here, there are so many niches – for jewellery, flowers, electronics, hawker food, meat and fish, vegetables, souvenirs and books.
The other market drawcard is Psar Tuol Tom Pong, also known as the Russian market, where you can buy wood carvings, Chinese trinkets, basketry and tribal beads.
It's true Phnom Penh's "official" attractions could be seen in a day, but the city deserves more. It's fun just to wander, stumbling across old French mansions, sampling the hawker food, promenading with the locals by the river.
At night you can go to such popular watering holes as Heart of Darkness and the Foreign Correspondents Club.
Phnom Penh through the '80s and early '90s was a wild place, a hotbed of crime. Those days have gone.
As a visitor, you are happy to be sharing its revival with the Cambodians themselves. Great survivors too, their welcomes make it clear they are very pleased you came.
Tom Cockrem travelled courtesy Thai Airways.
1 comment:
Extraordinary ! You will soon blindedly put a vietnamese danser before Angkor Wat.
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