Footloose and free

Chanchhaya Pavilion at the Royal Palace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Picture: Paul Myers Source: The Australian

Tuktuks outside the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Phnom Penh. Picture: Paul Myers Source: The Australian

October 23, 2010
Paul Myers
The Australian

I HAVE to give the tuk-tuk driver outside my hotel full marks for perseverance. Since I arrived at the Foreign Correspondents' Club on swanky Sisowath Quay in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, he has tried everything to secure my custom, even waving vigorously at me when I open the curtains in my hotel room on the first morning.

He isn't alone. There are at least six other drivers, numerous motorbikes and taxis on the corner, each waiting for a fare that will yield a few US dollars. I can't walk within 50m of the pack without being assailed, but it's all in good humour. "How many times do I have to say I don't want a tuk-tuk?" I ask the driver who has been stalking me. He apologises in perfect English: "I'm sorry, but I have to feed my family, and I saw you get in another tuk-tuk yesterday."

Of course I buckle, promising to engage him before I leave. But that's for another day. Right now, riding in a tuk-tuk or on the back of a motorbike is off the agenda because I'm setting out on a self-guided walking tour of this busy capital city of more than two million residents.

Guidebook in hand, I've carefully planned my route, which I estimate will take all morning, allowing for stops. Walking up Sisowath Quay, I'm heading for Wat Phnom, a temple that marks the spot where Phnom Penh was founded more than 600 years ago. But first there's a traditional street market, or phsar, which, it being early morning, is sure to be busy.

Cafes, bars, hotels and restaurants line Sisowath Quay, including Cantina, a Mexican hangout where I met the jovial American owner, Hurley Scroggins, and his regular patrons the previous evening. The riverside is an attractive open paved area, adorned with flags, providing a great sense of connection between the city and its waterway.

I pass Wat Ounalom, reputedly the oldest Buddhist temple in the city, dating back to the early 15th century, but it is closed to the public for renovation. Around the corner, occupying an entire street block and extending past the next intersection, is the street market, one of several in Phnom Penh. Dozens of vendors display every type of fruit and vegetable imaginable in dishes on the roadway. Freshly cut vegetables are neatly stacked; small fish are tantalisingly arranged in wooden bowls; cuts of not-so-tantalising meat and poultry adorn scattered tables; and live poultry waits for buyers.

It's a frenetic scene, a form of organised chaos that brings a plentiful supply of fresh food into the heart of the city every day.

Around the corner, the produce gives way to an assortment of hardware, household items, electrical equipment and groups of men welding car radiators and repairing what seem to be tuk-tuk and motorbike parts. Obviously, this is how the tuk-tuk drivers keep their vehicles on the road.

I cross Street 104, the night-life epicentre of Phnom Penh, but all is quiet at the Pickled Parrot, Velkommen Inn and Top Ten Bar. A few minutes later appears the commanding grey spire of Wat Phnom on a small hill; the pagoda has considerable historic and religious significance. Legend has it that after finding four small Buddha statues in a koki tree floating down the river in 1372, a woman called Duan Penh built a small temple on the site, giving the city of Phnom (hill) Penh its name.

Although the present temple dates back only to 1926, its shrine contains the remains of King Ponhea Yat (and his family) who moved the ancient Khmer capital from Angkor Wat to Phnom Penh soon after Duan Penh's find.

Inside is a Buddha statue from the Angkorian period (9th-15th centuries). Although only 30m higher than the surrounding streets, this is the highest point in Phnom Penh and is regarded as the city centre.

A statue of Daun Penh is in a park adjacent to a roundabout, inside which Wat Phnom stands.

A 10-minute walk away is the busy central market, Phsar Thmey, which could be called Bargains Galore. The huge yellow-domed art deco-style main building and its expansive forecourt host hundreds of vendors selling clothes, accessories, fabrics, shoes, fragrances, household items and everything a tourist or resident does and doesn't need. Here, you can pick up a Polo Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger or Lacoste collared T-shirt for $US6 ($6.08), even if it is a copy. Or a leather wallet for $US4, a belt for $US2 and a pair of leather shoes for less than $US10. (It's de rigueur to pay for most items in US dollars instead of the Cambodian riel, about 4000 of which equal $US1.)

In front of the central market and ubiquitous tuk-tuk drivers are myriad narrow streets housing an assortment of French colonial buildings, some dating back to the late 19th century, and more recent Chinese shophouse apartments, each featuring a ground-floor business front and upstairs living quarters.

The mix of architecture provides a fascinating insight into an elegant and exciting past, when Phnom Penh was considered the jewel of French colonial cities in Asia. It doesn't take much to imagine that era, unlike the brutal period of Khmer Rouge rule in the 1970s, when these buildings were ransacked and the city more or less deserted. Fortunately, almost all the colonial buildings remain intact, including magnificent villas that have been restored and stand gracefully on wide boulevards. As I wend my way through the backstreets, a clutch of Phnom Penh's highlights - the National Museum and Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda - beckon. Located next to the Royal Palace, the rust-red National Museum was dedicated by King Sisowath in 1920.

Inside is a goldmine of Angkorian statues and artefacts, and a sizeable collection of later, yet intriguing, Buddha figures, plus the prized statue of the legendary Khmer "leper king" (a replica is at Angkor Wat near Siem Reap).

But the tour highlight awaits at the huge grounds of the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda, so named for its 5329 silver floor tiles. The former is home to the King and the latter is where the ruler meets monks and carries out important ceremonies.

Here in numerous ornate buildings is Cambodia's finest collection of Buddhist and historic objects, including the Emerald Buddha, which sits on a gilded dais behind the standing Buddha Maitreya, encrusted with more than 2000 diamonds. The interior walls of the pagoda compound are lined with frescoes depicting ancient stories, while ornate temples and statues leave no doubts about the importance of Buddhism to almost everyone here, from paupers to the royal family.

Returning to my base at the Foreign Correspondents' Club via the Independence Monument, erected in 1962 to celebrate the end of French rule, I'm rehearsing excuses for my would-be tuk-tuk driver. The moment I turn the corner, he pounces. "I'll take you on a city tour," he announces.

Instinctively, I hop aboard, without even hinting I've just been there, done that.

Checklist

Student Flights has a two-week trip to Cambodia that includes volunteering at an orphanage. Tasks include teaching English, arranging lesson plans, painting and drawing, helping with health education, maintaining the vegetable garden and feeding the farm animals. From $1139 a person for 13 nights' accommodation, airport pick-up, orientation, welcome dinner, tuk-tuk transfers, all ground transportation, English-speaking project co-ordinator and 24-hour emergency assistance. From the first Saturday of each month; valid to December 31. More: 1300 019 130; www.studentflights.com.au.