"Phnom Penh" a Phnom Penh Travel Page by leffe3

A sprawling modern metropolis, the city is slowly recovering from the devastation of the Khmere Rouge. In 9 years of control (1970-1979), Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge depopulated the city from approximately 500,000 to 50,000, either through enforced ruralisation or, in the case of many of the educated Cambodians, killed off.

The city has been the capital since the 15th century following the abandonment of the ravaged Angkor, the site chosen as the city sits on the confluence of the Mekong, Bassac and Tonle Sap rivers, Such a posiiton, central within the Khmer territories, provided control of the river trade with Laos and China along with the fisheries of Tonle Sap.

The city was a powerhouse in the region until the mid 18th century when the invading Thais burnt the city to the ground (but the Khmer power was in decline due to the rise of the Vietnamese and Chinese courts and their subsequent control of trade). It wasn't until the 1860s and the arrival of the French that the city bloomed once again, with the French building the city into a colonnial outpost, much of it still remaining. But the rise of the city was linked firstly with the war in Vietnam (Phnom Penh was initially one of the cities of choice for American R&D) and then the terrible years of Pol Pot.

But the city is recovering and it is now estimated that the population has swelled to more than 1 million people. The city's attractions are fairly low-key, but it a city that needs time and one that slowly creeps up on you. Cambodians are incredibly friendly and welcoming, which makes it a great deal easier to be here, and the chosen method of transport is two wheels - either pushbike or moped (or occasional low hp motorbikes). As dusk falls, the wide streets built by the French are awash with bikes of some description.