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I spent 5 days in Seam Reap and 3 days in Phnom Penh. There are not many interesting places to visit in the city, sometimes wandering around to get to know a city is also a good way to experience. When Siem Reap is a historical destination, then Phnom Penh is more like sightseeing, river cruise, bars, pubs, local food, etc. Below is the list of interesting things to do in Phnom Penh. Check it out:
Visit Choeung Ek Genocidal Center
Location: 17 kilometres from the center of Phnom Penh.
Open hour: 8am – 5.30pm
Entrance ticket: 3 dollars. Audio set is available in many languages with extra $3
On my first day in Phnom Penh, I visited Choeung Ek – the Killing Fields which is around 17 kilometers south of Phnom Penh. There are many ways to reach the place, you can easily book a tuk-tuk tour around $12-$15 or you can share the tuk-tuk with the hotel arranged tour which is possibly cheaper. I however decided to rent a $3-bicycle to ride around the city, stopped by some local schools and visited local markets as well. Phnom Penh is much hotter than Siem Reap, riding on the road without trees surrounding like in Siem Reap is not recommended at all. However, it depends on how you want to experience the city, just go for it! And I feel a bit crazy of how I was when riding on highway under 40-degree heat to reach the Choeung Ek.
The Choeung Ek is a mass grave of victims of Khmer Rouge who were killed between 1975-1979. At that time, 17.000 men, women and children were detained at S-21 prison. 8895 bodies were discovered and over 8000 skulls were arranged by sex, age and by the way how they were killed in the center of the area. The Choeung Ek Killing Field reminds a long horrifying history period of Cambodia under the reign of Khmer.
The victims were brought from S-21 prison, where they had been tortured for months. The majority of them were trucked to the Choeung Ek in the late evening. The trucks which held around 20 to 30 panicky and blindfolded prisoners would arrive 2-3 times a month or every 3 weeks. The Pol Pot used many horrifying tools to kill the victims such as shackles, leg irons, hatchet, digging hoes, shoves, etc. This is a thoroughly moving experience and a must-see destination.
Royal Palace of Cambodia
Royal Palace, established in 1866, is a complex of spectacular buildings which serve as Royal residence of Cambodia’s King. The whole area is about 174,870 square metres, which includes the main buildings like Throne Hall, moonlight Pavilion, silver Pagoda, etc. The Palace is an example of Khmer architecture with a slight French featuring. Nowadays, the buildings open to public and Royal Palace becomes one of the tourist attractions in Phnom Penh beside the Choeung Ek – The Killing Field.
The previous capital of Cambodia is Oudong which was home of Royal residence for more than 250 years until King Norodom relocated the Royal residence to Phnom Penh in 1865. The first Royal palace was designed by architect Neak Okhna Tepnimith Mak, several buidlings and houses were added later. And Phnom Penh became new official capital of Cambodia since then.
Psar Thmei – Central market
Address: ផ្សារធំថ្មី, Calmette St. (53), Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Opening time: daily from 6.30 AM to 6PM.
Phsar Thmei literally means ” New Market” in English but the Central Market is more common to foreigners and tourists due to its location and size. It is simply a great place for trying local food and shopping for souvenirs. The building’s architecture and design is very beautiful and unique with the pyramid structure and its golden color both outside and inside.
The Central Market is a very hustle and bustle place in the middle of Phnom Penh. There are plenty of shops selling gold, silver jewelry, clothes, souvenirs, electronic items, various of groceries and plenty of second hand stuff. You can practically get almost everything there, simply like with 2$-7$ you can easily get a local souvenir like a T-shirt with elephant images, purses, pants, shorts, dresses, fridge’s magnet, etc.
And it is really surprised me since I can find a lot of Vietnamese stores and vendors there. As many of my friend had mentioned it before my trip to Cambodia that there would be a lot of Vietnamese in Cambodia, but still, walking the middle of the Central market or cycling around Phnom Penh gave me a familiar feeling of Vietnam or Saigon in specific.
Sisowath Quay Broadwalk
It is a nice place for early morning or evening stroll, it is however very hot during the mid-day. Sisowath Quay Broadwalk is along the Mekong River, it offers fresh air in the morning with thousands of beautiful pigeons. Besides, there are many bars, cafes, restaurants, hotels close by, and it’s walking distance to the center of the city.
However, in Phnom Penh, there is a lot of rubbish on the street, children beggars are everywhere at the tourists attractions.
Bicycle Tour around Phnom Penh
With a bicycle you can easily reach all of the spots in Cambodia and you can stop by any place that you want to check out on your way. I chose bicycle as my main way to travel around because it is cheap, just around 3$-5$/day. I visited Choeung Ek Genocidal Center by bicycle, it is super hot with the 40 degree Celsius heat of Phnom Penh. It is actually not recommended to visit the place by yourself because it is not like Siem Reap, with trees surrounding, it is the highway. However, I had chance to stop by the local school and some local shops by the street and talk to local people, they are friendly and enjoy talking with foreigners^^.
Despite the difficult history, Cambodia has been developing with modern buildings or beautiful Sisowath Quay Walk. Nevertheless, there are stills many old buildings, Buddhist sites and old local markets which brings the hidden beauty of Cambodia. Choose your comfort way to explore the city!
Food Tour In Phnom Penh
Cambodia food is one of the highlights in my trip. Cambodian cuisine is somehow described as similar to Thai and Vietnam cuisine. In Phnom Penh, I think it is not easy to find an authentic Khmer restaurant because most of their food are influenced by their neighbors’ flavors ans styles. However, there are many places where you, as a tourist, can learn how to cook original Khmer food. To be honest, I love Vietnamese, Thai and Cambodian food, I found many Vietnamese restaurants in the Central Market which I did really enjoy.
A typical Cambodian breakfast is rice (Bai Sach Chrouk),noodles, and porridge. Besides, trying streets food is a good way to experience local life and their food on a budget. You will easily find many delightful and delicious street food around Phnom Penh which usually cost just around 2-3 dollars.
Bai Sach Chrouk( Pork with broken rice)
Bai Sach Chrouk is one of the most popular
dishes for breakfast in Cambodia which is usually offered by the street vendors.
It is composed of broken rice( Bai) and sliced, grilled pork ( sach Chrouk) and pickled vegetables.
Pork is mainly used for the Bai Sach Chrouk; however, some vendors or restaurants have got more options like: duck, beef, chicken, egg or even spring rolls, whatever can be ordered as the topping for your rice.
Green Mango/ papaya salad
Green mango or papaya salad is not just the favorite food of locals but foreigners and travellers.
The mango/ papaya salad is well-known in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia cuisines.
The salad is mixed of mango or papaya and fish sauce, lemon juice, sugar, chilly, garlic, beans, green eggplant, and variation of different kinds of seafood like dried shrimp, crab, dried fish or squid.
Pong tia koon – Balut
Balut is a favorite dish in Philippine, Vietnam, Cambodia and others Asian countries like Thailand, Laos.
You can find many street vendors selling balut which is served with mint( laksa leaves) and salt and pepper powder and a slice of lime as a mixture with the powder.
I know it is a little eww to Western or European friends, but definitely it is delicious, you should try at least once. It’s one of my favorite’s.
Street food BBQ
Like Thailand and Vietnamese, Cambodian love grilled food, there are plenty of the street grilled food like: chicken, fish, squid, shrimp, pork, duck, beef, etc even insects which is served together with the Cambodian fish sauce or chilli sauce. Walk around all local markets, you can definitely find a mouth-watering food carts selling all sorts of the street BBQ.
Nom banh chok: Khmer noodles
You can find many street vendors in the morning served noodles. Nom banh chok is served mainly for breakfast in Siem Reap. Rice noodles are topped with variety of vegetables like cucumber, banana blossom, bean-sprouts, basil, mint, etc. The taste of nom banh chok maybe a bit different from regions to regions in Cambodia. For some restaurants, they may top up the red curry, dried shrimp, fish sauce, peanuts or coconut milk.
Visit National Museum of Cambodia
Address: Street 13 in central Phnom Penh, next to the Royal Palace.
Opening hours: 8am – 5pm
Last admission tickets are sold: 4.30pm
Ticket price: Campodian – 500 Riels. Foreigners (10-17) – 5$ . Foreigners( 18 and above) -10$.
National Museum of Cambodia, which was constructed between 1917 and 1924, is the world’s largest collection of Khmer art. The museum is home of plenty of terracotta Khmer sculptures; besides, the museum also displays many potteries and bronzes from the Pre- Angkor, Angkor periods and the recent works as well. Many Khmer works of art prove how the Khmer was impacted by the Indian religions mainly from Hinduism and Buddhism. The audio guide is available in multiple languages for an additional price of 6$. Most of the museums in Cambodia is strict for taking photos.
References
Wikipedia, Cambodia Museum, https://www.cambodiamuseum.info (Accessed 2019-6-28).
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Choeung Ek, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choeung_Ek (Accessed 2019-7-17).
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Royal Palace of Cambodia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Palace_of_Cambodia (Accessed 2020-12-5).
What do you think?