Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. It is also the capital of the Phnom Penh municipality. It is an economic, industrial, commercial, cultural, tourist and historical center. The main sights in town include Wat Phnom from where you have great views over the city, the Silver Pagoda in the Royal Palace complex, where you can see the emerald Buddha and a Buddha made of solid gold. The National Museum is also worth a visit.

For western visitors, Phnom Penh can be a rough change. It can be very hot and (in the dry season) dusty, its infrastructure is largely lacking, and it is very poor - much poorer than, for example, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Visitors who can't handle rubbish and dust in the streets, risky traffic, blocked sidewalks, prowling tuk tuk and moto-drivers, touts and beggars may not enjoy the city.

All that said, Phnom Penh has become far more pleasant and relaxed in the past five years or so. It is striving to architecturally become more of a 'developed capital', including high rise buildings, while still retaining much of the beauty that made it a Paris of the East before 1970. The city's French colonial buildings are beautiful, so its streetscapes make for a pleasant walk.

Cambodia's Department of Land Management still allows many architectural horrors to be built, though a determined group of Khmer architects is fighting the trend. Unhappily there are few green spaces as yet.

Infrastructure is improving - fewer power outages, streets are paved, rubbish is collected more frequently. Beautiful wide boulevards, fine colonial architecture and a parklike riverfront with cafés and restaurants aplenty help make Phnom Penh a worthwhile destination for some. Not necessarily for its standard tourist sights, which are few. But as a place to relax, watch the streetlife and absorb local color, Phnom Penh rates very high among Asian cities.

Phnom Penh has a number of Wats (temple-monasteries), museums and other places of interest in and around the city, as well as sunset cruises on the Mekong and Tonlé Sap Rivers, and a bustling market place. There has also been a recent boom of new hotels, restaurants, bars and nightclubs sprouting up through the city and a nightlife that promises fun and flavour.