Phnom Penh

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  Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Sunday, August 17, 2008

Phnom Penh is a city with a history.  It is one of those names that evoke exoticness, distance, even danger.  It has earned all of these reputations in its history.  It was devastated by the reign of the Khmer Rouge, which forced the evacuation of almost the entire city, killing thousands of 'enemies' in the process.  After the fall of the Polpot and his Khmer Rouge, Phnom Penh remained a place with a reputation for danger and seediness.  Drugs were openly sold in the markets, an AK-47 was available at the 'Russian market' for a steal, and 'companionship' was cheap and plentiful.  If you needed to vent some aggression, a quick trip to a country side shooting range was possible where for a few dollars you could fire off machine guns and rifles.  For a few dollars more you could fire off an RPG (Rocket Propelled Grenade) or bazooka.  Pay a bit more and they would stake out a live goat or cow to allow you to get the true effect of your arsenal.  It was Asia's 'Heart of Darkness' and the stories that were filed by journalists from the insides of the FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club) along the Mekong River were as salacious and devious as the plot of any Graham Greene novel

Phnom Penh

.  Intrigue, danger, and seediness seemed to cling to the city like the scent of a dangerous and mysterious woman.

Times have changed.

The power sharing deal the UN tried to broker after the questionable success of Cambodia's first democratic election in the 1990's led to power plays and eventually the total control of government by Hun Sen and his CPP party.  The death of Pol Pot in 1998 and the final defeat of the remnants of the Khmer Rouge led to a nationwide stability such as Cambodia had not know in many decades.  While it can argued whether democracy is a farce or a reality in Cambodia, it is clear that Cambodia is much more secure and stable than before, and very open for business to the outside world.

The feel of the city now is busy, but relaxed.  Good food and bakeries (one of the only good legacies of the French colonial presence) abound, and beautiful, mouldering colonial style buildings struggle to maintain the dignity they once held as disrepair, weather, and time wear them out.  Beautiful wats are still present, and orange robed monks still walk the streets.  The 'girl' bars are still plentiful, and many single foreign men never seem to go anywhere without being accompanied by Cambodian high heeled, mobile phone using 'girlfriends'

Phnom Penh

.  Tuk tuk drivers still offer to drive you out the shooting range, but the option of live goats and cows as targets has been discretely dropped.  While you can no longer openly buy marijuana or opium at the markets, the happy pizza restaurants still exist should you want some of that old time rock and roll.

Mostly Phnom Penh seems to want to put the past behind, and get down to business in the now.  Consumer goods, both real and counterfeit, flood the city's markets.  It has its first true shopping mall, a multifloor building with escalators whose shops still resemble the chaotic energy and slipshod planning of the street markets.  Luxury SUV's and Mercedes abound.  That uneasy juxtaposition of incredible luxury sitting side by side with poverty so common in developing countries is clearly present.

Danayi and I liked Phnom Penh very much.  We ended up spending nearly two weeks there, soaking up the atmosphere, walking, and buying pirated DVDs, WAY too many pirated DVD's.  Suffice to say that if the two of us get into a situation where we are stranded on a deserted island for a few weeks, so long as there is a working electrical outlet, we will not lack for entertainment.  If worse comes to worst in our financial situation, and that worst is very near, perhaps we can set up a small theatre for media starved backpackers showing movies on Danayi's laptop.

During our time in Phnom Penh, we became viscerally more familiar with the horrible recent past of the country with visits to the Toul Sleng (S21) prison and the Killing Fields which I will follow up with subsequent entries.  As I mentioned before, this is a city with a past, and you do not have to scratch very deep for it to reveal itself.

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