Lady Penh
July 9th, 2006
SLEEPING BABY
If Cambodia today is a little bit screwed up, it has a good excuse: It had a bad childhood. Ever since the fall of the Khmer empire, Cambodia has been attacked, exploited and even brutalized by foreign powers, including the Thais, the Vietnamese, the French, and the Japanese — sometimes more than once. Eventually, the Cambodians turned on themselves. The last 50 years of Cambodian history hasn’t been pretty, but neither has the last 500 years.
Given that history, we shouldn’t be surprised if Cambodia is, as I said, a little screwed up. (Review “bomb craters” for more on that.) It’s the only place we visited in which I felt a bit unsafe walking the streets alone at night. There is a vague sense of disorder in both Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, the capital city.
Phnom Penh first became the capital of Cambodia in 1431 when the king of the Khmer Empire fled Angkor after it was captured by Thailand (then Siam). It became the permanent capital in 1866 under King Norodom I who ruled under a French protectorate. The French built roads, canals and a port, greatly transforming the city. By the 1920s, Phnom Penh was known as the Pearl of Asia. The city still bears the mark of the French with colonial style buildings and broad avenues leaving to monumental roundabouts.
WAR MEMORIAL
Like the rest of Cambodia, Phnom Penh is still recovering from the rule of the Khmer Rouge. In 1975, before the Khmer Rouge took power, more than two million people lived in the city. The Khmer Rouge evacuated the city by force and sent its residents into the countryside to work as farmers. The Vietnamese drove the Khmer Rouge out of power in 1979 and people began returning to the city. About a million people live in Phnom Penh today — half as many as lived here thirty years ago.
We stayed at the Sunway Hotel,on Street 92, across from the impressive-looking American embassy and next to Wat Phnom (Hill Temple), the legendary founding place of Phnom Penh. According to legend, Lady Penh built a hill (“phnom”) and a small temple on this site in 1372. Later, the surrounding area became known for the hill, Phnom, and its creator, Penh. Today, the hill features a large stupa containing the remains of King Ponhea who moved the Khmer capital from Angkor to Phnom Penh in 1422. There’s also a small altar dedicated to Lady Penh. She is supposedly helpful to women — or to anyone needing the correct time and temperature. (Look for the out-of-place time and temperature display just about her head.)
AMERICAN EMBASSY
WAT PHNOM
LADY PENH
I took a long walk the afternoon we arrived, starting at Wat Phnom and then walking toward the Royal Palace. Many of the streets were pretty dirty. I encountered quite a few beggars and saw a number of ill clad children. I didn’t see this in Laos or Myanmar, and certainly not in Thailand.
BEGGARS AT WAT PHNOM
Tuk Tuk drivers and men on motor scooters scour Phnom Penh looking for fares. They fly by you beeping their horns to catch your attention. (I’m convinced that some of these men are just ordinary citizens hoping to make a quick buck — and a single buck will do — though our project manager told me that they are, in fact, licensed taxi drivers.)
SLEEPING CABBIE
Every once in a while, a Tuk Tuk driver will pull up to a sidewalk gas vendor to fill his tank. The vendors use old pop bottles to store and distribute the gasoline.
GAS VENDOR
The trafffic in Phnom Penh is chaotic. And there are very few traffic lights. That makes crossing the street a real challenge. You’ve got to watch for cabbies coming from all directions, as well as the occasional elephant.
HERE HE COMES…
OVER THE CURB…
…AND INTO THE STREET!
Getting your money changed is easy in Phnom Penh. In most countries, you need to visit a bank or hotel or currency exchange. But not in Phnom Penh. There, you’ll find freelance moneychangers on the street. Don’t like the exchange rate? No problem. It’s open to negotiation.
It would be easy to overlook signs of progress in Cambodia. The population of Phnom Penh is growing. The economy is expanding. Tourists have returned. The poverty is obvious, but there are also signs of activity and progress.
HEADING TO WORK
TAKING A BATH
LOADING A CART
FISHING
MAKING A DELIVERY
NAPPING
SELLING A BOOK
Like every capital city, Phnom Penh has some very nice buildings. The red-rust National Museum (built 1917-1920) is beautiful. It is filled with old artifacts, many taken from Angkor. The museum features a soaring terracotta roof, a beautiful inner courtyard, and an interesting sculpture garden out front. The museum borders Street 178, which is lined with art galleries. The School of Fine Arts is located just behind the museum.
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM
MUSEUM COURTYARD
STATUE GARDEN
TAKING A BREAK
The Royal Palace (built in 1866) is absolutely splendid, though I can’t show you much of it since visitors are forbidden from taking photographs. The complex features a functioning palace, the famed Silver Pagoda, a throne hall, several enormous reception pavilions, the crown jewels, and a library. (The library was built in Egypt by the French, dismantled and reassembled in Cambodia, as a gift from Napoleon II).
The Wat Preah Keo Morokat is more commonly known as the Silver Pagoda, which strikes some visitors as odd since the pagoda itself is not silver. The floor of the pagoda is, however, covered with silver tile. (The floor’s history can be traced to a change in government policy. Many years ago the Cambodian government abandoned coinage in favor of paper money. The king ordered citizens to turn over their silver coins, which he sent to France, where the coins were melted and remade into silver tiles.) The tiles are not especially attractive, though they are valuable. The pagoda houses many treasures, including the Emerald Buddha.
You would never know that Cambodia is a poor country from visiting the Royal Palace, which is predictably lavish. But Cambodians don’t resent the royal family. On the contrary, they support it enthusiastically. For most Cambodians, the royal family is a throwback to a stabile, more prosperous time. It represents what Cambodia was before the Vietnam War, civil war, the Khmer Rouge, and occupation by the Vietnamese.
KING NORODOM SIHAMONI
The current monarch is Norodom Sihamoni. He became king October 29, 2004, after his father, the wily King Sihanouk, abdicated due to ill health and advanced years. (A special nine-member council selected Sihamoni after Sihanouk’s surprise abdication. His selection was endorsed by his brother, the national assembly speaker.) Sihamoni is a trained ballet dancer, a bachelor in his 50s and yes, he is gay. I mention this only because it is a) fairly well known and b) fairly well accepted. At least that is what our Thai guide told us. Sihamoni is viewed as a good and kind man. He is popular though not powerful. The monarchy is symbolic and has no official power.
Entry Filed under: Freeman Fellowship
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