Phnom Penh what to do, Phnom Penh City what to see.

There is plenty do do, to see, to go and a great nightlife is waiting. In the 1920s, Phnom Penh, built on the banks of the Tonle Sap river plus the other rivers is still somehow “eye candy” in terms of Khmer and French architecture. The name comes from Wat Phnom or Hill Temple which was constructed in 1373. The Royal Palace with the famous Silver Pagoda and the National Museum close by is a fixed point at any visit to capital.

Flights come in from various destinations in Asia such as as Kuala Lumpur Airport and Singapore’s Changi Airport with Tiger Airways. They all have cheap flights to Phnom Penh Cambodia available, a different story is with Angkor travel, flights to Siem Reap have a rather high price tag when flying out of Bangkok since Bangkok Airways has a monopole on that route and they milk the foreigners strongly, e.g. on the Bangkok - Phnom Penh rout Air Asia charge around US$ 100,- (return) Bangkok Airways charge more

A flight to Phnom Penh

is especially attractive during the monsoon time when the clouds are hanging deep and the the Air Asia flight does a slight slalom around the huge tower of tropical clouds the scenery gets especially attractive when the sun flashes in from a low angle in the afternoon. Most tourists take a flight Bangkok to Phnom Penh, the more adventurous take the bus from Bangkok to the border at  Aranyaprathet after to Poipet and Siem Reap maybe stay there for a couple of days visiting Angkor and take a boat from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh Cambodia or vice versa. Parallel to this routing a bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap Angkor is available leaving almost every hour. The river cruise on the Tonle Sap from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap takes about 5 hours and starts every day at 7.30 at the Sisowath Quay just beside the river restaurant.

During daytime there is also a Tonle Sap river cruise, floating down the river and see the city from a different perspective between three rivers, the Bassac, the Tonle Sap and the Mekong. The city is the major economic, cultural, tourist and historical center of Cambodia today and one of the major attraction is the Royal Palace. The city has more than one million inhabitants, actually its not very clear how many, that is similar to Thailand where also nobody really knows who many people live in Bangkok. The name of the city came from the hill temple -Wat Phnom Daun Penh- but later it was changed to Daun Penh, a woman who was a rich widow at that time, also referred as Grandma Penh which lived on the west side of the river.

Legend tells that in the rainy season of 1372, many Koki trees were floating down the Tonle Sap river and in one of the tree some holes were found with bronze Buddha statues hidden inside. Daun Penh built a temple using the Koki tree trunks who hold the five Buddha statues. The temple was called Wat Phnom Daun Penh and, in the end, the city got the name Phnom Penh. Today this is the capital of Cambodia and the largest city in the country with plenty of attractions such as the Royal Palace, Cambodia National Museum, Central Market and a great riverfront at at Sisowath Quay with plenty of Khmer Restaurants, other restaurants, bars and pretty Khmer Girls in bars at the side roads.

The city has the main Cambodian Airport

with plenty of connection to other Asia cities such as Singapore, Bangkok and other destinations. Its is possible to come in by bus from Bangkok where the bus is changed at the Thai Cambodian border, after driving to Siem Reap and further on. A other very interesting route is from Bangkok to Trat, maybe having a trip to Koh Chang and crossing the border into Cambodia a couple of kilometers behind Trat Thailand at Koh Kong, by ferry (about 4 hours) or taxi (about 6 hours) to Sihanoukville and after to the capital or directly with the bus to Phnom Penh at the direct route from Koh Kong to the capital but all this finally ends in Angkor travel since this is the place why the people come to Cambodia to see the great monuments of the past. A focused view of the past is visible at the

Cambodia National Museum is a excellent Phnom Penh daytrip within the city giving great insight into Cambodian Art and Culture, read more. The next main attractions is the Royal Palace just next to the museum, built with the help of the French colonialists in 1866. The Royal Palace has a Khmer architectural style and is the official residence of the king of Cambodia. Most part of the palace  is open to the public but the king's residential quarters are closed to the public, the Royal Palace Throne Hall is open to public and that's a impressive hall with plenty of gold around. The Temple of the Emerald Buddha which is also called the Silver Pagoda was reconstructed in 1962. This Buddhist temple has a 90 kg gold Buddha statue, and other Buddha statues plus a floor consisting of over 5000 silver tiles. Don't expose knees or shoulders in the temple as this is considered to be disrespectful. Wat Phnom Pagoda was constructed in 1373 and enshrines four Buddha hairs. The National Library of Cambodia is close to Wat Phnom, with a French Colonial architectural, built in 1924. The Royal Palace was built twice. First construction was in 1434. After

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the Royal Family moved the court to Oudong, north of Phnom Penh. The second time a Royal Palace was built in 1866 and this is the one seen today. The Cambodian name of the Royal Palace indicates its location near the confluence of four rivers, Mekong, Tonle Sap and Bassac. The Royal Palace compound is a square of about 430 meters with a high wall around in , traditional Khmer architecture. Most of the palace building are decorated with Khmer antiques and have tiered roofs topped by towers being a symbols of prosperity. The previous buildings were wooden, after reconstruction was with concrete and their original forms have been preserved, see more pics here. Phnom Penh shopping Some of the most interesting and exotic are arts and crafts available in many Phnom Penh shops. Antiques are always an eye catcher in any living room in particular a gorgeous Khmer Buddha statue, figurines, Buddha painting, sculptures and images, old or new, everything is available, that's real antique shopping. A very interesting antique shop in Phnom Penh, actually its a real treasure trove, is here. Only about 20 m off Sisowath Quay at 148 street and full with hidden treasures of Chinese, South East Asian plus Indochinese Antiques and Arts. Plus furniture and other decorative items. The Phnom Penh central market has been renovated and looks very "fresh", at least the main art deco hall. The market is the usual mixture of everything goes, wet market, souvenir market etc. you can find plenty of native handicrafts and other interesting things, markets means, go shopping. Its similar to the Bogyoke Market in Yangon, the central market in Kuala Lumpur Chinatown and Bangkok markets, Phuket and elsewhere in the region. But as in this new age markets its a place where the Chinese offload their consumer  goods, the Phnom Penh central market is almost filled up to about 80% with textiles and other cheap stufffrom China. The only native items at the central market is food, flower and some cheap silver jewelry plus some so called "Chinese Jade" which actually is Myanmar jade jewelry. The Phnom Penh nightlife scene is a pleasant surprise with plenty of bars and restaurants along Sisowath quay and at the side streets. Actually most bars and clubs are in the side streets and most of them have some cute Phnom Penh bar girls sitting around waiting that something is happening, means a guy come in and spend some money for drinks and if everyone is happy and agree he might take the lady with him, in the area all Phnom Penh hotels are tuned for this, read more. Phnom Penh Shopping Phnom Penh Antiques Shopping Phnom Penh Central Market   Sisowath Quay One of the best locations in Phnom Penh is Sisowath Quay just along the riverfront of the Tonle Sap River , actually this is the real town center where the easy accessible hotels are, all the "in" restaurants, where the nightlife is on, the girls are out in the bars and a great after sunset starts. Sisowath Quay along the Tonle Sap is great during the day and in the night, the good news among other is prices are low means value for your hard earned money, more.