Phnom Penh

 

 

Cambodia, a country that conjures up images of tragedy and violence. The Killing Fields is mainly what comes to mind if anything does when this country is mentioned. Yet as time passes and the World moves on to the next horrific news, Cambodia has been reinventing itself.

Phnom Pen is a dynamic and fast-growing city. Only a decade ago it was unlike to find any buildings over 3 stories high. Now skyscrapers are spring up all over the city – office blocks, apartments, commercial centres – you name it. The energy and work ethic of the population, mainly young under 35, is driving the economy forward.

 

Commercialism is surging with Western-style clothing and products filling stores around Phnom Penh’s main boulevards yet just off those streets are the traditional street vendors. There is wealth displayed by the handful of affluent population, as the display of 4X4 vehicles and cars show – BMW, Mercedes, Roll-Royces, Jaguars, etc. Yet most people live in small apartments and travel around by mopes and scooters. Whether people resent the gulf in the standard of living isn’t obvious – maybe they’re too busy trying to survive.

 

Yet there is still respect for tradition. Buddhism is the principal religion and it still draws people to their ceremonies. Buddhist monks are a common feature of Phnom Penh and the family is central to most people in Cambodia. At weekend families meet together for fun and relaxation with children running chasing pigeons and swimming in the river.

 

 

Phnom Penh is such a confusing city with so much tension between modernity and tradition. Maybe the tension will happily exist without too much contradiction. Maybe it would be best to go there with a camera and try and make sense. Failing that, just enjoy the experience.