Sightseeing in Phnom Penh

So much of what I end up visiting in the cities of the various countries I’ve been to depends on the advice I hear from other backpackers in the lounges of hostels and on cramped buses.

What most people seemed to do in Phnom Penh was visit the Killing Fields, which I did (you can read about that here).

But there are also a whole load of other places you can visit in a day. Hire a tuk-tuk for the day and go culture-hopping around the capital:

Royal Palace

Vast, ornate and reminiscent of Bangkok‘s Grand Palace. There are also little monkeys scampering around the scaffolding, which can be a welcome surprise to animal lovers after hours of traipsing round the temples in the boiling sun.

National Museum

A beautiful collection of sculptures, with a peaceful garden in the middle to sit and collect your thoughts. Think twice about going, though, if you’re not a huge fan of sculpture as there’s not much else (and the $5 entrance fee can seem a little extortionate when you consider that you can get into the National Portrait Gallery in London for free – but that might be me just being in extra stingy Cambodia mode, where a massage can cost as little as $1).

Wat Phnom

An impressive 1373 temple overlooking Phnom Penh’s legendary traffic jams (I found the best way to cross the road is to follow a Cambodian and shelter behind them – they understand the impossible about when is safe to do so).

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

If the Killing Fields haven’t completely demoralised you, it is worth taking a stop at the Genocide Museum. Pol Pot persecuted the educated, so it is perhaps unsurprising that he turned this school into a prison, execution and torture centre, keeping thousands against their will. You can view photos of the people unfortunate enough to be taken here, as well as the torture equipment used and the cells they were forced to live in. Unsettling, but important to see.