Cambodian capital Phnom Penh can offer much more than a quick "race" according to the most famous Museum of Tuol Slang and a field of death. Other attractions include the Royal Palace, Temples, Markets and a large number of cafes and restaurants for gourmet, bars and hotels for those who urgently need to relax. Phnom Penh is still an interesting place, and come here at least for a couple of days. But be prepared for the fact that you can not like the city. Easy!
Especially those who travel there from joyful light Siem Ripa - you must understand that the atmosphere in the Phnom Penh is completely different. In a sense, it is a very heavy and dark city. Unpleasant events of the past, all this pain as if still twist in the air, and the locals seem to use it for profit.
Imagine that you decided to dinner in the fresh air at the cafe table and admire the beauty of the sunset. Barely you land on your chair, in the shortest possible time you will be asked to buy a book about the genocide, with a discount, of course (by the way, you will offer to buy the same books from the moment you cross the Cambodian border), then local kids will offer you Buy a bracelet that you are not needed at all, but you, of course, offer him a couple of coins instead, because he is so nice and cute, and it is likely that he will refuse money, because this is not the amount he wants. He will not take money and starts to breathe. With our beggars simpler - you will give them a couple of coins, and they will tell you "Many thanks", but do not expect the same relationship to the money in Phnom Penh.
Moreover, be prepared for the fact that this sweet kid will send you to all the hell on pretty good English. If you are still sitting on the street, then you expect that after the baby, a mother with a sleeping child will swing to you. Even if you give her money, well, for the sake of all saint, you can already have dinner, then, most likely, the guys will be abandoned with her neighboring table in help, and you will have to see Madame from half an hour, while she will join the courage to the tourists . As long as they are running out on the nearest passing Tuk-Tuka.
Such a picture will most likely happen in 90% of the cases of your bastards for lunch. And, most likely, you will be psychologically depleted by the end of the first day. It can be assumed that it would be easier not to lunch in tourists overcrowded to tourists, where and more than more. Good question. Most likely, as soon as you see the cafes on the outskirts, you will change your plans for dinner and return to the center. And if you go to the market, to try the local food there (as an alternative to a restaurant, and, in fact, the usual thing is to dine in the market), then amazed how the flies are dirty there, and how much flies fly there. Well, let me eat here is not the good, it's still better here and even somehow quieter than in restaurants next to expensive hotels.
If you hire a car-tuk's driver for a whole day, in order to ride as a city, then be prepared for the fact that this one will join. It will require money in rice, and not a couple of dollars, but, for example, 40 or 50. In other cases, they will manipulate children's homes (they say, donate, and I will give, or "Let's play with the children on the chak"), but If you offer to sacrifice in the shelter clothes or some kind of toys in kindergarten, you will abruptly refuse - only money is needed.
Yes, I brought the darkness, of course. But if you have a couple of days, then be sure to walk and walk around the city, so that feel the pulse of the capital. But only remember that Phnom Penh is not Cambodia, like New York - not the United States, but Moscow- not Russia.
In general, after the shock from the type of beggars, cripples on the streets and dirt dissipates (although it will not disappear completely), you can already know the city better. Again, the sights of the city are putting longing and horror. Even if you briefly read about what you have to see, you still probably simply plunge you in shock. The field of death, for example, is clearly not for the faint of heart. And Tolo Slag will leave a terrible, surreal and humiliating impression. About this museum is usually said that he is "not for the faint of heart" or that it is necessary to "come on an empty stomach". In addition to the foregoing, it is worth saying that it is better to familiarize yourself with this place in advance. Read this book already. Thug about the museum in more detail. In general, this is not the place where it is very cool to pose for selfie and laugh.
You can raise the mood in some temple (for example, in the wat of the pneno), with its funny monkeys, by the way, also very annoying.
A visit to the National Museum is a great solution, especially for those who have already been to Battambang and Siem Ripe.
In the end, ride the river on the boat and drink in local bars, not so bad, as it may seem, and even somewhat useful after such day shocks. But a little confused by these desperate local women and girls wandering around the bars in the hope of "booking a peasant from the West" for the night.
Yes, sex tourism in Phnom Penh is also worth mentioning. Of course, it exists everywhere in Asia and beyond, but these hungry girls work literally for food. Khmer's diners in the cafes of the Khmer poor men with their suspended bald cohabitants "for sixty" can be seen immediately. Pretty unpleasant sight. Therefore, the impression of the nightlife of the capital spars a little.
By the way, oddly enough, there are higher prices in restaurants and on Taki and Tuk Tuki trips. Exchange rates are terrible (almost four times higher than in Vietnam, for example).
In general, the phondion with all his unsightly sides will definitely wake emotions in you, maybe not quite the ones that you expected, but then nothing needs to fantasize yourself. The city, of course, is not fun and not a cold, in some sense, even the philosophical - here I want to look at your own life in a different way. Many say that this city should be visited at least once so that it is not back there. It is true, to return there, you hardly want to go. But how do you know about it, if you don't be at least a day?
