Poul Lange April 25, 2008
BY ANNE HYLAND
Wall Street Journal
Cambodia flourished in the 1950s and 1960s as the economy grew under the reign of the young King Norodom Sihanouk. But domestic insurgencies in surrounding countries eventually seeped in, allowing the Communist Khmer Rouge to gain power.
In 1975, the rebel group seized, sacked and left for dead Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh. The city's two million residents were marched into the countryside as the revolutionaries pursued a crazed plan to transform the country into a Maoist, peasant-dominated agrarian cooperative. All told, it cost a quarter of the country's population their lives.
Today, the scars of the brief, brutal Khmer Rouge reign -- the regime was overthrown in 1979 by invading Vietnam forces -- are visible in parts of Phnom Penh, but even these are rapidly disappearing as the city modernizes into another Southeast Asian metropolis.
This half-day tour by foot and tuk-tuk taxi travels through some areas of Phnom Penh where evidence of the city's recent tragic history as well as some of its early-20th century architectural gems still survive.
2 P.M. ROYAL PALACE
Begin on the corner of Samdech Sothearos Boulevard and Street 184 in front of the Royal Palace, a classically styled Cambodian complex of structures with soaring spires and flying celestial eaves that dates back to the late 1860s.
The palace -- now home to King Norodom Sihamoni, a former ballet dancer and the son of Sihanouk -- is one of the few important buildings spared by the Khmer Rouge after it captured Phnom Penh. Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge's shadowy leader, and his senior henchmen stayed there in May 1975 as they plotted Cambodia's descent into madness.
Across from the palace is the lemon-colored Unesco building. The original purpose of this French-colonial villa, built in 1920, remains uncertain. (Cambodia was a French protectorate from 1863 to 1953.) However, from the 1940s until the rise of the Khmer Rouge, it was the residence of Tan Pa, a wealthy Khmer-Chinese businessman. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization renovated the building in 1991 and rents it from the government.
Many French colonial buildings are disappearing in Phnom Penh, as are other structures built in the "New Khmer" architectural style, a term that refers to Cambodian buildings dating from the 1950s and 1960s. Those who want to see the inside of the Unesco building are out of luck; it isn't open to the public. But you'll get an inside view of another restored French villa later in the tour.
2:20 P.M. NATIONAL MUSEUM
From the corner, walk west along Street 184 toward the National Museum. This wide, tree-lined street, like many in the capital, was designed by the French to recall the wide boulevards of their homeland. When silent movie actor Charlie Chaplin visited Phnom Penh in 1936, he admired the city's shady avenues and called them "little sisters" to the Champs-Elysées -- the grandest avenue in Paris.
Take note of the park to your right. This is where the Royal Plowing ceremony is held each May, presided over by King Sihamoni, of course. Oxen walk the park's sandy perimeter three times and are then led to bowls that contain various grains. Whatever grains the oxen choose to eat, and the amount they consume, are taken as indicators of the size of the country's next grain harvests.
The russet-colored National Museum is your next stop. The museum, which is a colonial design that reworks the traditional Khmer pagoda, opened in 1920. It houses a collection of sculptures and artifacts that date from the Angkor period (ninth to 15th century), when Cambodian kings ruled unrivaled in the region. The museum is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. (Corner of Street 184, 855-23-211-753)
3:30 P.M. AMBRE BOUTIQUE
After the National Museum, flag down a tuk-tuk -- find one with an English-speaking driver -- and head west along Street 178, which runs beside the museum.
Cross over Norodom Boulevard and continue along Street 178 until you reach the house at No. 37. You can wander through this meticulously restored two-story French villa. It is home to Ambre, the clothing boutique of rising French-Khmer designer Romyda Keth. Her elegant feminine ensembles in colorful silk and organza fill the rooms. (37 Street 178; 855-23-217-935)
4 P.M. PHSAR THMEY
(CENTRAL MARKET)
Leaving Ambre, have the tuk-tuk drive toward Street 63, take a right and head for Phsar Thmey, Phnom Penh's central market. The extraordinary art-deco building was completed in 1937. Today, it bustles with locals buying food, clothes, electronics and jewelry. Rare U.S. maps of Indochina from the 1960s can still be found there, among the mish-mash of stalls at the east entrance of the market.
5 P.M. POST OFFICE SQUARE
From Phsar Thmey take the tuk-tuk east along Street 130 toward Norodom Boulevard. At Norodom turn left, and keep your eyes peeled for Street 102, where you will want to turn right.
As you drive along Norodom Boulevard, you pass a large pink neoclassical building on your right, which is the National Bank of Cambodia, the country's central bank. The original central-bank building was blown up by the Khmer Rouge as part of its rejection of capitalism, a policy that included abolishing money. The new bank was built in 1990.
Turn right onto Street 102 and continue until you reach Post Office Square. This Provençal-style square was filled with bistros before the 1970s. War correspondents used to telex their reports from the post office there. Today, a few restaurants are returning to the square, such as Van's, which is in the former Indochine Bank building. ( 855-23-722-067; open daily from 11.30 a.m. to 2.30 p.m., and 5 p.m. to 10.30 p.m)
5:15 P.M. VANN NATH'S ART GALLERY
From Post Office Square ask the tuk-tuk driver to go toward Sisowath Quay and turn left. As you drive along Sisowath Quay you may see long-tail fishing boats on the river. During colonial times, it was common to see expatriates water-ski along the river's safer parts.
Turn left on Street 90 and follow it until it intersects with Street 47. At this junction is the modest gallery of artist Vann Nath, which sits between a pharmacy and a shop selling billiard tables. If you look hard, you'll find a small painted wooden sign for the Khmer Art Gallery. No. 17, Street 47. ( 855-92-549-089; Web: www.vannnath.com)
Vann Nath is a survivor of the Tuol Sleng torture center. About 16,000 men, women and children were sent to Tuol Sleng, a high school that became the infamous detention and torture center of the Pol Pot regime. Of the seven people known to have survived, only three are alive today -- one of them being Vann Nath. Tuol Sleng, also known as Security Prison 21 or S-21, is now a museum. It is not included in this tour, however, because it requires several hours and is best done separately.
Today, Vann Nath, 63 years old, is a self-taught artist, and his artworks, often described as naïve, are on display and available for sale at the Khmer Art Gallery. Conversation may be at a minimum unless you bring a translator.
Also on Street 47 is the Preah Ket Mealea Hospital, which was one of Phnom Penh's biggest. When the Khmer Rouge took the city, hospitals were forcibly emptied. Doctors dropped scalpels and walked out of operating rooms, and patients, including those with intravenous drips and blood plasma bottles still attached, were ordered to join the march to the countryside.
5:45 P.M. HOTEL LE ROYAL
From Vann Nath's gallery, take the tuk-tuk around Wat Phnom, veering off to the right onto Street 92 and to the final stop at Hotel Le Royal.
The hotel, a blend of art-deco and French colonial architecture, opened in 1929 and was home to visiting dignitaries and celebrities such as Jacqueline Kennedy, who came in 1967. It was also a favorite watering hole for French bureaucrats and expatriates.
But by the tumultuous 1970s the guest list comprised mostly war correspondents and Red Cross officials. During this period the hotel became known as Le Phnom and the exterior was fenced in with barbed-wire barricades.
When the Vietnamese overthrew the Khmer Rouge and occupied Cambodia in 1979 they changed the hotel's name to Samaki, or Solidarity Hotel. Soon, aid workers occupied the by-then-decrepit rooms. Eventually, the hotel was bought and refurbished by the Raffles Group, which reopened it as the Hotel Le Royal in 1997.
Walk into the hotel's intimate, high-ceiling lobby and from there make your way to the elegant Elephant Bar for a well-earned drink. (92 Rukhak Vithei Daun Penh, off Monivong Boulevard Sangkat Wat Phnom, 855-23-981-888)
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Poul Lange 
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