Phnom Penh – First impressions

We arrived to Cambodia by boat from Chau Doc, in a trip of a bit over five hours, including the time we spent at the border to obtain the entry visa to Cambodia. The trip along the Mekong invites to meditation such is the grandiosity of the river…. at least that is what Matthew maintains although I rather suspect he spent the whole trip sleeping.

The city of Phnom Penh surprises with its beauty. The city sits at the confluence of the Mekong river and the Tonlé Bassac y el Tonlé Sap rivers and is a city where the vegetation along the big avenues, together with the numerous traditional temples (Wats), palaces and old colonial constructions scattered through the city might make it easy to forget that Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world with one of the most tragic and bloodiest recent histories.

…. And the truth is that Phnom Penh is a city of contrasts. Next to its rivers and grandiose buildings, next to the herds of tourists that crowd the terraces by the river front, poverty is maybe more palpable and hard to stomach.