Phnom Penh, the capital city
Phnom Penh has been the capital city of Cambodia for over six centuries. Knowing as one of the oldest capital city in Southeast
Asia, Phnom Penh is the city of history, commercial, and tourism. The city has
been expanding years by years and the population has reached around 3 million.
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| Wat Phnom |
Based on the history, the city was founded
after the forbidden from Angkor by the king, his majesty, Ponheayat in 1434.
The reasons that led the king decided to move down in order for building down
along the Mekong River because Angkor city had gone through a lot of wars and
especially, the invasion from Siam (Thai nowadays) and the city was close to their
city as well. Another reason was that the geography of the new city was better
for protection and easy for people to live.
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| Phnom Penh drawn in 1887 |
There was also a story telling about how
Phnom Penh was built. It was known that the name of the city was given after an
old lady named Penh. She found a big Koki tree stopped at the riverside nearby
her house after a big rain during the raining season. Then, she went down to
see that big tree and found the statues of Buddha. Being so surprised by
finding those statues, she gathered the villagers living around there to pull
that big tree up to the land and she asked those people to build up a small
mountain and a pagoda over there to place the statues. After building the
mountain, people gave the name to that place as Phnom Daun Penh and then it was
shorten by just only Phnom Penh until present.
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| The old lady named Penh found the statues in Koki Tree |
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| Wat Phnom first built based on the story |
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| The statue of the old lady, Penh |
Even though Phnom Penh has been modernized
from a decade to another, it was not used as the capital of Cambodia many times
because of war and the reigns of kings who had ruled the country. In 1975,
Phnom Penh was once again deserted because of Khmer Rouge after the fall of
Republic of Cambodia led by General Lon Nol. It was the darkest time in the
history that Cambodia was brought down to the zero point and city was known as
ghost city due to the fact that people were evacuated to live in other
provinces and there were the group of high command of Khmer Rouge only who
lived in the city. After the fall of Khmer Rouge in 1979, Phnom Penh has been
made the capital city of Cambodia again.
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| The evacuation of Phnom Penh citizens in 1975 |
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| Phnom Penh, the ghost city from 1975 - 1979 |
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| Phnom Penh in present |
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| Phnom Penh in present |
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| Phnom Penh in present |
With the rise of economy and political
stability, Phnom Penh has become one of the interesting places that attracts
more investors from overseas to do business there and more importantly, it is
also attracting many tourists from over the world to visit since the government
has taken their actions to develop and preserve the tourist sites such as Royal
Palace, National Museum, Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, Cheung Ek Genocide Museum,
shopping centers, and other resorts located around the city. Also, there are
many investments on restaurants and accommodations that has facilitated a lot in
the process of providing services to the tourists.
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| Royal Palace |
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| National Museum |
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| Toul Sleng Genocide Museum |
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| Cheung Ek, The Killing Fields |
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| Shopping Center |
With regards to this development
and the potential for tourism sector itself, Phnom Penh has become another
interesting sites after Siem Reap province, known as the center of cultural and
natural sites. By this way, our tourists are able to spend their stay longer in
Cambodia by combining their trip to both Siem Reap and Phnom Penh back and forth as they can enter either Phnom Penh or Siem Reap first due to fact that there are
international airports in each cities.
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| Central Market or Psar Tmey |
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Night Market in Phnom Penh
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Our company is the local tour operator based in Siem Reap, Cambodia established by Khmer local people. With the team that have experience in this tourism industry for more than 12 years, we put all our efforts and commitments to arrange and provide all our value customers an unforgettable trip. Customer services and flexibility are our top principles to work in this business.
“Satisfaction and enjoyment of our customers are also ours, so we will serve them in the level best from our heart and passion”, President of TRAILTOAngkortours and Travel.
Steven Lor, Sales Manager - TRAILTOAngkortours and Travel
