Tuesday, February 27, 2018


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.

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. 

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. 

The old lady named Penh found the statues in Koki Tree

Wat  Phnom first built based on the story


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. 

The evacuation of Phnom Penh citizens in 1975
Phnom Penh, the ghost city from 1975 - 1979
Phnom Penh in present
Phnom Penh in present










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.


Royal Palace












National Museum













Toul Sleng Genocide Museum


Cheung Ek, The Killing Fields














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.
Central Market or Psar Tmey
















Night Market in Phnom Penh



















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Steven Lor, Sales Manager - TRAILTOAngkortours and Travel