Phnom Penh (Cambodia)

Phnom Penh: 

Phnom Penh is currently in the middle of a massive development boom.  You can visually see the new high-rise apartments shooting up into the skyline, and there are major infrastructure improvements happening on almost every corner.  But even with all this rapid growth, Phnom Penh doesn’t have that suffocating, frenetic, crammed feeling you get in other Southeast Asian mega-cities like Bangkok, Saigon, or Hong Kong.

Given this city’s brutal, war-torn history, it is absolutely amazing how it manages to possess such a laid-back, magnetic charm.  It’s Cambodia’s biggest metropolis, yet it cleanly retains a distinct small-town feel.

Cambodian French Quarter

To me, Phnom Penh feels a lot like the French Quarter in New Orleans—you get that beautiful, vintage French colonial architecture, just without the rowdy drunks roaming the streets.

The lush, tree-lined avenues make it an incredibly appealing place to explore.  In fact, Barbie and I got some fantastic daily workouts in just by walking around this vibrant city, taking in all the streetside action, and sweating our absolute asses off in the tropical heat.

It is definitely a city we would consider hunkering down in for an extended slow-travel stay.  We’d love to grab a high-end rental condo here for a month or two just to live like true locals.  The compact footprint makes it a fun, exciting place to navigate without any of that overwhelming exhaustion you normally get from a massive global capital.

Confronting the Horrors of the Khmer Rouge

If you come to Phnom Penh, a visit to Choeung Ek (The Killing Fields) and Tuol Sleng (the S-21 Torture Prison) is an absolute must.  These are the two primary sites where evidence of the regime’s atrocities is heavily preserved.  I firmly believe every single traveler routing through Southeast Asia needs to witness them at least once.

I’ve never been to Auschwitz, but walking through these gates must carry that exact same heavy, deeply sobering feeling.

At the Killing Fields, the reality hits you like a physical wall.  As you walk the dirt paths, literal pieces of clothing, teeth, and shattered bones poke right up through the dirt and grass.  Many of the mass burial pits haven’t even been cordoned off.  No matter how carefully you try to step, it becomes glaringly obvious that you are walking directly over human remains.

In several areas, people have respectfully collected these unearthed bone fragments and teeth, placing them under small shelters as a makeshift memorial.  The central pagoda/stupa, which houses rows of skeletal remains recovered from the mass graves, stands as a quiet, towering monument to those who were lost.

Witnessing the sheer scale of the genocide is profoundly disturbing, but it’s completely necessary if you want to understand the magnitude of what the Khmer Rouge did under that deranged lunatic, Pol Pot.  It completely boggles my mind how one guy could orchestrate the systematic slaughter of his own countrymen.  Pol Pot famously said:

“Better to kill an innocent by mistake, than to keep an enemy alive by mistake.”

I guess his entire political philosophy was equivalent to hitting the “ALL” button on humanity.

The entire day was completely overwhelming and incredibly difficult to put into words.  I will never understand how human beings can inflict that much calculated pain and suffering on one another, or why this kind of madness still pops up around the globe today.

When you look around the streets of Phnom Penh, you’ll notice a strange demographic anomaly: there is hardly anyone over the age of 45 walking around.  According to the United Nations Population Division, nearly 82% of Cambodia’s population is under 45.  The older generations were systematically wiped out by the Khmer Rouge—and a whole lot of them lay directly beneath my feet the day I visited the fields.

Flashpacker Oasis at The Pavilion

On the accommodation front, we managed to secure a spot at an amazing boutique hotel called The Pavilion.  We were incredibly lucky to even snag a reservation here because this place is wildly popular—and for good reason.

The property is a secluded, lush green, fortress-like oasis tucked right into the heart of the chaotic city, complete with two gorgeous swimming pools.  The main historical villa on the grounds was actually built by the former king’s mother back in the 1920s.

They only charged us a modest $55 a night.  A luxury property with this much character would easily fetch $250 or more in the United States.

I bet you didn’t know that Big Doug has a world-class knack for sniffing out hidden-gem guesthouses.  I knocked it out of the park with this booking.  I’m taking this exact opportunity to give myself a well-deserved pat on the back.  My superior guesthouse booking track record on this round-the-world journey continues to shine.

Phnom Penh Neighborhood Food Log

• Local Legends: Sovanna (killer local BBQ), Restaurant 126.

• Expat & Cafe Gems: The Lost Room, The Shop 240, Java Cafe, Pop Cafe, Taqueria Corona.

• Dining for a Cause: Friends, Romdeng (excellent creative Khmer cuisine that trains at-risk youth).

• Casual & Comfort: The Pavilion restaurant, Aeon Mall food court options.

LOOSE STOOLS INDEX

• Rating: 8 / 10

Stools looking good

Thru the Binocs

Barbie and I just officially pulled the trigger and signed up with an online house-sitting platform.  For those unfamiliar, it basically involves looking after a homeowner’s property and pets in exchange for luxury lodging.

Well, my coordinator-in-chief Barbie has already received an incoming request from a homeowner based right in Singapore!  It sounds like the ultimate flashpacker hack: an opportunity to experience an incredibly expensive foreign country from a completely different perspective, living in a quiet local neighborhood, and taking care of the owner’s dog.

If this first gig goes smoothly, we fully intend to explore more house-sitting opportunities across the globe.  Because we are traveling long-term with ultimate flexibility and zero time constraints, this is exactly the kind of unique asset we want to leverage.