PHNOM PENH: Scruffy Old Town

It's easily forgotten when we look at all the old pictures of the grand buildings of the administrative center and palace that outside of this the town was fairly scruffy and nondescript. Other than the quay and a few other solid buildings within a short distance from this there was little solid or fancy about Phnom Penh. An American traveler, Frank Vincent, had this to say about the place in 1872. The town, he wrote, was; " dull, nothing breaking the uniformity of its bamboo huts excepting a slender, pyramidical pagoda, one of the palace buildings, and two blocks of brick stores, recently built by the king; it resembles many of the villages along the banks of the (Tonle Sap River), only differing from them in size- in numbers of dwellings and shops." He continues: " As we sailed along the river, the first objects that attracted my attention were the small but neat buildings - chapel and schools - of the Roman Catholic Mission. Next we passed an old dilapidated steamboat, and back of this, on the shore, waved the national Cambodian flag - blue with a red border, and emblems of peace and plenty in the center ground. then came the barracks, where are stationed a company of French troops, and the residence of the Commandant or Protecteur, as he is styled , who represents French interests rather than His Majesty's....The city extends along the banks of the river for a distance of about three miles, and perhaps not more than half a mile into the interior; on that side there is a low embankment of earth, erected recently- at the time of Annamite trouble. There is no wall about (Phnom Penh), not even around the palace. The main road runs north and south along the river; there are a few cross-roads, but this is the street. It is about thirty feet wide, macadamised with broken bricks and sand, and lined throughout its whole length with little bamboo shops, the greater part owned by Chinese, many by Klings (Indians), and the remainder by Cambodians and Cochin Chinese. Many of the shops are "gambling hells"; some are used by opium smokers, the Klings offer for sale miscellaneous European goods, and the Cambodians silks and cottons; the Cambodians are celebrated for their manufacture of silk. The population is about 20,000, and embraces Chinese, Cochin Chinese, Klings and Siamese, besides Cambodians."