The Bells of Phnom Penh Cathedral

I made a post back in October 2009 about this cathedral which apparently was inaugurated in 1955. It was torn down in 1975, and its bells were thrown into the lake behind. They were later recovered and can be seen on the steps of the National Museum. I was working there recently and took some close-ups of the decorations on them. They are all quite common Christian themes such as crucifixes and the bleeding heart but unusual in Phnom Penh. There are two bells that are in good condition, and one of which only the top part remains.

This aerial image shows the cathedral in front of the lake, which has now also disappeared

 Here's the 2009 post on the cathedral.

Hun Sen Radar Tower

I first noticed this odd-shaped structure being built at the southern end of Monivong Boulevard about 6 months back. As it is being built in the Department of Water Resources Management and Conservation's compound, I imagined it might be a water tower. Some time later I was talking to a soldier in the neighborhood who told me it was going to be Hun Sen's Radar Tower. I took this to be some sort of mistranslation, but then found out it was true. At first I presumed that it was for national defense, but the truth is more ordinary. It's a weather radar tower, the giant glass ball which will go on top is typical of one, although the design of the building is a lot more elaborate than any others I've seen in pictures. It will be 60 meters high once the ball goes up and should stand out as one of the more unusual landmarks around the city.

Monorom Hotel

This was one of the first large modern hotels built in Phnom Penh. It stands on Monivong Boulevard, not far from Central Market and the railway station. At the time it went up there was little development along what was to become one of the city’s most metropolitan and built up streets.

The photo of the “Khmer Rouge” troops passing by the hotel on April 17^th 1975 poses some questions. The ”Artful Dodger” character out front is wearing some strange-looking bandoliers and has a certain jolly expression which seems very exaggerated. He certainly doesn’t have the usual stoic and mean expression that you usually see in pictures of KR soldiers, and the people in the truck look to me to be civilians. The flag flying from the truck is one which has often been identified as a Democratic Kampuchea flag, but I have rarely seen pictures of it actually being used.

The crowd to the left of the truck are mainly dressed in camouflage military fatigues, of the type worn by Lon Nol’s Republican forces. I understand that there was a certain amount of jubilance at first on the streets of Phnom Penh, but I ‘m surprised to see Republican soldiers celebrating. I thought they would have been too busy getting rid of their uniforms first, as they were the number one target for execution in days to come. .

When the capital was finally taken, it wasn’t by one unified army, but by several allied groups from almost autonomous zones of the country. Some confusion, and even a certain amount of fighting erupted between the various groups at first. In the first few hours of confusion, one particularly strange event occurred. Some people, perhaps students or military decided to join in. They dressed up as Khmer Rouge combatants, and paraded through the streets on trucks proclaiming victory. It’s not clear what their motives were, perhaps they thought they would just blend in and get on with things, but I doubt any of them got very far.

The first picture shows the Monorom in the early 1960s, the B&W is from April 17th 1975. The bottom two are more recent, as you can see it hasn't changed a lot other than the awning along the front.