Phnom Penh is not the most photogenic city in the world, but it holds its own among the former centres of the French Indochina. The stark poverty and dilapidation here is more obvious than in any city of Vietnam or Thailand, but there is still beauty to be found in its streets, parks, markets and riverbanks. The central part has numbered streets, some teeming with western-oriented hotels and restaurants, some seem to cater strictly to the city’s large Chinese contingent, and some are outright seedy. The park around Wat Phnom Daun Penh has a curious colony of hornbills, who are a sightseeing of their own, as are flocks of pigeons residing along the embankment. All in all, Phnom Penh deserves a curious street photographer’s attention, but it needs time and open mind to discover.
