Cambodia's Former Capital of Oundong

Oudong Tramoung Travel Blog

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October 21st, 2006 – by: droonsta

Begger on the steps up the mountain

My cousin's in-laws offered to take us back to the city as they also wanted a daytrip. They hired a car and a driver and off we went.... On the way back to Phnom Penh, we popped into one of Cambodia's ancient capital cities, Phnom Oudong. Phnom Oudong is one of the post-Angkor era cities as the city moved from Oudong to Longvek to Phnom Penh etc, countless times throughout its history after the fall of Angkor.

Oudong is a tiny attraction compared to Angkor, and predominately just houses some large Buddhist stupa's that contain ashes of former Cambodian Kings. The scenery around the temple is breathtaking and requires a fit pair of legs to hike up the mountain!

The area is still very basic and doesn't really cater for an influx of foreign tourists, however many locals enjoy visiting this area during weekends and public holidays as a nice little retreat from the capital city.

Phnom Oudong Stupas

Locals would come here to pay their respects and have a picnic at the base of the mountain.

Only my cousin and I hiked up the mountain while the in-laws relaxed and chilled out at the base. Upon hiking up the steps we were greeted by many little kids who offered to be our tour guides. I declined the offer as I already knew about the history of the mountain and also came here on my previous trip in 2002. However the kids persisted on walking along with us anyways and offered to carry our shoes, as shoes were not allowed at certain locations.

The reason why I decided to hike up this time round was because on my last trip here I missed out on wandering around the brand new stupa which was erected in 2002. I was not allowed to walk and tour around it until the cutting of the ribbon ceremony the following day, how unlucky I was! hahah.

Water Lilly

Anyways along the whole journey up, I witnessed the same tragic thing... countless beggers. I really hate the site as it's very depressing, and I'm not saying this in a bad way in terms of image, but in terms of feeling sorry for the locals and the state they have to put themselves in. DAMN GOVERNMENT, DAMN WAR, DAMN GENOCIDE, DAMN KHMER ROUGE, DAMN NIXON & KISSINGER. I donated some small change that I had for good merit and continued my journey to the top.

When we reached a certain point, one of the kid guides pointed out in the distance and said "look, look tour buses, the Chinese are coming" I laughed and one of them shouted out "I'm running back down". After talking with one of the kids, I realised that the kids made a decent living on certain days when the Chinese, Koreans and/or Japanese visited.

Garden on Phnom Oudong

This was a good thing as it helped them support their families. Another good thing (I hope is true) is that they claim, that they only come here when they don't have school.

After wandering around the mountain visiting the countless stupas and witnessing the progressive reconstruction/restoration work being made at one of the temples on top, we continued back down to the base of the mountain for lunch. We offered some food to my kid guides and I tipped them a few dollars each, which was too much in general as 2000 Riel (50cents) would be sufficient. However they didn't ask for money and I found them to be good company and I wanted to help them as much as I can, without ruining future tourists experiences. [NOTE: If I were to start tipping dollars and dollars to every single guide, begger, local in general, then future backpackers and travellers would be faced with high expectations of large tips.

Paper Flowers (don't know the official scientific name)

.. which isn't a good thing, because then kids won't go to school, as they would just try and make money from tourists. It would also encourage more locals to beg who may already be living a sufficient life in the countryside... Human Nature - GREED]

We also popped into an area near Phnom Basit, to visit some Angkor style Wats which were recently constructed out of concrete. Other than the appearance from the distance, there's not much to admire in terms of carvings as its all cement and have not been carved, but mass produced. There are currently 2 such Angkor styled Wats in the immediate vicinity and if your lucky enough you might fall upon some Cambodian Stars, as it is a popular place to shoot local Karoake videos and Movies.

Phnom Basit, houses the largest in shape statue of the Buddha lying down.

My guide!

It is also home to a pre-Angkorian ruined temple. I did not bother to visit this site on this trip as I had already visited it in my previous trips to Cambodia in 2005.