I give up. I have tried to write a detailed description of Phnom Penh's current state of affairs as it relates to its history, but I just can't bring myself to do it without sounding too opinionated or too long-winded. Know this, Cambodian's have had a horrible history that no one should have to live with. Blame can be spread among the French, the Americans, the Vietnamese, and the Cambodian's themselves. How you allocate that blame depends on your perspective. As far as the tourist circuit goes, the atrocities of Cambodians on Cambodians is what is "highlighted" in the tours of Phnom Penh. In short, during the Khmer Rouge Regime's reign (especially from 1975-1979 under Pol Pot) close to 2,000,000 people were either killed (often by torture), died from starvation, or simply disappeared. Mass graves are still being discovered as bones, clothes, and other remains (pictures) come to the surface in the rainy seasons of Cambodia. People were murdered not for their skin color or religion but instead for their status and/or education level. The Pol Pot regime took drastic (read horrible) steps to put forth his radical Communists views that all people should equal in terms of social status. In addition to the mass murder, he also implemented forced farm labor (urban people were forced to move to the countryside), eliminated schools, religion, etc. Partially due to the vastness of the atrocities and partially because many of the former Khmer Rouge party members are still in power, the effects of the Pol Pot regime (now thirty years ago) are still present. While Laos and Vietnam have moved to a market economy, Cambodia is still lagging. As a result, the shear volume of poverty is striking. (THIS IS GOING TO BE A ROUGH ONE. BE WARNED) In the areas that I visited, you could often not go TWENTY SECONDS without encountering some sort of request from someone who obviously needs support of some kind from someone. This request could be in the form of a five year old child selling books at nine o'clock in the morning or at nine o'clock at night; an elderly person down on their luck; an amputee often with more than one limb missing; a woman carrying around a baby at ten o'clock at night asking for money for food; or the far more common young man trying to make a living as a tuk tuk or moto taxi driver. The saddest part about the whole picture is that the children appear to have no childhood to speak of. In order to take advantage of their cuteness, they are working as soon as they can speak. I sure hope that the cycle is being broken somewhere, but I was not witness to it. With all of these sad things said, Phnom Penh still shows signs of not only being the former jewel of Indochina, but also signs of making a slow comeback. The wide boulevards, the beautiful French colonial architecture, the gardens, street side cafes, the markets, etc. are all present. Each shows not only the life that once was, but also the life that could be. It could be and "in spots" is a beautiful city. In spite of the sadness, I am very happy that I spent time here on this trip (I skipped it on my trip in '05). It is definitely all about perspective.