[Video] 1960s Phnom Penh: Pearl of Asia

Words by

April 7, 2016

While we spend a great deal of time at Saigoneer posting photos and writing stories about old Saigon, formerly known as the “Pearl of the Orient”, Cambodia’s capital once shared a similar moniker.

Prior to Pol Pot’s catastrophic “Year One” de-urbanization program in 1975, which decimated the city’s population and infrastructure, Phnom Penh was commonly referred to as the “Pearl of Asia”. To see why, look no further than the video below, which shows orderly streets, a modern cityscape and large public works projects in the Cambodian capital.