From dawn to dusk Phnom Penh is a bustling melting pot of audio, visual and fragrant delights that excite your senses and imagination.

Cambodia offers experiences that will engage your sensory receptors and create memories that will leave a lasting impression. Perhaps the most visually stimulating icon of Cambodia is Angkor Wat. However, Phnom Penh offers sights through its art galleries and cultural centres.

Hungry for art and a tasty salad? Head to Java gallery / restaurant on Sihanouk Boulevard near the Independence Monument. It has ongoing art showcases that display the work of many local and expat artists. Other art galleries worth checking out are Reyum on Street 178 and Scan near Wat Langka. To see traditional, quirky shop sign art visit Bojangles at 269 Sisowath Quay, the riverside next to ANZ Bank, fantastic, cheap food is also on offer.

If you are into moving arts, Meta House on Street 264 offers a weekly round of Indie films. Additionally the Bopha Audio Visual Centre of Street 66 is building a store house of antique Khmer films that can be viewed on computers on the second floor. The French Cultural Centre is also at the forefront of cinematic venture.

The sounds of Phnom Penh begin at dawn, with clucking chickens and alarm clock roosters. This progresses to the chant and step of early morning shiatsu practitioners and jogging health fanatics along the riverside. Later the soft hum of early office and flight-time motos mix with the muffled clip-clopping of ox-drawn pottery wagons. By 7am the city is awake, alive with the sound of kids riding their bikes to school, while cars respond with obnoxiously loud honking horns.

These sounds reach a crescendo as the day goes on; as night falls they become muted and merge with the faint, melancholy chants of monks. But don’t mistake the quiet ambience as the sign of a sleeping city, because Phnom Penh is rockin’.

One venue keeping the music alive is Talking to a Stranger on Street 294, which is a great place to hear live music. Other venues offering live music are the FCC and Sharky’s…

Edited from the Cambodia Pocket Guide (May 08)