Oudong is the former capital of Cambodia. The name Oudong, often also spelled "Oudong", means "victorious". It was the former capital of Cambodia from 1618 to 1866, after the Khmers shifted from Angkor, and before the capital moved again, to Phnom Penh. It is a place that the Thais have plundered, the Americans have bombed and then finally the Khmer Rouge have blown up.
Set astride a series of hillocks, Phnom Oudong is made up of a row of stupas and shrines in a variety of condition that can be thoroughly explored at a comfortable pace in a couple of hours. On weekdays you could well have the entire site to yourself, but on weekends it can be quite busy with visitors and wedding parties from Phnom Penh.
Buddhist monks emerging from King Norodom Sihanouk Stupa, Oudong (29 September, 2002)
Best approached is from the north, your motorcycle rider will most likely drop you at the base of the stairs towards the northern end of the hill. There is a cluster of souvenir shops and hordes of children who will accompany you during your exploration. Beggars lined the stairway to a glitzy modern temple home to a Buddha relic, previously housed in Phnom Penh. The attraction here is not so much the stupa but the view over the surrounds, which it breathtaking.
From here you can take a path that runs along the ridge allowing you to visit each of the sites without going downhill.
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About this website
Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.
While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.