Grand tradition in Cambodia

Even cloistered monks at the foot of Mt Oudong carry the latest smartphones these days. [Photo by Matt Hodges/Shanghai Star]

"Things are different now," Lonely Planet writer Nick Ray says as we swap Jolie stories over an Angkor beer at Yellow Sub, a Beatles memorabilia bar downtown. Ray served as a location scout for Tomb Raider.

"Cambodia's grown up a lot."

At the entrances of the big temples at this UNESCO World Heritage Site policemen still flog their badges for $5, but fences now cordon off more parts of what, at 400 square kilometers, feels like the world’s largest living museum.

Even today, new ruins are being unearthed at what used to be one of the largest communities on Earth. Remoter parts remain off-limits, as de-mining from the 1975-79 civil war continues. Bamboo scaffolding testifies to the renovation efforts of sponsors like Japan, India and the United States.

Such conservation efforts are important as pressed-for-time tourists can now leave Shanghai on a China Eastern flight at 7 pm and check into their hotel by 10:30 pm, making for a very convenient weekend getaway.

Those with more time can hop on another 45-minute flight to the capital to experience the Foreign Correspondents' Club, just a few blocks' ride from Hotel Le Royal.

Here, whiskey-warmed hacks would famously let off firearms from its balcony during the stormy days of Pol Pot's reign. It now accommodates a luxury restaurant and serves as a tourist haven famous for its hard-to-beat sunset views of the river.

It is a must-see, along with the Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and National Museum, all of which rival their counterparts in Bangkok.

The real Killing Fields pay quiet respect to the estimated 1.7 million people, or one-quarter of the population, who were wiped out through executions, starvation and disease. S-21, a former detention center for political prisoners, may be a little too bloodstained for some.

Stupa-studded Mt Oudong, a nest of elaborately crafted resting places for former kings, is an infinitely more pleasant experience, about an hour's drive out of town. Some of the edifices built by Chinese look north to the motherland in homage and bear the scars of carpet-bombing campaigns from the 1970s.

Local guides swear that the ashes of late King Father Norodom Sihanouk, who died in Beijing in October 2012, will soon be moved here. In July, they were interred in a stupa at the Silver Pagoda.

Expect to pay $25 for a round trip by tuk tuk to Oudong. In Cambodia, dollars are still the preferred medium of exchange. Moreover, half of the population is still under 30 - a legacy of its painful past - but they, like the country, are growing up quickly.