A century ago Koh Pich was a low river island where Phnom Penh families came to swim. It has since been entirely reclaimed and built up by the Overseas Cambodian Investment Corporation as a master-planned district of malls, gated villas and convention halls — including pastiche reproductions of Tiananmen Square and the Arc de Triomphe.
It is easy to mock, and locals do, but Koh Pich at night is genuinely lively: families queue for the small theme park rides, food trucks line the broad boulevards, and karaoke spills out of the riverside bars. The Diamond Island Bridge to the south is also the site of the 2010 Water Festival stampede, in which 347 people died — a small memorial near the bridge marks the spot.