Newsletter Cambodia, June 2001

Wednesday, June 27, 2024
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
BY KEAT HENG AND HAM SAMNOM

APSARA DEFENDS ANGKOR COMPLEX AGAINST LOSS TO TIME AND THIEVES

Ancient temples and monuments deteriorated all across Cambodia during two decades of civil war, but the Angkor complex suffered less than most according to Ang Choulean, director of the Apsara Authority’s Department of culture and monuments.
Many of the stone temples were already in various stages of collapse, and further theft of stone during the civil war made current preservation efforts more difficult. Repairing even one temple takes much time, and none are completely restored.
Theft prevention is also a serious concern. The Heritage Police force has 400 square kilometers to protect, Choulean said, and only 360 officers to do it. In a poor country filled with unemployed and illiterate people, the temptation is great to sell antiquities off to Thai middlemen for art collectors in the West.
The Apsara Authority was assigned overall responsibility for both tourist development and site protection in the Angkor area, Cholean said, to improve the structure of tourism management and efficient use of limited human resources. Unlike the era of French control, it has made a point of having foreign specialists work with Cambodia so that when foreign support runs out “we can stand by ourselves”.
Apsara now collaborates with supporters and specialists from France, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, UNESCO and other concerned international institutions. Repair and restoration work means trying to reassemble fallen structures and recreate missing parts of the art.
Scientists and scholars sometimes face a dilemma in choosing between restoration and simply preventing further deterioration, according to UNESCO program specialist Ms. Tamara Teneishvili, of the World Heritage Unit. Unless the restoration is well done, it is better to suspend such efforts and simply conserve the stone.
The Apsara authority has also created teams of temple conservators including cleaner of temple grounds, building guards, engineers and technicians.
Meanwhile other sites are being studied for possible nomination to the “world heritage site” status granted Angkor in 1992. This brings added international protection and support, she said.
Tourism office deputy Kuy Seng said Cambodia has much to offer tourists interested in culture and nature, ranging from the Angkor complex to individual waterfalls and beauty spots, once good access is assured. Much is off the usual tourist track.
Siem Reap has some 200 temples, he said, but only 30 get regular visitors.
“Our duty is to conserve all this for our children.”

Monday, June 11, 2024
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
BY KAY KIMSONG

GOV’T TO SET LIMITS ON FREE PASSES TO ANGKOR

The government has decided to limit free foreign guest passes to the Angkor temple complex, although the specific details of the quota are yet to be worked out, officials said Sunday.
“If we do not limit the free entrances, it could be up to 6,000 and 7,000 guests per year,” said Bun Narith, newly appointed president of the Apsara Authority, which oversees maintenance of the park.
Because of the lost revenues from so many free passes, the government has decided to limit the annual number of free passes to 3,000, said Sokha Hotel Manager Svay Vuthy.
Sokha Hotel is a joint venture of petroleum giant Sokimex and the Apsara Authority. Sokimex oversees ticket concessions for the government. They split the first $3 million in revenue and the government takes 70 percent of anything above that.
The 3,000-pass limit is still subject to approval by Apsara Authority, said Tourism Minster Veng Sereyvuth.
Bun Narith said the new quota will only allow free visits for groups or delegations of guests invited by the government.
The free passes will last for only two days at a time, while permitted researches, archeologists and anthropologists will be allowed to visit the park for free for between six months and a year, according to the new government directive.
Officials at Apsara are not yet clear on how to divide the allotted passes among the government ministries, although the Ministry of Tourism will have priority, and the rest will go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Culture, Defense, and among Siem Reap provincial and national delegations, Bun Narith said.
In the past, thousands of visitors to the park pretended to be guests of the government to get free passes, Svay Vuthy said.
The new government directive, which was an agreement between the government and Sokimex, formally went into effect late last month.
The free passes program were originally designed to promote tourism to Angkor Wat, Veng Sereyvuth said.
The Ministry will probably use most of its allotted passes for foreign writers who could writ about the temples to promote their worldwide popularity, Veng Sereyvuth said.
The number of visitors to the ancient temples, some of which date back to the 8th Century, has consistently risen each year.

Wednesday, June 27, 2024
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
BY SENGPHOUXAY INTHAVIKHAM

INTRICATE CARVINGS TRACE KHMER ARTISTIC ROOTS

Cambodia’s ancient Angkor complex of temples, monuments and fortified city is an architectural wonder of the world, but it is the intricate stone carvings that show the cultural roots of Khmer artisans.
The world only came to appreciate the greatness of past Khmer civilization after its great capital, extended over 400 square kilometers and six centuries, was rescued from the long embrace of dense jungle.
The overgrown temples were rediscovered by missionaries and travelers in the late 19th Century. The writings and sketches of Henri Mouhot, a French explorer and botanist, drew worldwide attention and launched a half-century of restoration efforts led by French archeologists. Despite interruption by war and politics, the work continues under Cambodian and international successors. Their collective efforts unveiled myriad temples and monuments to Khmer religion, history and culture through Hindu and Buddhist periods spanning the 9th through 14th Century.
The architecture of the great temple of Angkor Wat would have been art enough to gain it recognition, but much of Angkor serves as a gallery for carvings and sculptures which serve no structural purpose. Such art enhances the temple’s theme.
Since early Hindu times, Angkor Wat has drawn pious people to pray at its sacred sites. Khmer culture, its long history, the lifestyles of its people and their relationship to nature come alive on the stone walls in intricate bas-reliefs.
Like other Khmer temples, Angkor Wat is an architectural allegory of the Hindu religion. The central tower stands for Mount Meru, the center of the universe according to Hindu mythology. The gods lived at the top of Mount Meru. The temple grounds are surrounded by a wall and moat, because in Hindu mythology Mount Meru is surrounded by other mountain ranges.
These stone sculptures and wall carvings are the main attraction for 60 percent of the tourists, according to the deputy director of the local Siem Reap tourist office. Europeans and some Asians are especially interested in the history of Angkor and the sculptures and carvings of traditional art, the Khmer Angkor tour guide association says.
“I Came to Cambodia because I want to see the Khmer history, sculpture and art carvings on the stone walls,” a Swedish tourist said. An English lady said she used her guidebook to learn about the sculpture and intricate carved art she was looking at.
“I needed to see the Apsara sculptures for myself” said Miss Noko Sodeyama of Japan, expressing regret she had a only few days to study them.
Today the epic history behind the “lost city of Angkor still remains a mystery to many.” As development propels Cambodia into the Coke and Kodak Age, will the mystique of Angkor Wat survive?

Wednesday, June 27, 2024
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
BY HIM SOK LEANG

GUIDES TRAINED IN ANGKOR HISTORY

Training people to handle the growing flood of tourists into Cambodia’s ancient temple sites still suffers from a shortage of human and technical resources, according to the director of culture and monuments.
Visitors sometimes complain about the quality of information from tour guides, the Apsara Authority’s Ang Chulean said, although the tourist office is trying to train students and others interested in professional guide work.
All trainees must pass written examinations in English and Khmer on culture and history, followed by an oral test of foreign language skills. said the chief of the cultural development and training bureau, Soun Lam.
The six-month training course takes in 150 students at a time, each paying $50 for their training. After finishing classroom theory, they go to practice for one week at Angkor Wat temple before they get official certification.
“However we still lack of good guides,” he said. To maintain quality, every guide is answerable to the tourism service. They need to see directly that Siem Reap province is a tourist destination and cultivate a sense of hospitality.
There is also a desire among some to make Angkor a place were Cambodians live, not just a dead monument.
“Angkor Wat is where people live” said Ms. Chhin Sokhum, aguard at Prasat Bayon. “Some countries force people out of ruins, but we want to keep them living sites”.
With the prospect that tourist numbers will rise significantly over the next two years, it is obviously urgent to develop more and better guides, according to tourist office deputy director Koy Sang. Tour guides must realize that most tourists are foreign, and nearly half Japanese with a special interest in learning about the history, art and culture of Angkor.
The 35 hotels with 1,785 rooms and 70 guesthouses with 710 rooms, supported by 30 restaurants are still insufficient for the dry season tourist demand when travel to Angkor is easy, he said.
Over the past two years Siem Reap has drawn over 40,000 tourists a month in the peak March and April season.


Thursday, June 14, 2024
THE CAMBODIA DAILY

Taiwanese Airline Opens Cambodia Route

Taipei, Taiwan – EVA Airways, Taiwan’s second-largest international’s air carrier, plans to launch regular flight services between Taiwan and Cambodia in July, according to an airline official. The company plans to start service on July 15 and will offer three flights weekly from Taipei to Phnom Penh. Taiwan and Cambodia signed an aviation pact in March 1998, giving the green light for EVA Airways and President Airlines of Cambodia to start flight services between the two countries.
 

Thursday, June 21, 2024
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
BY ANA NOV

RARE BUFFALO FOUND

A forest buffalo thought by some to be extinct in Cambodia has been discovered in Mondulkiri province by Montagnard hunters who are paid to protect rare species, officials said this week. “Yes, it is a forest buffalo, bigger than a domestic water buffalo,” said Sun Hean, deputy chief of the Wildlife Protection Office the Ministry of Agriculture’s forestry department. The animal, a buffalo bubalus arnee, was thought to exist only in parts of India, Nepal and Thailand. Sun Hean said a camera-equipped whit a motion-sensing device took a picture of the animal, believed to be the first such photo since the civil wars. He said the buffalo was spotted by one of the 10 hunters who are paid $50 per month by the tiger Conservation Project to record data about rare animals rather than hunting them. The animal will remain where it is, he said. “We can’t take it to the zoo, because it will die if we take it away from the forest,” he said.

Wednesday, June 27, 2024
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
BY SOUKNILUNDON SOUTHIVONGNORATH

SMOOTHER DRIVING IN SIEM REAP NEXT YEAR

Angkor Wat tourists and Siem Reap citizens will glide over 17.5 km of smooth pavement next year when Japenese contractors finish repairs on a section of National Route 6.
The economy will benefit, says Kang Chatra, deputy director of public works and transport.
“Tourism is number one in Siem Reap. A lot of foreigners come here to visit Angkor Wat. If the project is complete next year, more tourists are sure to visit Siem Reap.” Siem Reap lacks the big factories and larger marker of Phnom Penh, he said, but its smaller enterprises will be better off.
The $11 million road improvement between Ban Roluos and Siem Reap city, started last November and expected to be finished by next March, is being built by the DAIHO corporation under contract with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Siem Reap road improvements are under the jurisdiction of the public works and transport ministry in Phnom Penh, Chatra said.
Ret.6, the only major highway serving the region north of Tonle Sap Lake, is basic to econnomic rehabilitation of the region. It runs northwest from Phnom Penh 447 km to Sisophon, and is the main overland link between the national capital and Siem Reap when low water interrupts boal service between the two cities. The northern half of the highway is currently so badly eroded only pick-ups and trucks regularly attempt it.
The Ban Rolous – Siem Reap section is a high priority because the provincial capital is not only a regional economic hub, but the focus of tourists visiting the vast ruins of the Angkor civilization that thrived there from the 9th through the 14th centuries and ruled much of mainland Southeast Asia.
“I have been hauling passengers from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap for more than five years,” pickup driver Soklim recalls.
The rough road is tough to drive and causes frequent breakdowns, he said, but is improving as sections under construction are completed. He expects considerable savings in time, gas and repairs.
Other road projects in northwest Cambodia include plans for 10 km of Rte. 67 between Siem Reap and Bantrea Meancheay with a World Bank loan, and 56 km already under construction between Bantrea Meancheay and Poi Pet with state funds.
The World Bank section ran into contractor problems when the first company assigned proved inadequate to the job, deputy director Chatra said.
“Now I don’t know how the government will handle this project.”
 

Phnom Penh, June 2001

With Best Wishes

Peter Lietz