Seeing Cambodia's temples - but without the crowds

It's early on a Sunday morning in Cambodia and I'm standing at a 12th-century moat. Traces of mist hover above the lotus leaves that dapple the water. Across a causeway, through a tumbled-down gate, lies Banteay Chhmar, one of the largest temples ever built by the ancient Khmer Empire. My friends and I will have the place all to ourselves.

We walk in. It turns out that we do end up sharing it, with a local man who brings his cows onto the grounds to graze. And with an affable mason who leads us across acres of fallen stone to see a message from the past, an inscription chiseled into the door jamb of a holy tower. This kind of company we welcome.

Cambodia's great temples of Angkor, 100 kilometres away, have long since been rediscovered after a quarter-century of closure by war. They now draw more than a million foreign visitors a year, not a few of whom regret that so many other people had the same idea. At peak hours, human traffic jams can form at temple steps.

But go beyond Angkor and you can find places that serve up the old solitude and sense of discovery.

Banteay Chhmar is among the most spectacular of these places. Getting to it entails hours on very bumpy and dusty dirt roads. Staying the night means making do with primitive accommodations: candlelit rooms in local homes, bath water drawn from that same moat.

I stayed the night, and it turned out to really make the visit. The next morning I rose early, as everyone here does, and took a walk in clean country air. I passed hens foraging with their chicks and boys tending to a mud oven in which charcoal was being made. I was seeing not only a temple but a way of life.

Today several thousand people -- rice farmers, cattle herders, market vendors -- make their homes on all four sides of the temple. They grow vegetables on the banks of a series of moats; they pile straw within the walls of lesser ancient buildings that dot their settlement. The ancient and present day coexist.

Spending time here also means doing a good turn, spreading a bit of wealth in a part of a war-recovering country that has largely missed out on the tourist dollars that Angkor is bringing in. People do have cellphones (charged by generator), and some have small tractors, but there are few other signs of affluence.

Banteay Chhmar was created in the Khmer Empire's last great burst of construction, under the 12th-century Buddhist king Jayavarman VII. His engineers were thinking big even by Khmer standards: To contain a great settlement, they built earthworks and moats that formed a square measuring roughly one 1.5 kilometres on each side. At its centre, within another square moat system, they built the temple.

More than a century ago, French archeologist Etienne Aymonier found the temple to be in a state of "indescribable ruin.'' It still is, despite the efforts of the friendly mason, who is part of a small reconstruction team. But that's part of what makes the site so enticing.

Exploring it means climbing over piles of large fallen stones. We passed ruined towers, courtyards and ceremonial walkways. Sometimes the stones were so high that we were walking at roof level.

The temple is no longer a formal religious site, but Cambodians believe that it, like all those that their forebears left behind, remains a holy site. In one surviving chamber we found a small contemporary shrine, with a Buddha image wearing a cloth robe, where people made incense offerings.

One of the best parts of this temple is the many bas-reliefs on its outer walls. We had to scramble up more stones to get a good view. Before us was a full sample of life 900 years ago: processions of elephants, prominent ladies tended by maids, children roughhousing, villagers in a sampan, servants tending a stove.

There were also many scenes of war with Champa, a long-vanished rival state to the east: The temple is in large part a memorial to four generals who lost their lives in that long conflict. On land, the men of arms go at one another fiercely with spears (you can identify the Chams by the curious blossom-shaped headdress they wear). On water, rows of men pull at oars from galleys as others strike at the enemy with spears. There are also images of the divine, notably the god Vishnu, with 32 arms arrayed like rays of light.

The carving style is similar to that of the Bayon temple reliefs in Angkor. The difference is there's no need to fight for a view. We did cross paths for a few minutes our first day with a party of about 20 French-speaking tourists. We saw no other visitors that day or the next.

Late in the afternoon, we went to see what the ancient Khmers could do with water. Just east of the temple, they created a big reservoir. Academics disagree over whether it did only symbolic duty as an earthly stand-in for the mythic Sea of Creation, or was part of an irrigation system, or both. Whatever the truth, I was awed by the scale.

The reservoir was now largely dry, but because its floor is low and collects water, it has been divided into rice paddies. We went for a stroll, walking along paddy dikes to keep our feet dry. We said hello to members of a farming family who were tinkering with a small tractor. A woman had caught a bucketful of paddy crabs and insects, which she would sell as food.

I spent the night at the house of a Cambodian family, friends of a friend. They couldn't have been more gracious. They gave me a room, bottled water, mosquito coils and a big luxury: a car battery hooked to a fluorescent light.

Other members of our party slept at a formal homestay, the term given to guest houses. It had two rooms with large beds covered by mosquito nets. Downstairs there was a basic bathroom with a squat toilet and scoop bath.

In the morning we had breakfast at a stall in the town's market; there are no proper restaurants. It was noodle soup with chicken, and very good.

I first visited Angkor in 1969. Back then, you could be alone in the big temples there. I once walked through the largest of them, Angkor Wat, encountering hardly a soul.

It's good to know that such an experience can still be had. You just have to work a bit harder for it.

IF YOU GO:

Getting around: There is no public transportation to the sites described here; wheels are on a bring-your-own basis. Tour companies in Siem Reap will arrange visits. If you feel adventurous, strike deals directly with taxi or motorcycle drivers and go on your own.

Being Mealea and Koh Ker can be visited in one long day. Banteay Chhmar, at four hours each way, is a bigger challenge to reach. If you're entering Cambodia overland from Thailand, you can save time by turning north at Sisophon town to reach the temple.

When to go: Winter is Cambodia's peak tourist season. Avoid March, April and May, the peak time for heat. Don't be scared off by the summer-through-fall rainy season. The rains typically occur only in late afternoon.

Where to stay: A French non-profit organization has been helping Banteay Chhmar operate a homestay program. It provides for overnight accommodations, often in a guesthouse next door to the host family's home; meals; local culture performances; and an ox cart ride. Tour companies can book you. Or you make direct contact by emailing program co-ordinator Tath Sophal at tathsophal (at) yahoo.com.

[guelphmercury]

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Cambodians may get floating toilets

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia, July 11 (UPI) --

Cambodia's high infant and child mortality rate can be fought by improving hygiene in river communities, a resource development charity said Saturday.

Lien Aid, a Singapore-based non-governmental organization, is developing a toilet that can be used in river communities where homes are constructed on floating platforms and moved seasonally.

Currently, residents use the river rather than latrines, Resource Development International - Cambodia told the IRIN news agency. This practice contributes to many deaths from waterborne diseases, a Resource Development spokesman said.

Waterborne diseases account for 74 percent of all deaths in the country, the organization said.

Lien Aid says its "River of Life" project works to prevent waterborne illness. Their designers are working on a toilet built on a floating platform and attached to river homes. The toilet is still being tested, Sahari Ani, the head of Lien Aid, said.

The prototype separates urine from feces and allows dry soil, ash or wood chips to be added to the feces to reduce odor and pathogens. A secondary storage chamber completes decomposition and pathogen destruction.

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Cambodians still traumatized by legacy of Khmer Rouge

KAMPONG SPEU, Cambodia — They started arriving before 8 a.m., middle-age men and women, poor rice farmers mostly — damaged survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime.

The Documentation Center of Cambodia, a private research organization that collects evidence of the Khmer Rouge regime that ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, was bringing to this small provincial town a video projector and a DVD. It shows highlights of the current defendant’s testimony in the Khmer Rouge trial under way in Phnom Penh.

“I want to contribute to engaging the victims in the court process,” explained Youk Chhang, the center’s director. “Some Cambodians have moved on. But there are others who still suffer, and these are the ones we are targeting.”
That’s just who he got.

For an hour, about 75 people watched transfixed as Kaing Guek Eav, commander of S-21, the notorious prison/torture chamber where thousands of Cambodians died, described his crimes. He is better known as Duch, and he told how he supervised as his soldiers executed victims by whacking them on the back of the head with a hoe.

Duch is 66 now and looked directly at the judges with a calm and confident gaze, seeming to be the commander still, as he confessed to his terrible crimes, apologized and asked for forgiveness.

“I was given a directive to use a plastic bag to suffocate prisoners,” he acknowledged.

When the video excerpts ended, the room sat silent — stunned, it seemed. A documentation center official asked audience members to talk about what they had seen. The DVD was paused on a scene in which Duch seemed to be staring directly at the crowd with a stern, almost threatening, gaze.

The first woman who raised her hand took the microphone and promptly broke into tears. “Forgiveness is not acceptable,” she declared, wiping her eyes. “They killed my father and two older brothers.”

Next a middle-age man told of how six of his relatives died, and as he spoke his large brown eyes grew red and filled with tears. Still another man was choking up so that his words were hard to understand.

“I was a child, and I was starving,” he stammered. “They gave us no food, and sometimes I would fall down and pass out and then wake up again.” And so it went.

Cathartic? Perhaps. Injurious? Maybe.

The problem is, almost half the adult population of Cambodia, those over 35 or 40 years of age, shows symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, a severe psychological condition that typically afflicts soldiers, but also civilians who live through trauma — like the horror here 30 years ago. And for them, psychiatric experts say, watching a video like the one these people saw is like poking a stick in a hornet’s nest. It triggers all of the symptoms: pain, rage — even violence.

One medical study of Cambodian refugees in Long Beach, Calif. — the nation’s largest concentration of Cambodians — found that 62 percent of the adults had PTSD. That and other studies found a generally dysfunctional population with high levels of alcoholism, drug use — and terrible violence.

Daryn Reicherter, a psychiatrist at Stanford University, served as a consultant to the Documentation Center here in the spring and came back concerned.

“There needs to be some medical follow-up with these people” after the show has ended, he insisted.

So far, the Documentation Center has trucked more than 10,000 villagers to Phnom Penh to see the trial — or brought DVD excerpts to show in their own villages. Youk Chhang understands the doctors’ concerns but points out that he is a researcher, not a treatment specialist. The government, he says, should provide any needed psychiatric services. But then, Cambodia has only about 26 psychiatrists in the entire nation.

Yim Choy, a 44-year-old farmer, shouted at the crowd, saying that he had been conscribed to a child-labor team. “I cannot forgive Duch,” he declared, his voice laced with bitter anger. “How can I when I saw him throw little boys against a tree?”

Afterward, he told me that, even now, he cannot talk about those times without growing angry. And yet he has a hard time keeping the thoughts out of his mind. He even dreams of the horrors — a hallmark of PTSD.

“I see myself with my hands tied behind me.” All of that makes him angrier still.

After watching scenes like this, Reicherter posed a rhetorical question: “Why is this important?”

“Children are growing up,” he explained, “with violent, PTSD parents who are drunk and beat them. That’s the generation that is coming.”

Joel Brinkley, a McClatchy Newspapers columnist, is a former Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times and now teaching at Stanford University. Contact him at jbrink@stanford.edu.

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Senior Chinese legislator meets Cambodian guest

Chen Zhili, vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, met Friday with a delegation from the Cambodian National Assembly.

The delegation is headed by Chheang Vun, chairman of the committee for foreign relations, international cooperation and media.

The delegation arrived in China Thursday for an eight-day tour. After Beijing, they will visit east China's Dalian City and Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

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CAMBODIA: "Floating toilets" offer hope for river communities

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.
PHNOM PENH, 10 July 2009 (IRIN) - A toilet now in the development stage could improve the health of thousands living in Cambodia's impoverished river communities.

River communities' homes are typically built on floating platforms and moved seasonally, and rarely have proper latrines. Occupants use the river – the same water they use for drinking, cooking and washing.

The health risks are high: according to Resource Development International–Cambodia [see: http://www.rdic.org/home.htm] , a faith-based NGO, 74 percent of all deaths are due to waterborne diseases, including diarrhoea.

Cambodia has one of the highest infant and under-five mortality rates in the region, at 97 and 141 per 1,000 live births, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reports.

Many rural Cambodians see latrines as filthy, preferring open defecation as being more natural.

"It's not a poverty issue. Some wealthy people in the countryside don't have good sanitation, and some poor families do have it," Chea Samnan, director of rural healthcare for the Ministry of Rural Development, said. "It's an issue of access to the right information."

As part of its "River of Life" profect, Lien Aid [see: http://www.lienaid.org/home] , a Singaporean-based NGO, is working on what it describes as a "floating toilet". The toilets - built on floating platforms and attached to homes – will effectively prevent faeces from entering the water.

"We are still in the preliminary stages of testing out the prototypes," Sahari Ani, Lien Aid's head, told IRIN.

Eco-sanitation design

The device has three components - a superstructure, a urine diversion pan, and a space for a removable bucket or container for waste material.

Central to the design is the pan itself, effectively separating urine from faeces. A separate section of the pan allows for anal washing.

Materials such as dry soil, ash and wood chips can be added to excreta, thereby reducing odour and pathogens, while cutting the volume of waste.

The semi-decomposed faeces is then treated at a secondary storage chamber for complete decomposition and pathogen destruction, while the nutrient-heavy urine could be used as fertilizer after removal.

Commenting on the merits of the pan, Judy Hagan, project manager of a different operator, the Tonle Sap Floating Latrine Design Project, said separating the two waste materials reduced the bulk and mass of the faeces that needed to be treated, making it more viable in a floating environment.

Key challenges

But introducing such concepts in a country like Cambodia will not be easy.

As floating river communities exist only in Cambodia and a handful of other Asian nations, latrines designed specifically for their needs are rare and expensive.

Added to this is the country's lack of qualified engineers, poor sanitation infrastructure and low level of hygiene awareness.

"The more difficult challenge is to help the community build up the human resources necessary to make the venture financially sustainable over the long term," Sahari Ani said.

According to the World Bank, only 16 percent of rural Cambodians have a proper toilet, the lowest level in Southeast Asia.

Moreover, despite the country's abundant freshwater rivers and lakes, 60 percent of its population do not have access to safe water and 85 percent are without adequate sanitation, Lien Aid stated.

Cost effectiveness

While an exact price for the device is still being determined, the NGO hopes costs can be kept to a minimum, with families possibly purchasing building material in bulk to keep down costs.

One-third of Cambodians live on less than US$0.50 a day, according to government statistics, making cost a significant factor.

"We will still try to keep costs down by exploring the use of [local] materials and by encouraging local entrepreneurs to manufacture the required parts," Lien Aid's head explained.

Although fairly new, villagers in Cambodia have already been learning how to construct cheaper latrines for as little as $15 each from the community-led total sanitation programme, started in 2005 by UNICEF and Cambodia's Ministry of Rural Development.

And while not of the floating toilet type, the self-built, cost-effective latrines could provide further impetus to the floating toilet prototype once their use becomes more widespread.

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Cambodia’s poorest the target of new food security and social safety net program

Washington, DC, July 9, 2009 – When high food prices hit Cambodia in 2008, the country's poorest and most vulnerable people were hit hard – highlighting weaknesses in existing smallholder agricultural production systems and throwing an estimated 100,000 families back into poverty. Then, the financial crisis saw around 200,000 garment, construction and tourism workers lose their jobs, bringing into focus the need for stronger social protection mechanisms across Cambodia.

To complement the country's efforts to address Cambodia's food security and social protection needs, the World Bank today approved a US$13 million Smallholder Agriculture and Social Protection Support Development Policy Operation (DPO). The program – which builds on recent efforts by Australia, Japan, Germany, ADB, the Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Food Programme – aims to boost food security for poor households and expand safety net support.

"High food prices and the global economic crisis have threatened to undermine Cambodia's decade-long economic growth and poverty reduction," said Qimiao Fan, World Bank Country Manager for Cambodia. "This operation will help to improve social safety nets and agricultural production systems through better policies, strengthened institutional frameworks and improved transparency and governance."

In particular, the program sets out to ensure better oversight and regulation of agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and seeds to improve food productivity at the small farm level. It will also accelerate the registration of farmers' groups so that individual famers can better access credit and marketing opportunities for their crops. At the same time, the program will improve targeting of the country's social protection systems to reach the country's neediest people.

The US$13 million DPO is made up of an $8 million grant from the Global Food Crisis Response Program (GFRP) and a $5 million credit from IDA, the World Bank's fund for low income countries. The Australian Government, through AusAID, is contributing $AUD2.8 million for technical assistance to support the program.

The GFRP is a multi-donor financing facility administered by the World Bank that provides financial and technical support to countries affected by the food crisis.

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Comverse ONE Deployed by GTEL Mobile

With the help of Comverse (News - Alert) ONE Billing and Active Customer Management solution, operators can speed time to revenue through comprehensive monetization, active customer management and an architecture built to remove complexity. Comverse Billing Solutions provide benefits such as reduced time to market, better growth and increased ROI for the customers.

Looking to improve its customer experience, GTEL Mobile also has deployed an attractive portfolio of Comverse HUB Value-Added Services. This includes SMS Center for text messaging, MMS Center for multimedia messaging, MessagingGateway ( News - Alert), Mobile Internet Gateway, Next-Generation Voicemail, Call Completion and Ringback Tone services.

“The Comverse ONE billing solution, when coupled with the broad Comverse HUB Value-Added Services portfolio has helped GTEL Mobile get their network up and running in the shortest possible time frame,” said Urban Gillstrom, group president of Global Sales at Comverse, a supplier of software and systems enabling value-added messaging and content services, converged billing and active customer management, and IP communications.

With the help of Comverse ONE Billing & Active Customer Management, GTEL Mobile can support any type of payment, such as prepaid, postpaid or hybrid. Also, because of its unified, highly efficient open architecture, Comverse ONE provides better time to market with operational cost efficiencies. Comverse’s flagship billing solution allows operators to respond to the changing needs of customers as it offers fully integrated customer management.

Recently, Sotelco launched the Comverse ONE Billing and Active Customer Management solution in a bid to support prepaid and postpaid subscribers and roll out bundled multi-play service offerings in Cambodia. The new Cambodian mobile operator has also decided to implement Comverse’s voice and messaging services from the Comverse HUB, including SMS, MMS, ringback tones, call completion services, and management of mobile data services.

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CAMBODIA Missioner priests face heavy workload

PHNOM PENH (UCAN) -- In Cambodia, where religious freedom revived only during the 1990s, most Catholic priests are still foreigners and feeling the strain resulting from many responsibilities.

"In Cambodia right now, we only have five local priests. So missioners like me must work in the parishes too," said Father Paul Roeung Chatchai of the Thai Missionary Society. There are a total of 62 priests in the country.

He admitted it is a challenge to juggle his many responsibilities. The Thai priest is pastor of three parishes. "Every Sunday I have to go around Phnom Penh to celebrate Mass and meet Catholics," he said.

Apart from his parish work, he is also the deputy director of the Phnom Penh vicariate's catechetical committee and a member of its health committee. Moreover, he is also working to produce a liturgy book in the Khmer language. Only a few months ago, he was made a coordinator of the Church's mass media office and the Cambodia Catholic Cultural Center.

One layperson who appreciates the work of priests is Hom Toeur, a member of the youth committee of Phnom Penh apostolic vicariate.

"They help the poor and sick, support poor children with their education, and conduct many activities. I know a priest who has responsibilities in three or four parishes. We are really in need of more local priests," the 28-year-old told UCA News.

The shortage of priests, especially local ones, has prompted at least one person, Moung Ros to enter the major seminary. "Although we have many missioners, we need more local priests to serve the Church. We must make the Cambodian Church our own," he told UCA News.

To help seminarians appreciate the mission of the priesthood more, Father Bruno Cosme, rector of St. John Mary Vianney Major Seminary, said he is planning monthly sharing sessions on the lives of priests at the seminary starting from September. He is also planning to promote vocations to the priesthood in parishes.

Father Cosme said the Year for Priests is an occasion for all priests to reflect deeply on their mission and responsibilities. "There are many things we have to learn such as loyalty, faithfulness, love, living a simple life, and serving the poor."

Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed a special Year for Priests starting on June 19, the feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the death of Saint John Mary Vianney, patron of parish priests.

Sister Gertrude Ditching, in charge of the Don Bosco Vocational Training Center for girls, said the special year is a call for the renewal of all priests, "who are very important for the Church." The nun also sees the Year for Priests as an occasion for promoting local vocations.

The local Church celebrated the Year for Priests at St. John Mary Vianney Major Seminary on June 19.

Bishop Emile Destombes, apostolic vicar of Phnom Penh, celebrated Mass with eight other priests. He said that "Jesus Christ is a great priest" and the "Church today needs truly loyal priests to continue the mission of Christ."

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Tension Rising along Thai-Cambodia Border

Thai villagers, who live in Sao- Thong-Chai sub-district at Gan-ta-ra-lak district of the northeastern province of Sri-sa-ged, next to the Thai-Cambodian border, on Friday have been warned of a possible military clash between the two neighboring countries.

"Thais have been told of getting away from the Thai-Cambodian border as they might be injured from the possible fight and trap mine," the Thai language news agency Matichon Online quoted Boonmi Bua-dton, head of the Sao-Thong-Chai administrative organization as saying.

He said though the border situation is now still normal, he has already contacted with involved parties in a bid to get prepared for the possible evacuation if the border clash occurs.

It is reportedly said that Cambodia has deployed six tanks with a large number of soldiers at Go-moon village next to the historical Preah Vihear temple.

The Cambodian reinforcement of the tanks and military forces has suggested they are ready to fight against the Thai army.

Meanwhile, it is reportedly said Thailand's Second Army Region spent some 20 million baht (586,860 U.S. dollars) for building 20 large-scaled bunkers at the boarder stronghold near the ancient temple in preparation for the possible intrusion.

The border tension has renewed from June 25 when both sides have started the military reinforcement at the disputed border after the Thai government said it would ask the UNESCO to review a World Heritage status given to the Hindu Temple of Preah Vihear.

UNESCO's inscription of the temple announced in July last year is against the UNESCO's regulations and spirit since it has created dispute between Thailand and Cambodia, the Thai government said.

Thailand and Cambodia have historically laid claim to the site, which is located on a mountain top on the Thai-Cambodia border, but can only be easily accessed from Thailand.

The disputed area of 4.6 square kilometers along the Thai- Cambodian border has not been demarcated.

The International Court of Justice ruled in 1962 that the Preah Vihear temple belonged to Cambodia.

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Hun Sen Leaves for Official French Visit

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
10 July 2009


Prime Minister Hun Sen left for France on Thursday, to participate in a five-day official visit at the invitation of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

This is the first visit of the prime minister to France under his third mandate, following elections in July 2008, and is meant “to strengthen bilateral cooperation,” according to Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Koy Kuong.

Hun Sen will also meet his French counterpart, Francois Fillon, and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, Koy Kuong said.

Hun Sen said in public remarks ahead of his departure he would meet with Sarkozy on July 13 and participate in France’s National Day, or Bastille Day, July 14.

He will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Hor Namhong.

France is one of the most important donors to Cambodia, contributing around $25 million annually in aid.

Laurant Le Marchand, first secretary of French Embassy, said France assists especially in judicial reform, the rule of law, gendarmerie training and continued support for the Khmer Rouge tribunal.

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