The Paradise Called Cambodia

Cambodia is the home of the Khmer ethnic group. Long before the land was called Cambodia, it was called Angkor. The Angkor Civilization (or Khmer Civilization) dates from the 9th to the 15th century. The height of the civilization was in the late 12th century under the rule of Jayavarman VII when the Angkor kingdom dominated nearly all of Southeast Asia. During the span of nearly six hundred years the various kings erected magnificent monuments to themselves and the ancient Hindu gods. These awesome ruins including Ta Prohm, Bayon and Angkor Wat are found within or close to the Angkor Thom Complex, said to be the third city in the world to reach 1 million inhabitants. The architecture and craftsmanship put into each structure allows this area to be ranked amongst the top 10 man-made wonders of the world.

Prasat Preah Vihear is one of Cambodia's revered temples located on the plateau of Dângrêk Mountains in Preah Vihear Province, Cambodia. Preah Vihear belongs to Cambodia, though some of the outter areas are still under Thailand's control. The temple has beautiful views all around and has the most spectacular setting of all the temples built during the six-century-long Khmer Empire.

On July, 8 2008, the UNESCO's World Heritage Committee decided to add Prasat Preah Vihear to the World Heritage Site list as Cambodia and Thailand were in full agreement that the temple had "Outstanding Universal Value" and should be inscribed on the list.

In 1863, Cambodia became a French protectorate and then in 1887 a fully settled French colony. France continued to rule over Cambodian land until 1954.

Bokor Mountain is found in the southern part of Cambodia adjacent to Kampot and the Gulf of Thailand. On top of the mountain is an old french hill station used as a lookout and a hotel/casino. The ride up is a bit bumpy but the view is breathtaking.

The Cambodian Killing Fields

On April 17th, 1975 the Khmer Rouge, a communist guerrilla group led by Pol Pot, took power in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. They forced all city dwellers into the countryside and to labor camps. During their rule, it is estimated that nearly 2 million Cambodians died by starvation, torture or execution.

The Khmer Rouge turned Cambodia to year zero. They banned all institutions, including stores, banks, hospitals, schools, religion, and the family. Everyone was forced to work 12 - 14 hours a day, every day. Children were separated from their parents to work in mobile groups or as soldiers. People were fed one watery bowl of soup with a few grains of rice thrown in. Babies, children, adults and the elderly were killed everywhere. The Khmer Rouge killed people if they didn't like them, if didn't work hard enough, if they were educated, if they came from different ethnic groups, or if they showed sympathy when their family members were taken away to be killed. All were killed without reason. Everyone had to pledge total allegiance to Angka, the Khmer Rouge government. It was a campaign based on instilling constant fear and keeping their victims off balance.

After the Vietnamese invaded and liberated the Cambodian people from the Khmer Rouge, 600,000 Cambodians fled to Thai border camps. Ten million landmines were left in the ground, one for every person in Cambodia. The United Nations installed the largest peacekeeping mission in the world in Cambodia in 1991 to ensure free and fair elections after the withdrawal of the Vietnamese troops. Cambodia was turned upside down during the Khmer Rouge years and the country has the daunting task of healing physically, mentally and economically.

These days Cambodia is in rapid growth mode. Due to the horrific genocide Pol Pot executed against his own people, the international community has been pouring in massive amounts of donor dollars to help with the rebuilding. This next section will highlight the particulars of the new society including the main players in the political scene and more places to visit if you choose to.

Cambodia's Royal Palace complex was begun by King Norodom (1834-1904) in 1886, when the capital was moved to Phnom Penh. Most buildings were completed before World War I, with involvement by French administrators and Thai designers and architects. French influence can be seen in the formal gardens which enhance the palace, and there are some European-style buildings on the grounds.

Within the palace complex are found the Throne Hall (pictured), the Silver Pagoda, and the Moonlight Pavilion which overlooks the Tonle Sap and Mekong Rivers.

This section contains some useful information related to the Royal Family. The information includes brief background of the king and the queen.

Short Background of

His Majesty Preah Bat Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk
1922: Born October 31 in Phnom Penh, son of HM Norodom Suramarit and HM Sisowath Kossamak Nearireath.

1941: Becomes reigning monarch, succeeding King Monivong.

1946: Attends his first meeting with French President Charles de Gaulle. Begins studies at military college in Saumur, France.

1953: Realizes fundamental ambition as France grants Cambodia independence after nearly a century of colonial rule. Kingdom of Cambodia formally established.

1954: Hosts Nehru's first visit to Cambodia.

1955: Abdicates throne. Succeeded by his father, HM Norodom Suramarit. Creates 'Sangkum Reastr Niyum' political movement and is swept to power as Prime Minister in subsequent Cambodian election. Receives his first visit from China's Chou En-lai.

1956: Visits Yugoslavia for his first meeting with Tito. Does some with China and Mao Tse-tung. Becomes fifth charter signatory to the declaration from which emerged the Non-Aligned Nations.

1970: Deposed by Lon Nol. From Beijing and Pyongyang, heads National United Front of Kampuchea (FUNK) opposition against Lon Nol government.

1975: Following Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia, returns to Phnom Penh, but is effectively under house arrest at Royal Palace.

1981: Becomes president of the National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful and Cooperative Cambodia (FUNCINPEC).

1987: Begins first peace talks with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

1989: Awarded honorary doctorate by the l'Universite d'Aix-Marseille, France.

1991: Returns to Phnom Penh after playing prominent role in talks leading to Paris Peace Agreements.

1993: Reinvested as King - with the title HM Preah Bat Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk Varman - as Cambodia becomes constitutional monarchy, after undergoing UN-sponsored elections. His son, Prince Ranariddh, elected First Prime Minister. Makes periodic trips to Beijing for medical tests and treatment.

With yet another election victory in the bag, Cambodia's prime minister, Hun Sen, is now entering his thirty-fourth year in power.

Hun Sen draws his inspiration not from south-east Asia's more democratic leaders, but from Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew, who used dictatorial methods to build a modern, prosperous but tightly-controlled island city-state. Still only 57, Hun Sen has now served two years longer than Lee Kuan Yew - and even muses that he could still be premier at 90 if the Cambodian People's Party (CPP) keeps winning elections. It is this prospect, however fanciful, that alarms many educated Cambodians.

Trade unionists, opposition parties, and human rights workers have well-founded fears that this landslide election victory could lead to a clampdown on the right to protest and strike in Cambodia - human rights that were crushed long ago in Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew's notorious Internal Security Act.

Hun Sen is the son of a poor farming family in Kompong Cham province, and a former Khmer Rouge officer who rebelled against Pol Pot, fled to Vietnam in 1977 and returned two years later as foreign minister, backed by the Vietnamese army. Still younger than any of his Asean counterparts, he now ranks as their most experienced prime minister. And he achieved all this despite losing an eye in the final battle to defeat the US-backed military regime of General Lon Nol back in 1975.

Only Prince Norodom Sihanouk's rule in the 1960s can be compared with Hun Sen's in terms of its strong leadership and its success in defining the politics and development of the country. Between these two eras, the nation was brought to the brink of extinction by the secret US bombing of Cambodia authored by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger, which ultimately helped Pol Pot's forces to seize power.

Now, after a period of survival in the 1980s - moulded in part by Vietnamese communism mixed with a revival of Cambodian culture - everything is changing. The free market reigns supreme. Land and property speculation is everything, heritage is for sale, and the US dollar is king. Land that was owned by poor farmers in the 1980s is now up for grabs - and indeed frequently is grabbed by a few tycoons linked to Hun Sen. The PM is generally regarded as part of a nouveau riche kleptocracy that siphons off foreign aid and ignores protests about human rights. But defenders of the CPP, and many of the people who have just voted for it, would point out that under his leadership the country is now at peace. Schools, roads and bridges have been built. The economy is booming, and the CPP has been justly rewarded. Few international observers seriously doubt that the democratic will swung behind the CPP, even allowing for unbalanced TV media coverage. (Unlike neighbouring countries, all Cambodia elections since 1993 have been monitored by international observers.)

In the 1980s Hun Sen - who was widely derided as a Vietnamese puppet at the time - had two priorities. The first was to stop the Khmer Rouge from returning to power (they were backed militarily by China and diplomatically by the west). The second was to rebuild a shattered nation.

The fragile government in Phnom Penh not only kept Pot's forces at bay, but their Vietnamese backers speedily restored some basic services. After 1979 hospitals, schools, markets, Buddhist temples and cinemas - closed by the Khmer Rouge - were rapidly reopened by Hun Sen's government. Hun Sen initiated peace talks with Cambodia's exiled Prince Sihanouk, which eventually led to his return. He proved to be an inspirational leader, but much western reporting during the Cold War focused on the partisan belief that Cambodia was under foreign occupation. There was an abysmal failure to report the real story of a nation's dramatic recovery, despite the UN's cynical denial of aid to a desperately poor country.

I first met Hun Sen in 1981, and respect his achievements in helping to bring about the rebirth of his nation and ending the Khmer Rouge terror in the countryside. But from the point of view of public services and the treatment of the poor, his record since the 1993 elections leaves a great deal to be desired. His failure to build an equitable Cambodian society that all can share in, based on social and economic justice - not just a real estate boom - is lamentable.

It is strange that Hun Sen, who shares his humble beginnings with Brazil's Lula and Bolivia's Evo Morales, has no agenda for the poor, no instinct to curb the grotesque excesses of the ruling elite, and has made no attempt to protect the small farmers that he is descended from. For all his intelligence and political skills, Hun Sen's success was based on survival, not a vision of the future. Bolstered by the recent discovery of offshore oil, the CPP has no development model other than the prescriptions of the IMF and World Bank, which are easily grafted onto the corruption and get rich-quick mentality of his business cronies, military generals and his police chiefs.

If he had gracefully stepped down from power in 1998, after the final surrender of the Khmer Rouge, Hun Sen's place in history would surely have been assured. Unless he changes tack, the dispossessed may have to resort to other means to achieve justice.

(Taken from the Malaysian Sun)

Did you know that the Khmer (Cambodian) alphabet was once listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most letter symbols?

Khmer is a derivative of the ancient Pali script from India. It has 33 consonant symbols, 32 consonant subscripts, 21 vowels that translate to 42 sounds, and 14 independent vowel symbols. Altogether, the Khmer language has 90 symbols.

The Tonle Sap is the largest lake in South East Asia. It is fed by the melting snow from the Himalayas which flows down the great Mekong River and into Tonle Sap. The lake, its water and its fresh water fish feed the nation. The floating village is a community literally living off, and living in houses floating on, the edge of the great lake. The floating village includes floating gas stations, floating markets, and floating schools.

In November each year, folks from all over the country and around the world flock to Phnom Penh for the annual Water Festival in order to watch traditional boat races. Teams from all over the country come to compete before the King in the Moonlight Pavilion. At night there are fire works and lighted boat parade.