Khmer New Year style

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Posted in: Khmer gallery

Keeweechic's Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, is a bustling city nestled on the banks where three great rivers, the Mekong, the Tonle Sap River and the Bassac converge and then separate again. The city's buildings and temples are typical of the Cambodian style. The French also made their mark building several dozen grand residences for French Administrators and these are still standing today. A large number of hotels and restaurants have been built over the past 10 years attracting more tourists to the city.

The Easter weekend I was there saw one of the last peaceful periods in Cambodia. Not far from my hotel on the Sunday, a man threw 3 grenades into a public gathering killing 15 and injuring around 112 people. It was an attempt on one of the Ministers life who fortunately was saved by his bodyguard who had thrown himself in front of the Minister and died. From then on, unrest seemed to prevail and increase. Hopefully one day, peace will be restored to Cambodia and more people will travel and be inspired with its beauty.

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Posted in: news

Thaksin back in Phnom Penh

Thaksin Shinawatr just flew into Phnom Penh today again ... in line with a well-prepared script -- all intended to show how Hun Sen and Thaksin could upstage the Abhisit government at every turn.

Thai engineer Sivarak Chutipong will be released tomorrow through a Royal pardon even before anyone from the Thai side had submitted a request for amnesty.

Thaksin is in Cambodia to get the credit and embarrass the Thai government. He is playing the "hero's role" to the hilt despite the fact that Sivarak had been arrested for having tried to "steal" a "classified" document about his flight plan into Cambodia in the first place.

Sivarak denied the charge in the court hearings but the court ruled that he was guilty -- and sentenced him to seven years in jail -- on grounds that Thaksin was an honorary Cambodia citizen and since his personal security could have been threatened by Sivarak's alleged action.

Sivarak is expected to publicly thank Thaksin when he is set free tomorrow for his help in obtaining his freedom. Hun Sen has even said that Sivarak could continue to work in Cambodia after his release.

Suddenly, Sivarak has been transformed from a "spy" into Hun Sen's "favourite."

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Posted in: news

Do I get a press pass?

This is the inside back page of today's Phnom Penh Post. My story didn't manage to get the back page exclusive, darn it, but my interview with Cambodia national football coach Prak Sovannara, ahead of the country's crucial AFC Challenge Cup qualifying matches next week, will provide some much-needed background to the forthcoming games for the English-speaking audience in Cambodia. The PPP posts its articles from today's paper online later tonight and you can read the full expose then. Here's the link. I will also post the full interview with Sovannara - the PPP article is a condensed version - tomorrow. Back in England I used to write regular football articles for the Western Daily Press, Gloucestershire Echo and other newspapers, as well as short match reports for the Sunday Mail, Sunday Mercury and others. This takes me back to those heady days. One of my photos also appeared yesterday in the online edition of the French-language newspaper Cambodge Soir Hebdo.

The long search for justice

The above is the headline in today's Lifestyle section of the Phnom Penh Post newspaper. The article is credited to me and is effectively the Q&A I did with Beth Pielert and Thida Buth Mam, the director and main subject of the film Out of the Poison Tree, that gets its Cambodia premiere at Meta House tomorrow (Saturday) night at 6.30pm. The article is already on-line at the PPP website here.

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Posted in: events

The future

The future

Today's Phnom Penh Post article

The last of my reports from the adventures of the Cambodian U23 team that competed in the SEA Games is published in the Phnom Penh Post today. It's a round-up piece with national coach Scott O'Donell giving his views on what happened and what needs to happen in the future. Scott will submit a detailed report to the country's football federation of the team's showing at the SEA Games and what he would like to see take place in the future, taking into account the best practice from other nations. Preparation is a key element to any tournament and getting that right is a minefield in itself. One national team for example, Indonesia, sent their squad to Uruguay for months on end to hone their skills but still failed to reach the semi-finals of the SEA Games football competition. They also have a budget set aside for the national team of over $3 million. There is no guarantee for winning whatever the preparations are, you just have a better chance of success if your preparations are right. Some countries like Singapore have their best young stars playing together in league competition and yet Singapore, who gave us a footballing lesson in Phnom Penh a few months ago, failed to reach the SEA Games final too. As I said it's a minefield and Cambodia have had to negotiate a lot of those already just to get where they are today. There is no panacea to becoming a success overnight. It takes time, careful planning and a concerted effort from all sides and that vision of the future is what the Cambodian football federation must address sooner rather than later.
You can read the article online here.

On the radio

Anyone listen to Radio Australia? I was on the breakfast programme, Radio Australia Today, this morning, giving my thoughts on the SEA Games to the presenter Phil Kafcaloudes, just before 7.30am. It was just a quick five minutes talking about how the Laos public have embraced the games with gusto, how everyone loves the underdogs like East Timor and how enjoyable it was to attend the games and to see how seriously some countries take them, ie. Vietnam. The presenter loved the fact that Vietnam sent over 300 journalists to cover the event, whilst Cambodia sent just two, both from the Phnom Penh Post. Radio Australia focuses on Asia and the Pacific region and regularly has news items from Cambodia and neighbouring countries.
Much nearer home, at the Olympic Stadium here in Phnom Penh, the WOVD Volleyball World Cup is back in town, after creating such a stir when Cambodia grabbed bronze at the 2007 event. Six teams - Cambodia, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Malaysia and India - will compete for the cup this time around and matches will begin tomorrow and last through 'til 20 December, though at the moment, I can't find the schedule of games and times. Get along if you can, the standard of play in 2007 was top drawer and I expect no less this time too.
The match report from Friday's Vietnam game is in today's Phnom Penh Post and can be read online here. It's also below.

My article in today's Phnom Penh Post

Home or away

Cambodia 'at home' against Malaysia, face to their right

Cambodia 'away' against Thailand, face to the left for the national anthem

The national anthems of the two competing teams are played before each match and depending on whether you are the designated 'home' or 'away' team will determine which way you turn to face, and respect, both the national anthem and your flag. The flag is actually held on the ground by ball-boys rather than fluttering from a flagpole. It would be far more helpful for my photograph album if the players simply faced forward. Organisers please take note.
One of my pet hates is being played out at every game at this SEA Games. When a player goes down injured, the referees' automatically call on the stretcher-bearers who invariably arrive at the player before the physio, man-handle him onto the stretcher before any initial assessment of the injury is made. This happens at all the CPL games in Phnom Penh too and is basically an accident waiting to happen. The stretcher guys are less qualified to do the job than my pet cat (if I had one) and the day they aggrevate a broken leg or a ruptured cruciate ligament is the day when the football authorities might just wake up to this unacceptable practice. Someone, please stop this nonsense. I've spoken to the head doctor who attends some of the CPL games and he agrees with me 100%. I wish someone would listen before someone suffers.
Two more medals this afternoon, both in taekwondo, which makes 4 in all to-date. This time we went one better and grabbed two silvers for Sorn Eliot (who won a bronze in the last SEA Games in Khorat) and So Naro, in the heavyweight and middleweight sections respectively. Taekwondo is proving to be a fruitful medal sport for the Khmer contingent.
My match report from the Malaysia game is in today's Phnom Penh Post.
Cambodia fail to advance here.

Press talk

Yesterday's Phnom Penh Post carried three of my stories.
Cambodian U23s waste chances but win easily here
Victory crucial for Cambodia here
Brief: Stats from SEA Games here.

Congratulations to Cheat Khemara, who collected Cambodia's first medal of the 25th SEA Games with a bronze in the individual Poomsae section of Taekwondo, held at the National University complex. Laos won the silver, Indonesia the gold medal. I don't begin to know what Taekwondo is all about though google tells me that Poomsae are a set sequence of movements that consists of the various fundamental stances, blocks, punches and kicks logically arranged in a meaningful order in response to attacks from multiple imaginary assailants. Whatever it looks like, Cambodia have their first medal on the board. Cambodian Prime Minster Hun Sen is in Vientiane today to attend the formal opening ceremony of the Games, his first ever appearance at the SEA Games.

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Posted in: events

Phnom Penh to Takeo by Motorbike and to Angkor Borei by Fast Boat

Today the plan is to go to Takeo (Takaev) again and to visit Angkor Borei and Phnom Da (Phnum Dai) with two friends: Maraile and Becky. Becky is a motorbike enthusiast while Maraile did not yet discover her passion for bikes. While I visited Angkor Borei by motorbike a few weeks ago, we want to do the trip from Takeo to Angkor Borei with the fast boat.

We go with two motos and take it easy. The ride to Takeo is pleasant, as the road is ok and there is not much traffic. It takes us about 2 hours to get to Takeo.

We ride straight to the waterfront. After only very few minutes some locals approach us inquiring whether we want to rent a boat. While the guide books suggest that the ride to Angkor Borei should be $15-20 these guys suggest a price of $25. We negotiate for quite some time but the captain does not give in at all. His main argument is that the engine of his boat is very big which is true (40PS). We ask if there is a boat with a smaller engine at a better price and there are many boats around but we learn that there is no other captain. After considerable time we agree to $25, park the bikes and get into the boat.

The boat is fast indeed and it is not by accident that those waterways are referred to as ‘water canal highways’.

Leaving from Takeo. I mix Maraile’s pictures with mine.

This is where two water highways meet.

There is very little water in the ‘highway’ but many boats. In fact one of the reasons for coming here after I came here only very few weeks ago is that the area spectacularly flooded during the rainy season. The rainy season should have started long time ago but it did not. For this reason, water levels are very low and countless boats got stuck in the more shallow stretches of the water highway.

The water highway is very straight and much is going on its banks and in the water. People fish and children play, swim or look after all kind of cattle.

The last stretch of the river before reaching Angkor Borei is narrow and has many turns and we ride at very high speed.

Then we reach Angkor Borei.

The boat stops on the left side of the river after we pass the main bridge. A museum is located here right next to the river. It seems to be noon break when we arrive but after a few minutes people open the door and we can enter the museum. The visitor’s area consists of two rooms. We meet an archaeologist from the US and her husband who work here. They say that few tourists find their way here and provide us with some background information.

There is an air photograph showing clearly visible the town’s well preserved massive city walls that are witness to its Funan past. These walls were built of brick some 6 meters high and had a defensive moat next to them. The massive size of the walls suggests that the town needed to be defended from attack by neighbouring states or rival factions and were built to protect a sizeable population.

Within the city walls more than 10 temples have been identified, but sadly, as with much of Cambodia’s heritage, indiscriminate looting has already taken place of most of the artefacts at the archaeological sites. There are several canals originating from the Funan period.

This is the second room. The carvings on the right hand are taken from Phnom Da. Oddly, there is a basket that contains bones, without any explanation.

Most statues are from between the 6th and 12th century, meaning that the civilization which built them far predated the Angkor period. One of the archaeologists suggests that this is one of the very first urban centres in Southeast Asia. Little is known about this period. I ask whether the inhabitants of this city were Khmers and he says that we do not even know that. They may have been Muslim Cham also.

There is a statement written on the wall informing visitors about Cambodia’s Vanishing Cultural Heritage. I think it is worth quoting in full here:

“All of the objects displayed in the Angkor Borei museum – architectural fragments, sculptures, ceramics, beads, amulets, and even human bones – are important parts of Cambodia’s cultural heritage. Cambodia is losing its cultural heritage at an alarming rate today, as people saw, chip, haul, and dig artefacts and architectural elements out of archaeological sites. Despite the passage of strict laws to protect Cambodia’s antiquities, goods are leaving sites by truck, cart, boat, and plane and find their way into private collections throughout the world.

The destruction of cultural heritage results from many activities that are common in rural Southeast Asia. Some of this damages the archaeological record. Other damage, however, results from intentional looting with picks, shovels, chainsaws, and bulldozers. Throughout the world today, looting is fuelled by an insatiable and international market of antiquities collectors.

Like many archaeological sites in Cambodia, the cultural heritage of Angkor Borei is also disappearing quickly. Pottery, sculptures, and beads from the site have appeared in the markets of Phnom Penh via the World Wide Web.

The rapid destruction of Cambodia’s natural resources has become a source of international concern and so should the destruction of Cambodia’s Cultural Heritage!”

We learn that some archaeological work is being carried out right now at one part of the wall where people are cutting into it in order to build a new house. Taking advantage of this opportunity, archaeologists measure and document the structure and age of the wall. We get three moto taxis and join them. The side is on our way to Phnom Da.

Maraile on the moto.

Parts of the ancient wall.

Then we head to Phnom Da.

Unlike when I came here last time , there is a guard at the bottom of the mountain collecting $3 from visitors, which I find quite a price. We negotiate down to $2 and don’t get tickets. Then we climb up the mountain.

Carving on the ground inside the temple.

There is a nice view from up here all the way to Vietnam. People are working in the field.

The collapsed roof of the temple.

From here we walk down the hill and over to another one which is part of the same set of hills. I recall that one of the archaeologists said that one of the temples was rebuilt by a French architect and I assume it is this one.

This temple is actually two buildings in one, as there is one inner room and another one around it, so you can walk all the way around the inner room without leaving the temple.

From right to left: Becky, Maraile and myself.

After a short break we head back to Angkor Borei. We ride to the market to get $ notes changed before we can pay the moto drivers.

Becky on the moto taxi.

Maraile.

At the river.

Angkor Borei is a rather rural place but there is a phone shop like everywhere else in Cambodia and there is network coverage throughout our stay.

We get on the boat and head back to Takeo.

Again we come across many boats that got stuck. It is striking how those people and their daily lives are directly affected by the drought. While in Phnom Penh you read every day in the newspaper that the rain did not start yet, but the pictures one can see here are much more telling.

Bricks are moved from one boat to a smaller one by one through hard labour, presumably to free the bigger boat and move the goods to Takeo with the smaller one.

This guy is standing next to a machine that is as tall as he is and the propeller stirs in the mud but the boat does not move.

Back in Takeo.

After a short break we get on the bikes and ride back to Phnom Penh.

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Posted in: events