Thursday July 24, 2008
Bangkok Post
Preah Vihear temple is closed, but a miniature is on display nearby, writes Wassana Nanuam in Si Sa Ket
Preah Vihear temple is once again on Thai soil and is open to visitors - but unfortunately it's not the real thing.Visitors missing the chance to visit the 900-year-old temple just over the border in Cambodia can instead view a replica at the 23rd unit of paramilitary rangers based in Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district. Cambodia decided earlier this month to close the temple due to rising tensions with Thailand over the 4.6-square-kilometre area surrounding the temple.
The area is claimed by both countries.
With no end to the dispute in sight, nobody knows when the temple will be reopened.
The Thai army also does not allow the public to go near the border there.
For tourists hoping to visit the ancient Hindu temple, the best bet for now is to visit the replica at the ranger compound.
Sgt-Maj 1st Class Santisuk Kaensuk acts as a ''tour guide'' for the replica, which was built in 1999, when Col Nirut Ketsiri was the unit commander.
The effects of the Cambodian civil war were still being felt then and the Preah Vihear temple was still closed to the public. The area near the temple had been one of the fiercest battlegrounds between the Cambodian army and the Khmer Rouge.
Col Nirut started the miniature temple with help from his ranger colleagues.
They copied the ancient architecture from photographs taken before the temple sustained damage during the war in Cambodia.
It took them about one year to finish building the miniature, which measures one metre by three metres, Sgt-Maj Santisuk said.
The officer knows all the details of the real Preah Vihear temple by heart. Since 1989, he has guided more than 200 groups there.
He remembers all details and figures about the real ancient temple and the miniature.
''The real temple was built in 1436 with a 72-metre-long staircase with 162 steps,'' said Sgt-Maj Santisuk.
''I don't know when Cambodia will allow visitors to visit the temple again.
''Preah Vihear doesn't belong to us, but at least we have a miniature we can call our own.''
Thailand lost the court battle with Cambodia at the International Court of Justice in 1962. The court ruled that the temple was on Cambodian soil. The current row between the two neighbours erupted after Preah Vihear was listed as a World Heritage site by Unesco earlier this month.
Preah Vihear temple is once again on Thai soil and is open to visitors - but unfortunately it's not the real thing.Visitors missing the chance to visit the 900-year-old temple just over the border in Cambodia can instead view a replica at the 23rd unit of paramilitary rangers based in Si Sa Ket's Kantharalak district. Cambodia decided earlier this month to close the temple due to rising tensions with Thailand over the 4.6-square-kilometre area surrounding the temple.
The area is claimed by both countries.
With no end to the dispute in sight, nobody knows when the temple will be reopened.
The Thai army also does not allow the public to go near the border there.
For tourists hoping to visit the ancient Hindu temple, the best bet for now is to visit the replica at the ranger compound.
Sgt-Maj 1st Class Santisuk Kaensuk acts as a ''tour guide'' for the replica, which was built in 1999, when Col Nirut Ketsiri was the unit commander.
The effects of the Cambodian civil war were still being felt then and the Preah Vihear temple was still closed to the public. The area near the temple had been one of the fiercest battlegrounds between the Cambodian army and the Khmer Rouge.
Col Nirut started the miniature temple with help from his ranger colleagues.
They copied the ancient architecture from photographs taken before the temple sustained damage during the war in Cambodia.
It took them about one year to finish building the miniature, which measures one metre by three metres, Sgt-Maj Santisuk said.
The officer knows all the details of the real Preah Vihear temple by heart. Since 1989, he has guided more than 200 groups there.
He remembers all details and figures about the real ancient temple and the miniature.
''The real temple was built in 1436 with a 72-metre-long staircase with 162 steps,'' said Sgt-Maj Santisuk.
''I don't know when Cambodia will allow visitors to visit the temple again.
''Preah Vihear doesn't belong to us, but at least we have a miniature we can call our own.''
Thailand lost the court battle with Cambodia at the International Court of Justice in 1962. The court ruled that the temple was on Cambodian soil. The current row between the two neighbours erupted after Preah Vihear was listed as a World Heritage site by Unesco earlier this month.
10 comments:
The Thais are really something else....lol
the temple isn't built in 1436, inscriptions on the temple dates back the order to beginning of the 10th century.
Still we need to watch our back, there is too much Thai troops along our border.
Hun Sen must send troops there too, we don't know what the Thai will do.
Especially during the election.
Yeah, soon they will build a replica of Pyramid of Egypt, because they think they built it too.
Bang Cock Post and The Nut-tion
2008-1436=900 years old?..How can I be a tourguide if he doesn't know how to do calculation. A 6 years old kid in Cambodia can do better than him...Learn more more man!!!
Samak will step down so the longer time he prolong in Preah Viheah Temple with Cambodia, The Thais will forget what are really happening in Thailand itself for a while. However, Cambodia MUST prepare for a war if it wihses not not lose the patch of land bit by bit. Thailand is taking advantages of its weak and powerless neighbor's country soldiers and it seems to have many secret agendas with the Cambodia government nowsaday.
However, by the end Thai expects to win, though Samak will have to step down.
From PV
There is nothing wrong with Replica to attract tourists. People does it everywhere.
But the deal with Preah Vihear is that it lack the hilltop view.
The Siam government has mass their troops along Cambodia border.
We should urge the Hun Sen government to send troops to the other parts of the border.
No, the Thai have troop on 4.6km and karmen has no idea of what to do with them.
12:23PM, We are ussing law! fool!
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