‘Gods of Angkor’ Exhibit Bids America Goodbye

A Cambodian bronze sculpture from the Angkorian period is among the collection of Khmer artifacts on display in Washington, DC and Los Angeles for over one year.

Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Cheang Sophinarath, VOA Khmer | Los Angeles, California

[It's important for students] “to recognize how important Angkor Wat is to the art history and the culture of Cambodia.”

It ran for more than a year, a collection of Cambodian bronze sculptures from the Angkorian period. On loan from the National Museum of Cambodia, the collection drew thousands of museum-goers, first to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian in Washington, and more recently at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Calif.

But now the exhibit is on its way home, its run at the Getty having ended Aug. 14.

 

The project began with talks between the Smithsonian and the National Museum of Cambodia, said Jeffery Weaver, associate curator of sculptures and decorative arts at the Getty. That led to a Getty foundation grant to train conservators for the sculptures in Camboida, but went further when organizers decided to highlight the bronzes in the US.

Power and Pragmatism in the Political Economy of Angkor - PhD Thesis by Eileen Lustig

POWER_AND_PRAGMATISM_IN_THE_POLITICAL_ECONOMY_OF_ANGKOR
http://www.scribd.com/full/52453830?access_key=key-vapi0vkwbz0mfj6i197

Cambodia's Future After The 'Killing Fields'

Belmont film maker Lauren Shaw explores the post genocide generation of Cambodians in her documentary "Angkor's Children."

By Len Abram
BelmontPatch.com

A still from Lauren Shaw's documentary "Angkor's Children." Credit Lauren Shaw 

A still from Lauren Shaw's documentary "Angkor's Children." Credit Lauren Shaw 

Lauren Shaw

From 1975 until it was overthrown in 1979, the infamous Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot ruled Cambodia, murdering more than two million fellow Cambodians in a reign of internal terror not seen in modern history. The expression "the killing fields" represents what most people think of Cambodia.

This great loss of life changed the Cambodian demographics: 51 percent of the country today is under 25, and large numbers of the survivors fled to the United States as refugees, many settling in the Boston area.

Belmont resident Lauren Shaw, an associate professor in Visual and Media Arts at Emerson College, teaches photography in Boston. She was visiting Vietnam in 2007 when she decided to take a side-trip to Cambodia, the site of one of the world's great architectural wonders, Angkor Wat.

In contrast to Vietnam, she saw a country that was trying to rebuild after the horrors of genocide. It became apparent that Cambodia was a place she felt compelled to help.

Belmont Patch reached Shaw, who is preparing for another trip in December to Cambodia to work on her latest film, "Angkor's Children."

See the trailer for "Angkor's Children" above.

Patch: Your first documentary is about providing clean water to Cambodians, by contributing to the construction of wells. How did you first get involved in this village development project?

Shaw: "A Drop in the Bucket" is a documentary about the need for safe water throughout the rural areas of Cambodia. Without good health and education, this country cannot move forward.

Water is essential for providing good health, something we Americans take for granted. In Cambodia, a well costs $350.

Change has to begin somewhere. My documentary explores how safe water improves the lives of villagers and ultimately the general population. My wish is that "A Drop in the Bucket" raises public awareness and becomes a call to action.

Q: A significant Cambodian immigrant population is in the Boston area. Are they aware of your work about their native land?

A: In Lowell especially, I know of many Cambodian immigrants. And that's in addition to many Cambodian children adopted by American families after the Pol Pot regime. I have not shown this film in Lowell, but have made connections within the community, many of whom have never visited Cambodia. They share a deep love for their country, however, and their hope for its future.

Q: How will your second film "Anghor's Children" differ from your first?

A: "Angkor's Children" is about the post-genocide generation of young Cambodians. As noted, 50 per cent of the population is under 21. The seeds of the Angkor Empire of the 12th century lie in the Cambodian youth of today, which is moving beyond "the killing fields" to the aspirations of a new generation.

It is a story told by Cambodians, of energy, hope, and unexpected turns as they recapture the ancient, and embrace the modern, to create their future.

I intend to focus on three Cambodians as they pursue their dreams. One of them, a young woman, who earned her living picking trash, is now is a leading member of the Battambang circus. Chai a former boy/soldiers is an engineer, who is working to revise ancient, water reservoirs so that more villages will have access to water. Boomer, a deportee from the US, uses hip-hop to teach gang members in the city how to get off the street and live constructive lives. They are determined individuals in their ambitions, not unlike kids anywhere, except for their tragic national past.

When I get to Cambodia, I will determine if we have chosen the best stories to represent our theme of Cambodian renewal through this new generation.

Q: What is the LEF Foundation?

A: It's a private family foundation that funds the work of independent film and video artists in the region. The Foundation hopes to advance recognition and support for local filmmakers, both locally and nationally.

The Foundation awarded our film $5,000 toward the pre-productions of "Anghor's Children," of which we have shot 47 hours of film. Following my trip in December to Cambodia, I have applied for a sabbatical semester to complete the film in Cambodia.

Q: What do you think we Americans can learn from Cambodians and their tragic national experience?

A. We see a people of great courage, tenacity and resilience. "Anghor's Children" demonstrates those characteristics through the lives of young people, trying to find a place for themselves, against heavy odds. Their struggle is challenging and hard.

"Angkor's Children" will tell the world they are more than just a country of tears; they are a country of dreams.

For more information on Lauren Shaw's films, please visit

www.laurenshaw.com, www.adropinthebucketfilm.com, and www.angkorschildren.com

[Khmer] Temples of delight in Thailand

Wat's up? ... Buddhist monks outside the main shrine at the Khmer temple at Phimai, Thailand. Photograph: Getty
Making a splash … Tok Haew Narok waterfall. Photograph: Alamy

There are no full moon parties in Isaan, perhaps Thailands' least touristy region. Instead you'll find sleepy villages, Khmer architecture, and a boutique hotel right on the Mekong

Saturday 18 September 2010
Chris Coplans
The Guardian (UK)

After hacking through undergrowth for a couple of hours, we emerged sweaty, muddy and bedraggled at the 25m-high Tok Haew Narok falls, which (please excuse yet another reference to The Beach in a Thailand article) are the ones Leonardo DiCaprio leapt from in the film. We scrambled down to swim in the turquoise pool below it.

My guide – called Apple – and I were following a challenging 8km trail through the Khao Yai national park, a huge tract of monsoon forest and a Unesco world heritage site two hours north of Bangkok. On the western edge of the Isaan region, it is home to tigers, bears, leopards, deer, gibbons, hornbills and elephants.

The Isaan region covers a huge swathe of north-east Thailand stretching to the Mekong river, Laos and Cambodia. It is the country's least visited area – as close to the "old Thailand" as you can get, and a welcome change from the tour group- and backpacker-choked northern destinations of Chiang Mai and the Golden Triangle.

Boutique hotels are few and far between, a steaming broth of noodle soup replaces the banana pancake breakfast, and pedicabs rather than taxis or tuk-tuks are the main mode of transport. I encountered sleepy, small rural towns that depend on farming, not tourism, despite the fact that this area is not only a stunning natural wilderness, but also full of fantastic Khmer temples.

Just like those in Cambodia (including Angkor Wat), the 182 Khmer sites in Isaan were built by the God Kings of Angkor, who at the height of their supremacy, from the ninth to the 13th century, extended their empire into Burma. Many of the finest examples of Khmer architecture are to be found on Issan's Khorat Plateau, clustered around Buriram, Surin and Khorat provinces. I explored many of them and, more often than not, I had them pretty much to myself.

The jewel in the crown was undoubtedly Phimai, 60 miles north-east of Khorat, less than three hours from Bangkok. The temple complex is right in the heart of the otherwise humdrum little town of Phimai, and entering it is like walking into a secret, mythical garden. The whole complex is dominated by an exquisite prang (tower), the iconic corn-on-the-cob-like Khmer structure – in fact, some claim that Angkor Wat was modelled on Phimai.

Apple and I sat, cocooned in a soporific tropical haze, transfixed, as the sandstone of the temple absorbed the last rays of the weakening sun, and were joined by a group of novice monks in saffron robes, who imparted spiritual wisdom about Lampard and Rooney.

The next morning we were up at dawn for a two-hour drive east across the flat, dusty landscape of the Khorat Plateau to another great Thai Khmer monument, Phanom Rung. Although Isaan is a vast region, distances between the Khmer temples are short, and all the main sites can be seen in a couple of days.

Phanom Rung is perched atop an extinct volcano, with panoramic views of the surrounding plain, and I climbed up steps worn down by centuries of visiting Buddhist pilgrims to a promenade overlooking the exquisite sandstone tower of the main temple, with its labyrinth of hidden chambers.

A few miles on was the Meuang Tam complex, based on the design of Angkor Wat, but with four L-shaped ponds covered with colourful lotus flowers.

I ventured east next, towards the Mekong valley, into rural landscapes full of paddy fields broken up by palm trees – Thailand is the world's largest rice exporter and much of the crop is grown in Isaan.

Isaan hot is a different kettle of spice from regular Thai hot as I found out when I ordered larb moo (minced pork salad) in a small roadside restaurant.

Several hours later we had made it to Khong Jiam, a somnolent river town, beautifully located on a peninsula where the blue waters of the river Mun are overwhelmed by the bubbling chocolate that is the Mekong. After staying in many basic rural lodges during our journey, I was overjoyed to find a boutique hotel here, the Tohsang Khong Jiam, right on the bank of the Mekong, with enchanting views of the mountains of Laos on the other side.

Leaving Kong Jiam to head back to Bangkok, we stumbled upon Wat Tham Khuha Sawan, which overlooks the town and the river. In complete contrast to the bewitching Khmer temples, this modern temple, built in 1978, has a surreal theme park feel to it, with a mish-mash of flamboyant architectural styles. A huge elephant protects the Buddha images below, and the main stupa's golden spires wink conspiratorially in the dazzling light. There is a dreamlike bell tower, topped with fierce nagas (mythical serpent deities) and golden spires. In Isaan, always prepare for the unexpected.

Ancient Cambodian bronzes headed to Getty Center

Photo: a 12th century bronze from the Angkor period. Credit: National Museum of Cambodia

March 30, 2010
David Ng
Los Angeles Times

For the first time, the J. Paul Getty Museum will be hosting an exhibition of artwork from Cambodia.

A collection of ancient bronze sculptures from the Southeast Asian country will go on display at the Getty Center in 2011. "Gods of Angkor: Bronzes From the National Museum of Cambodia" is set to run from Feb. 22 to Aug. 14, 2011.

The exhibition features work dating from the Angkor period, roughly from the 9th to the 15th centuries. The Getty said the show will also feature a small group of bronzes from the pre-Angkor period and some recently excavated works.

Much of the exhibition will feature sculptures depicting Buddhist and Hindu deities created by artists who lived during the Khmer Empire. The sculptures are on loan from the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, which has founded a bronze conservation studio.

The exhibition will open at the Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in Washington, D.C., in May.

"Gods of Angkor," which features 36 works, is the result of a partnership between the Smithsonian's Freer and Sackler Galleries and the National Museum of Cambodia. The two institutions have worked together on conservation and other efforts.

Climate change helped Angkor's decline: scientist

July 1, 2009
ABC Radio Australia

Cambodia's Angkor temple complex was the heart of the mighty Khmer empire and the ruins are one of the most popular attractions in Southeast Asia.

Angkor Wat, the centerpiece of the Angkor complex, was built in the 9th Century and was surrounded by huge reservoirs and canals - believed to be partly Hindu symbols and partly an irrigation system. So why did the pre-industrial city apparently collapse in the late 16th Century? That's a question that's fascinated historians and archeaologists for decades.

Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Professor Roland Fletcher, archaeologist at the University of Sydney and co-director of the Greater Angkor Project

Click here to listen to the audio program in English (Windows Media)

FLETCHER: Well, it was actually the largest low density pre-industrial city on earth. It covers nearly 1,000 square kilometres, but that's all spread out, something like modern Los Angeles. So it was really enormous and it had somewhere in the order of at the top end 750,000 people in it, so it was pretty spectacular.

LAM: Indeed, water as you've heard was a key factor to Angkor's success, but how did it shape Angkor's downfall?

FLETCHER: Well, the key things to bear in mind is that as you would well know, people in South East Asia have to manage a massive monsoon and then a long dry season and the great water system some of whom canals are about 40 kilometres long appears to have been the mechanism for holding water and using it as reserve in case monsoons were bad.

LAM: Right, and so this is matter of managing the rainfall and the vast amounts, the copious amounts of water that's falling down.

FLETCHER: That's right, to control flooding and to deliver water.

LAM: Mmm, so it wasn't the case of the city growing too fast and outgrowing its infrastructure?

FLETCHER: Well, it's probably more that it built too massive an infrastructure, rather as we're tending to do today, it built an infrastructure that you could not move. The West Baray for instance, has 20 million cubic metres of dirt in its banks. This is massive engineering and between [the years] 1350 and about 1500, the whole region is hit by a very unstable climate period, where there are droughts and severe monsoons all mixed up with each other, in other words, the degree of difference between the years greatly increased.

LAM: So, even all those centuries ago, climate change played a role as well?

FLETCHER: Oh climate change has been occurring all the time. The planetary temperature goes up and down on a very long cycle, quite normally. The period of Angkor, for instance, coincides with what's called the Medieval Warm phase, from about the 9th Century through to about the 15th, 16th Century. And then we got into what's called the Little Ice Age, which is a cold period that ran up to about the 18th Century.

LAM: Professor Fletcher, are there lessons there in Angkor for modern cities?

FLETCHER: Well, I would suspect there are in the sense that what you see in Angkor is a landscape that has been completely cleared of forests in order to grow a dominant crop, so basically a focus on a simplification of the landscape and removing the tree cover and on the other hand, the dependency on very big infrastructure for managing daily life. So, for instance, if you have really heavy monsoons that these canals and systems weren't designed to deal with, you would get severe damage to the structures and we actually find that there is a dam up in the north that's been torn away and the big southern canals of Angkor are full of sand, which suggest very severe flooding.

LAM: You mentioned the forest cover. I understand that some of the trees were studied. What did they show?

FLETCHER: Well, it's the trees in Vietnam, not in Angkor, but in northern Vietnam that actually provide the climate sequence. Trees as you know grow annually and some trees enable you to see how much water was available in a given year. So in a very dry year, you'd get a very thin tree ring growth and in a very wet year, you'd get a big ring and that's what we've used in the work of Brendan Buckley from Colombia to identify the change in the climate and then my colleague, Dan Penny, who is a paleo-environmentalist, has been looking at the changing conditions inside Angkor, looking at the pollen particularly and algae.

LAM: And just briefly Professor, how useful is it for us in modern times to get to the heart of what happened in Angkor?

FLETCHER: Well, I think the thing to bear in mind is the situation is not absolutely equivalent and one reason being that we know a great deal more in the modern world and we have a great deal more capacity available to us to deal with situations. But when you consider that Angkor was a giant low density city, that had cleared its regional landscape of its natural vegetation cover, was dependent upon massive infrastructure and hit by climate change. It does sound a little topical, it does sound a little like the modern world.

Making connections at Angkor

Mon, Jun 22, 2009
By Clarissa Tan
The Business Times

THERE is poor and there is poor.

In Singapore, being poor may mean you have never stepped into a fancy restaurant. In Cambodia, it likely means you have never tasted meat.

This is the kind of overwhelming divide between industrialised countries and emerging nations that we rarely have to face head on.

Except, of course, when we travel.

And Siem Reap - home of the breathtakingly beautiful Angkor temples, situated in one of the poorest nations on earth - is one place where the two worlds collide. Tourists flock here; they give the begging children dollars, euros, pennies, baht. But is there a more durable, responsible way for travellers to even begin to bridge the gap, a way that ensures the dignity of both sides?

Sewing school in Siem Reap

At least one hotel in Siem Reap is approaching this in a systematic, grassroots way. And it's a five-star hotel, no less.

The stylish, boutique Hotel de la Paix - at about US$300 per night for its cheapest rooms, way beyond the dreams of most Cambodians - has a programme that helps its guests foster ties with organisations such as orphanages and schools, if they wish.

In their rooms, all patrons will find a booklet called Connections, which offers to get them acquainted with the NGOs and institutions that run such projects. Guests can also choose to provide school supplies, rice or potable water, or the hotel can help them customise their own sponsorship package.

"Some people ask why you would choose to stay in a hotel such as ours, apparently insulated from the world," says general manager Nick Downing.

"I tend to look at it from the other side. Hotels and tourism organisations such as ours help bring awareness to the country in which we operate. We are instrumental in bringing people and resources to assist the development of the country that would otherwise not happen.

"However, I don't believe in 'guilt tourism' and we do not push people to participate. All we do is present options in a subtle and non-confronting manner."

The hotel, he says, was conceived with the social context in mind.

"Hotel de la Paix was created to be a very different hotel in Siem Reap. We were created to stand out in design, service and our commitment to the community. In such a developing country, it is important to participate and play a role."

Siem Reap still having that small-town feel, it's all about creating a web of connections between locals, foreign aid workers on the ground, and travellers.

(If you're going to Angkor Wat soon and are fortunate enough to afford the Hotel de la Paix, why not pack a few old toys and clothes into your bag? The hotel will take it from there, shuttling the items to the relevant parties.)

Last year, MasterCard got in on the act too, donating one bicycle for every Hotel de la Paix room paid for with their credit card between Sept 1 and Dec 31.

The American corporation, via its Asia-wide "social responsibility" platform called Purchase with Purpose, raised funds for 397 bicycles.

The bicycles encourage children to ride to school, something they are often deterred from doing by the long distances and other family responsibilities.

"One only needs to see the joy on the children's faces to understand how much these bikes mean to them," says Elizabeth Duke, MasterCard vice-president for business expansion.

"It is a treat to watch the laughter as they ride around for the first time. The children also realise that the bikes are more than a form of transportation, and represent independence and mobility that they never had before."

The bikes have a multiplier effect, she says.

A boy from the Sangkheum Centre for Children, an orphanage, using a bike sponsored by MasterCard.

"It is the norm for children to share a bicycle, so that not just one, but up to three children in a family will use the bicycle to get to school and run errands."

MasterCard will also sponsor 10 women for the Hotel de la Paix Sewing Training Centre, says Georgette Tan, vice-president of communications.

The 10-month programme teaches women to use a sewing machine, as well as offers education on setting up a business. "The programme will also include basic financial literacy to help the women manage their finances," says Ms Tan.

A visit to charming, rapidly growing Siem Reap reveals that much can be done. And that help, hope and goodwill abound in all quarters.

A poignant case is that of 40-year-old Hom Sophart, who spent about half her life begging on the streets of Siem Reap. Her husband, recently deceased due to cancer related to alcohol poisoning, used to beat her.

She scrounged in dustbins for food for her eight children. Despite her troubles, at one point she decided to adopt - bringing nine under her wing - because she met a child who was even worse off. Sophart cannot talk about her years on the streets without weeping.

She now lives in the compound of the Green Gecko Project, which offers shelter for street children and abused women.

Green Gecko, started by an Australian, is one of the various projects supported by Hotel de la Paix. "My life is so, so much better now," she says via a translator. She can say no more because she is crying again.

Then there is 18-year-old Soy Sareth, recently graduated from the Sewing Training Centre. She now works five days a week, eight hours a day, spending half a day to make one shirt. She earns about US$30.35 a month, she says through an interpreter.

What does she do with the money she earns? "I buy food. I give the rest to my mother. We buy chickens to raise. We had no chickens before."

Because they had never had chickens, they asked their neighbours to help them do the slaughtering. Then her family set about boiling the poultry.

Did she enjoy the meal? "Yes," she says, giggling. "I plucked the feathers myself."
-------------
Temples of chic

SIEM REAP is known mostly for its proximity to Angkor Wat, the world-famous complex of ancient religious buildings. But increasingly, on its bustling and colourful streets, it's gaining recognition for its temples of designer chic.

Showcase for local talent: Rather than a lobby bar area which remained static, the designers and developers of Hotel de la Paix committed a huge central space to developing the local arts scene, with new exhibitions ever six to eight weeks.

These stores are often set up by people who, tiring of their glamorous lives in larger metropolises, have opted for the slower but warm-hearted pace of the Cambodian city.

Elizabeth Kiester, for example, was the New York-based fashion editor for Marie Claire, Mademoiselle and Jane for 15 years. She was also global concept director for Abercrombie & Fitch and global creative designer for LeSportsac.

But last year, she packed her bags to set up a shop called wanderlust in Siem Reap.

"I came to do a volunteer vacation after a gruelling month-long media tour of Asia for the launch of the Stella McCartney for LeSportsac collection," she says. "Siem Reap touched something inside of me that no place ever really had, and I decided to drastically change my life. I also recognised the amount of cool young women who were living in Siem Reap, working at hotels, cafes and NGOs and I thought, 'Where are they buying their clothes?' The idea of wanderlust was born."

The red-windowed shop displays her current cheerful, boppy range of street wear.

The store also sells items designed and made by Cambodians, such as the Nikaya line of jewellery by the handicrafts arm of NGO Journeys Within.

"It was critical to me to have wanderlust be part of the local community. I respect and admire the Khmers enormously, and I am well aware of the tragedies that have befallen this country. And I will do what I can, in whatever small way, to help get this community back up on its feet and smiling and successful again."

Ms Kiester's wanderlust is located on the Alley West near the Old Market, which is lined with trendy retailers, restaurants and boutique hotels.

On this street you'll also find Poetry, a quirky design store run by artist and photographer Loven Ramos and designer Don Protasio. Ramos, a Filipino from Manila, has lived in Siem Reap for five years. "I stayed because of the great energy that you get to create here, rather than be part of the energy that the big cities have."

Cool shops to visit in Siem Reap include Eric Raisina's atelier/studio.

Mr Ramos is just one person among an influx of artists and designers who are behind the galleries and boutiques that have seemingly popped up overnight in Siem Reap.

There is the fashion atelier by Madagascar- born, Paris-trained Eric Raisina (visits by appointment only), and art and photo galleries such as the McDermott and Tiger Lily, as well as a lounge dedicated to local artists at the Hotel de la Paix, the largest space of its kind in the city.

One of the hotel's curators is Sasha Constable, an artist herself and descendant of the famous English Romantic painter.

Ms Kiester says it's only a matter of time before Cambodian art and design gets worldwide recognition.

"When you look at something as beautiful as Angkor Wat, you fully understand the depth of the creative spirit and craftmanship of the Khmers. The art world here is taking off; we have some incredibly fine artists who are showing their works locally and internationally.

Elizabeth Kiester, former fashion editor of Marie Claire and Mademoiselle.

"Trust me, in 10 years, Cambodia will be the hot spot for international design."

btnews@sph.com.sg

This article was first published in The Business Times.

National Geographic to air "Secrets of Angkor" on 14 July 2009

In a reenactment scene, Khmer women cooking. (Image courtesy Anna Pfluger/Spiegel TV media)
In a reenactment scene, the markets of ancient Angkor's opened everyday and were being visited exclusively by women. (Image courtesy Anna Pfluger/Spiegel TV media)
In a reenactment scene, the markets of ancient Angkor's opened everyday and were being visited exclusively by women. (Image courtesy Anna Pfluger/Spiegel TV media)
In a reenactment scene, workers digging inside a canal. (Image courtesy Anna Pfluger/Spiegel TV media)
In a reenactment scene, Khmer men working with stone grinding construction. (Image courtesy Anna Pfluger/Spiegel TV media)

Dear KI-Media Readers,

National Geopgraphic magazine will feature Angkor Wat in its July 2009 issue. This issue also includes a supplemental map depicting the rise and fall of Angkor Wat, as well as the layout of the hydraulic engineering work designed by our Khmer Angkor ancestors. The National Geographic Channel will also air Secrets of Angkor on 14 July 2009 (see announcement below).

Our sincere thanks to Lok Chanda C. for bringing this to our attention!

KI-Media team
-----------
Source: National Geographic
Secrets of Angkor
Next Airing Tue Jul 14 6P

In conjunction with the July cover story of National Geographic Magazine, get a comprehensive look at Angkor and the new evidence: remains of outlying settlements, at least 74 additional temples and a vital, complex water system.

Heaven and hell in Cambodia

May 11, 2008
Prodita Sabarini
The Jakarta Post
Phnom Penh, Siem Reap

Sitting under the shade of a tree, on a hot day in the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, 15 kilometers from Central Phnom Penh, I felt horrified thinking of the suffering of the thousands of innocent people who were killed here by the Khmer Rouge regime.

A tiny ant was walking on my arm. Without giving it a second thought, I brushed it away. It rolled over but managed to regain its balance. Immediately I regretted the recklessness of my action.

In ordinary circumstances, I would not have cared about the life of an ant. But I'd just seen more than 8,000 skulls of victims arranged according to sex and age under glass panels in the memorial stupa on the Killing Fields.

My travel partner helped me get the ant off my arm and lowered it to the ground. "There you go," he said to the ant and we watched it walk away.

Before setting off for Cambodia, I'd had visions of touring the magnificent temples of Angkor in Siem Reap, which I eventually did. Cambodia's intense history, however, left a stronger impression than I'd expected.

Phnom Penh

Before traveling on to Siem Reap, my partner and I spent two nights in the capital city, Phnom Penh.

There we visited the Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, which also bear witness to the horror of the Khmer Rouge regime.

In 1975, the Khmer Rouge overthrew the U.S.-supported Lon Nol government, seizing Phnom Penh. In the name of its "peasant revolution", the Khmer Rouge ordered the mass exodus of two million Phnom Penh residents to the countryside, where they were forced to carry out hard labor. From 1975 to 1979, more than two million of the country's seven million people lost their lives.

The Tuol Sleng Museum, formerly Tuol Svay Prey High School, was transformed into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. It was renamed S-21. A number of prisons, such as the S-21, were scattered across Cambodia. In S-21, some 17,000 former government officials and intellectuals were tortured. The prisoners were later transported to Choeung Ek and killed - most bludgeoned to death in order to save bullets.

We took a guided tour around the museum. A Cambodian woman guided us from room to room, showing us the metal bed on which the prisoners died. We saw the claustrophobic chambers made of red bricks inside the rooms, in which prisoners were kept.

Hundreds of pictures of former prisoners and guards were displayed in the museum. The Khmer Rouge was very detailed in their documentation, taking pictures of prisoners when they first arrived at S-21.

It was inevitable that visiting the two historical sites would be emotionally draining. It was important though for us to visit them to grasp the intensity of the tragedy.

The remarkable thing about Phnom Penh is that, apart from the two historical sites, the city has a fun atmosphere. Almost 30 years after the end of the holocaust, Phnom Penh is thriving. Old French colonial houses stand alongside the traditional Royal Palace.

Big land cruisers, as well as scooters ridden by youngsters, fill the streets. At night, as the air cools down, Phnom Penh residents flock to the parks in front of the royal palace and near the National Museum (this park boasts a "dancing fountain", with dangdut tracks included).

Siem Reap

After a bittersweet journey through Phnom Penh, we committed ourselves to a six-hour bus ride through the flatlands of Cambodia heading to Siem Reap, the gateway to the temples of Angkor.

The construction of new buildings and new roads shows that the once still backwater is facing rapid development. Near the Tonle Sap riverfront, guesthouses and cool restaurants and bars flourish, giving tourists a place to relax after a long day of temple traipsing.

It would take more than a day to explore the 100 or so temples of Angkor, built between the ninth and 14th centuries, the time when Khmer civilization experienced the height of its extraordinary creativity.

Staying in Siem Reap for five days, we chose the US$60 seven-day pass over the one or three day passes.

On our first day, we hit Angkor's star temple, the 12th century Angkor Wat, the biggest and one of the most preserved temples in Angkor.

The tips of the towers of Angkor Wat slowly emerged in sight as we neared them on a motorcycle-powered cart (Tuk Tuk). I felt like I was in the mythical land of a children's storybook.

The wide moat surrounding the temple is breathtakingly beautiful.

Constructed by Suryavarman II, the Hindu temple oddly faces the west, believed to be the direction of death. The temple is thought to be a tribute to Vishnu, the Hindu deity the king identifies with, as well as his tomb.

Read counter-clockwise, the bas-relief tells various stories, the most intriguing of which is a depiction of heaven and hell where doomed souls are dragged along by devils.

Other temples in the complex are equally impressive. One of the Angkor kings, Jayavarman VII, reigned from the late 12th century to the 13th century. A Buddhist god-king, he constructed the fortified city of Angkor Thom, which is home to the Bayon temple and other structures.

The Bayon consists of 56 towers carved with 216 giant faces of Avalokiteshvara looking down. Some scholars suggest that the faces may also be a representation of the king himself.

Some of the temple ruins in Angkor have been abandoned for hundreds of years and thus "swallowed up" by the forest. Tall trees grow on temple rooftops with their gigantic roots covering the buildings.

Angkor in the end does not only hold evidence of the extraordinary creativity of the ancient Khmer empire but also bears witness to the powerful forces of nature.

On the road to Angkor

September 9, 2007
Aree Chaisatien
The Nation (Thailand)

Bilateral project seeks and preserves 12th-century trade route built by the ancient Khmer

Braving the sizzling late-summer heat of the border jungle between Surin province in lower Northeast Thailand and Uddor Mean Chey province in northern Cambodia, I joined researchers tracing a route trodden by the ancient Khmer from Angkor to Phimai.

"Stay on the track," we are warned from time to time. The trail has not been completely cleared of landmines.

This route has been in use since ancient times and parts of the road can still be seen - laterite blocks covered with moss and lichen.

"We are on the ancient road from Angkor to Phimai, believed to have been used since the time of King Jayavarman VII in the 12th century," explains Colonel Surat Lertlum of the Chulachomklao Royal Thai Military Academy at the Ta Mean pass in Surin Province.

The reason we are out here in the stifling heat is that this trail will soon become a "living" route, thanks to the Living Angkor Road Project. The project is a joint Khmer-Thai endeavour of the Authority for the Protection and Management of Angkor and the Region of Siem Reap (APSARA), the Chulachomklao academy, and Thailand's Prince of Songkhla and Silpakorn universities' Fine Arts Departments. Financial support has come from the Thailand Research Fund.

Stretching southeast from Phimai in Nakhon Ratchasima onto the Khorat Plateau, leading across the Phnom Dongrak mountain range on the Thailand-Cambodia border and on to Angkor, the 254-kilometre Angkor-Phimai road is believed to be one of five royal Angkor roads linking its dominions in what are now modern-day Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. They were built in the reign of Jayavarman VII, reputably the greatest king of ancient Angkor.

According to ancient Preah Khan stone inscriptions, Jayavarman VII was a follower of Mahayana Buddhism. He built hospitals and 17 rest houses for travellers and pilgrims on the route from his capital to Phimai. The laterite rest houses - agnisala in the Khmer language, dhammasala in the argot of French archaeologist Louis Finot - are of uniform size and style. Dotted along the route 12-to-13 kilometres apart, their five south-facing windows once contained Buddha images and lights to guide travellers at night.

The hospitals, or arogyasala, looked after sick pilgrims and the health of local residents.

Surat is leading our five-day expedition on foot to explore the remains of the agnisala and arogyasala, setting out from Phimai.

At the Ta Mean border pass in Surin we visit temples and an agnisala, the best preserved of all on the Thailand side, according to archaeologist Pongdhan Sampaongern.

Evidence here suggests earlier French archaeologists might have been wrong in their belief that the ancient road cut through Chong Chom, or Osmach. The agnisala and laterite suggests that this is the true route, explains Surat.

The Angkor-road project started in 2004 and is the first in Thailand to take a multi-disciplinary approach, using remote sensing to complement historical, archaeological and cultural information, says research fund deputy director Silaporn Buasai.

Other new discoveries include two formerly missing agnisala - Prasat Ampil and Prasat Chan in Cambodia - many stone bridges, and ancient industrial relics such as iron furnaces and ceramic kilns.

"These roads are like those of the Roman or Chinese empires. The Khmer used their roads as military and trading routes supplying the capital at Angkor," Pongdhan says

On the second day, entering Cambodia at Osmach we are greeted by Khmer researchers from Apsara, led by archaeologist and anthropologist IM Sokrithy.

We visit agnisalas only reachable on foot. They are dilapidated but still recognisable. Water tanks constructed of laterite are clearly visible. The original boundary markers with still-visible Mahayana Buddhist features were modified as Hindu stupa during the reign of Srindravarman a century after Jayavarman VII.

We found the Spean Toap bridge, which is in good condition and still being used today. "This is the longest ancient bridge, and about 10-metres high," explains Sokrithy.

To get an idea how large royal processions along this route were in its heyday, we view bas-reliefs at the gallery of the Bayon temple. "There were likely many hundreds of soldiers on foot, with several hundred elephants and horses," Sokrithy says.

Heavy modern vehicles will soon be banned in the vicinity of the ancient road to ensure the area's preservation for archaeological and cultural tourism.

"Culture has no boundaries and a road is a link between people. There is an old saying: 'If we have roads, we have hope,' says Sokrithy.

By the fourth afternoon we reach Angkor, entering by the Western Gate of Angkor Thom, believed to be the original departure point for the Angkor-Phimai road.

Pongdhan believes the road preservation project can generate cultural tourism and improve bilateral relations between neighbours. Surat has plans for an animation game to help young people learn and enjoy the history of the road.

For more information visit larp.crma.ac.th and www.autoriteapsara.org.

The writer was a guest of the Thailand Research Fund.

The road from Angkor to Phimai reveals the splendor of Khmer civilization under King Jayavarman VII (unlike under the current 2nd fake one)

A path through history

A research project between Thailand and Cambodia sheds light on the ancient Angkor-Phimai road, which has been shrouded in mystery for centuries

Saturday August 18, 2007
SANITSUDA EKACHAI
Bangkok Post

The air was full of mystery and danger as we hiked the lush forest in the no-man's-land along the Thai-Cambodian border looking for archaeological remnants of the long lost Angkor-Phimai royal road.

"Stay on the path," Col Surat Lertlum solemnly warned, pointing to a cluster of what looked like round plastic lids near a thicket two metres away. "The forest is still full of land mines and we can only guarantee your safety if you stay on the path."

Obediently, we followed him along the narrow path until the moist earth under our feet turned rocky as we stepped onto a raised laterite walkway supported by an embankment made of layers of laterite rocks.

We were at the Ta Muean mountain pass on the Phanom Dongrak mountain range, a natural boundary between Surin province in Thailand's northeast and Oddar Meanchay province in northern Cambodia.

"This is where the ancient road, which passed through the plains in Cambodia, climbed up the mountainous forest of Phanom Dongrak to the plateau in Thailand before heading toward Phimai," explained Col Surat.

Apart from the laterite embankment, other archaeological evidence of the ancient Angkor-Phimai route at the heavily-mined Ta Muean Pass includes stone pillars that once lined the road, remnants of decorative sculptures, a small laterite bridge and a laterite cutting site that provided building materials for the road.

This connecting point at Ta Muean is one of the important discoveries made by the Living Angkor Road Project, a Thai-Cambodian joint effort supported by the Thailand Research Fund to explore the 254-kilometre route that linked Angkor and Phimai when the Khmer civilisation reigned.

The road started at the western gate of the Angkor Thom temple and ended at Phimai, an ancient city believed to have had close royal links with the Angkor dynasties.

The knowledge of the route is not new. A 12th century stone inscription from Preah Khan Temple near Angkor Thom states that King Jayavarman VII, a great Mahayana Buddhist king, ordered the construction of 17 temples along the Angkor-Phimai road as rest stops for travellers.

Originally called agnisala, meaning "houses of fire" that travellers could see lit-up from afar at night, these rest houses have become popularly known as dharmasala through L. Finot's studies in the 1920s on the architecture of the rest chapels.

Prior to the Living Angkor Road Project, archaeologists had identified the sites of 15 of the 17 dharmasalas built along the road, but the exact route it took had never been located.

There was a widespread belief among archaeologists that the road passed through the Phanom Dongrak mountain range at the Samed pass, near the famous Prasat Phanom Rung temple. The Living Angkor Road Project has proved this wrong.

By integrating modern technology in remote sensing, geographical information systems (GIS) and geophysics along with conventional studies in archaeology, anthropology and history, the project has identified Ta Muean as the connecting link over the Phanom Dongrak mountains, which leads directly to Prasat Ta Muean, the first dharmasala or rest stop on the Korat Plateau.

The project has also discovered the remains of the two missing dharmasalas on this route, which are called Ampil and Kok Phnov. The discovery of ancient stone bridges, meanwhile, plots a series of dots that has for the first time revealed the outline of the ancient route from Angkor to Phimai.

Equally important, the research has found a large number of iron smelting and ceramics production sites as well as ancient human settlements within a five kilometre radius of the road. These sites were linked to the main road by networks of smaller roads to transport labour, goods, foods and other resources to the centres of the ancient Khmer empire.

Geophysics technologies, said Col Surat, have also been used to accurately locate iron smelting sites, leading to archaeological excavation in Surin's Ban Kruad district earlier this year.

Started in 2005, the joint project to unveil the road's mystery is a collaboration between the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy, the Fine Arts Department, Prince of Songkhla University, Silpakorn University and Cambodia's Apsara authority, which works to protect and manage the Angkor and the Siem Reap region.

Thailand's multi-disciplinary research team is led by remote sensing and GIS expert Col Surat Lertlum of the Chulachomklao Royal Military Academy's Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, who is responsible for initiating the project.

The Cambodian team is led by Im Sokrithy, an archaeologist from Apsara.

"I've long been fascinated by ancient Khmer civilisation," said Col Surat, explaining why he initiated the bilateral effort.

"Since the use of remote sensing and geography information systems have helped archaeologists pinpoint archaeological sites around the world, I thought my discipline could help shed some light on the royal road."

Col Surat began exploring the road with remote sensing and GIS in 2001. "I soon started realising that advanced technologies may significantly speed up archaeological studies, but they are not enough."

Remote sensing, for example, cannot help much when the sites are covered with jungle or when the landscape has been drastically changed by modern farming and construction, he explained.

Archaeology and history, said Col Surat, help fill the gaps by guiding scientific work in the right direction to locate possible survey sites.

For ground surveys, however, he has learned that it pays to listen to the locals. For example, scientific studies on topography and the direction of water flows suggested that Ta Muean was the least steep pass and thus the most geographically appropriate for road building.

"But it was an old man in the village who told us about an old walkway he used, which led to the discovery of the laterite royal road," said Col Surat.

Archaeologist Im Sokrithy tells a similar story about his discoveries at Cambodian sites.

When searching for the two missing rest chapels, GIS information only roughly identified an area for ground surveys. "It was the villagers' legends relating to the royal road and names of places such as preah kanlong, which means royal road, that gave us the clues as to where the sites should be.

"And it was their knowledge of their area which has helped us to identify the dharmasalas, which are always near the ancient royal road," he said.

The locals' belief that the road is sacred has helped preserve it for modern-day study, said Sokrithy. Under the scorching sun on our way to see Kok Phnov dharmasala, he pointed to an elevated dirt path flanked by paddy fields. "This part of the royal road still exists thanks to the local belief that damaging it brings bad fortune," he explained.

During the war, recounted Sokrithy, the Cambodian villagers used the little-known road to escape the Khmer rouge. "And it is still being used today to go between villages," he added.

It is also the villagers' knowledge of their localities that has helped the Cambodian team identify 32 ancient stone bridges that together form an outline of the entire Angkor-Phimai royal road.

"Remote sensing technology could never locate this bridge because it is on the same level as the road," said Col Surat while standing on Spean Top, the longest ancient stone bridge on the Angkor-Phimai route.

Measuring 149 metres in length and 10 metres high with 25 arches, Spean Top is still in use until today as part of the modern road from Oddar Meanchay to Siem Reap.

The researchers also found many bonuses in their efforts to locate the royal road.

In Cambodia, where the landscape has been not been damaged as much by modern development as it has in Thailand, they discovered Prasat Chan, another ancient rest house near the border.

"It could be one of the 17 dharmasalas mentioned in the Preah Khan stone inscription if the first rest stop adjacent to Angkor Thom is not counted. Or it could belong to an earlier period," Col Surat explained.

King Jayavarman VII, in an attempt to provide better health care to his people, had also ordered the construction of many arogyasala, or hospitals, during his reign. Three of them have been found along the Angkor-Phimai royal road, said Sokrithy, one of them a new discovery.

A large number of newly-discovered ancient settlements, industrial sites, temple ruins and hundreds of man-made reservoirs that are still in use today can also provide a clearer picture of ancient peoples' way of life and the trade and cultural exchanges that took place between the plateau and the plains.

While conventional archaeology focuses on knowledge acquired from particular sites, the multi-disciplinary approach of the Living Angkor Road Project has placed such knowledge in a systemic perspective to give a complete picture of how these sites are connected and what they meant to the ancient Khmer civilisation, said Silaporn Buasai, deputy director of the Thailand Research Fund.

"This research shows how integration of different disciplines can raise our plane of knowledge," she said. "Integration is key to creativity and innovation. It shows it is important for us step out of our fields of expertise, which yield only fragmented pieces of knowledge, and to link up with other disciplines if we want to create new knowledge."

For remote sensing expert Col Surat, his foray into archaeology has shown him the importance of local villagers' knowledge, be it in the form of folklore, legends, ancient documents or knowledge of their locality and real life experiences.

If the pursuit of knowledge leads to respect for others, can this very pursuit in the Living Angkor Road Project help tackle mutual prejudices that often strain Thai-Cambodian relations and lead to conflict over ownership of archaeological sites?

The fact that the dharmasalas had been altered and used as places of worship by different faiths over the past millennium - from Mahayana Buddhism to Hinduism to Theravada Buddhism - should inform people on both sides of today's national boundaries of the process of cultural evolution that has shaped their present societies.

Apart from developing a web site, Col Surat said the project also plans to bring Thai and Cambodian youths together to learn about the ancient road and peoples' relationships in the past. "So the locals are proud of their ancient cultural roots and common heritage," he said.

"We must remember there were no national boundaries a thousand years ago," he added. "We have to go beyond nationalism and ownership to attain knowledge that helps shed light on our past and our cultural heritage."

Im Sokrithy shares the same conviction. "Culture has no boundaries. Culture is about exchange, relationships and connectedness," he said.

"Culture also stresses similarities and common bonds. So if we want to encourage people go beyond ultra-nationalism, using culture as a tool to foster a sense of common bonds is a good way to go."

More information about the Living Angkor Road Project is available in English at: http://larp.crma.ac.th/tikiwiki/tiki-index.php
and in Thai at http://larp.crma.ac.th/

Trilogy takes viewers along on Buddhist pilgrimage

Saturday, August 11, 2007
By David Yonke
Toledo Blade Religion Editor (Toledo, Ohio, USA)

In this fast-paced world with frenetic media activity and TV shows blitzing viewers with quickly shifting scenes, filmmaker John Bush opted to step back and slow down with his three-part documentary, Journey into Buddhism.

“A pilgrimage is designed to make an inner journey for the participant,” Mr. Bush said in an interview this week. “Basically what we’re doing is using pacing deliberately designed to, and calibrated to, induce an inner journey on the part of the viewer.”

The trilogy, delving deeply into Buddhism in southeast Asia and Tibet, is now available on DVD through Boston PBS station WGBH and will be released to stores Sept. 4.

The series features cameras lingering on Buddhist temples, statues of Buddha large and small, the rugged terrain of the Asian jungles, the golden ripples of the Mekong River, and the majestic peaks of the Himalayas.

Throughout all these scenes we see the spiritual devotion of the people, who are filmed prostrating themselves in prayer, chanting, lighting candles, meditating, and walking in pilgrimages.

The third episode, centering on Tibet, includes the mountainous country’s troubled history since its takeover by Communist China in 1949, and the forced exile of its spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

And yet it dwells more on the people’s resilience and their devotion to faith and tradition than on the political strife.

“It was a fine line,” Mr. Bush said, “because we wanted to preserve this feeling of a pilgrimage and journey with the film, but there was no way of ignoring the political situation. It would have been untruthful. It was a matter of finding a way to balance those two things. And I think it set up a nice tension in the film that tells the story.”

The Dalai Lama gave his blessing to Mr. Bush’s documentary, writing a message that said, “I wish this film every success.”

The Dalai Lama said he believes that “as people become more aware of the reality of the situation in Tibet, they will naturally lend their support to our efforts to resume a dialogue with the Chinese authorities aimed at improving the lot of Tibetans in their homeland.”

Narrating the Tibet episode is Tenzin L. Choegyal, a nephew of the Dalai Lama who was raised within the Tibetan exile community in Dharamsala, India.

“He’s not a professional narrator, but he has a sonorous voice and he obviously has a lot of feeling for the subject,” Mr. Bush said.

The filmmaker did not interview Tibetan monks, for fear that the government would punish them.

The stunning Tibetan scenery features the temples built on rocky Himalayan peaks, with azure skies and cotton-white clouds in the backdrop as robed monks study, pray, and meditate in the monasteries.

“I wanted to show the majesty of this tradition in its environment, and what remains of it,” Mr. Bush said.

A native of Buffalo, N.Y., Mr. Bush runs the independent film company Direct Pictures, based in Greenwich Village, New York City.

The filming for the series began in 2001, Mr. Bush said, with the first two segments filmed simultaneously.

The opening episode, Dharma River is set in Laos, Thailand, and Burma, and follows the Mekong River as Mr. Bush and crew explore the rich history and the current state of Buddhism in that region.

Prajna Earth was filmed in Cambodia and centers on the lost civilization of Angkor, including spectacular images of Angkor Wat, the largest Buddhist temple in the world. That segment is narrated by actress Sharon Stone.

The final film in the trilogy, titled Vajra Sky Over Tibet, was filmed in 2002.

All told, Mr. Bush said, the three 90-minute documentaries in Journey into Buddhism were edited down from more than 80 hours of film.

“You know what you want to do when you set out to make a documentary, you have the idea, but it isn’t until you get back in the studio and see what you have that the story starts to reveal itself,” he said.

Journey into Buddhism was a project of special meaning for Mr. Bush, who has a personal interest in the subject matter.

“I’ve been a practicing Buddhist since I first went to Indian in 1970, so it’s something I’m quite comfortable with,” he said. “But I was interested in making it for people who weren’t interested in becoming Buddhists or who were just curious. My feeling is that we can find the most universal themes and extract those — things that would relate to somebody else’s spiritual life or spiritual practice.”

Vajra Sky Over Tibet has been shown in theaters in limited release, in 30 cities, and the trilogy is being discussed for broadcast by PBS stations next year, Mr. Bush said.

The DVD series includes several bonus features including an “ambient sound mix with music,” eliminating the narration and offering only natural environmental sounds with background music by regional artists.

“When I originally conceived of this piece, I was really anticipating doing it without any voiceover, just a direct experience of the place” Mr. Bush said.

“When I showed the initial cuts to people, I found they were creating their own stories, their own ideas of what was happening. And it was not as interesting as the real thing. So it had to be shown with narration.

“But after you’ve seen the DVD once or twice with narration, you’ve probably got it. And it’s a whole different experience when you can watch it with the music and ambient sound. It allows the places to speak even more strongly to the viewer.”

More information on “Journey into Tibet” is available online at www.directpictures.com, where DVDs of the individual episodes or the boxed-set trilogy can be ordered. The documentary also will be available in stores starting Sept. 4.

Wisdom among the ruins

COMMENTARY

Thursday August 02, 2007
Sanitsuda Ekachai
Bangkok Post

How should archaeological ruins, the remnants of past glorious kingdoms, serve our present and help us cope with an uncertain future? This question came to mind over the Asalaha Bucha and Buddhist Lent holiday last weekend when I joined a press trip to explore the ancient Phimai-Angkor road.

For five days, we hiked the forest strewn with land mines, walked the paddy fields and braved the dirt roads under a scorching sun to see numerous ancient rest stops, hospitals, reservoirs and laterite bridges along the route linking Phimai and Angkor when the Khmer civilisation was at its zenith.

The exact location of this 254km-long ancient route has been identified for the first time by the Living Angkor Road Project supported by Thailand Research Fund.

A collaboration between Thai and Cambodian researchers, the Thai team is led by remote-sensing expert Col Surat Lertlum while the Cambodian team is led by anthropologist Im Sokrithy.

The research started with the clues in the 12th-century Stone Inscription saying that King Jayavarman VII had ordered 17 rest houses built along the Angkor-Phimai royal road.

A study by French scholars a century ago identified most of the rest houses but did not identify the exact route.

By integrating advanced technology in remote sensing, geographical information system and geophysics with conventional studies in anthropology, archaeology and history, the Living Angkor Road Project has found the missing links.

In addition to the missing rest stops, the discovery of ancient bridges helps pinpoint the outline of the royal road as well as locating the connecting point on the Thai-Cambodia border at Chong Ta Muean in Surin province.

Moreover, they have found several ancient industrial sites and communities which could shed more light on the relationships of people along the route, and probably also the rise and fall of the ancient Khmer empire.

This research is yet more proof that we must step beyond our comfort zones to connect with other fields of expertise in order to raise our plane of knowledge.

When relations between Thai and Cambodia are often strained by ultranationalism and conflicts over ownership of archaeological sites, it is refreshing to see how the researchers' sheer dedication to knowledge can free them from nationalism, another form of egotism.

Equally refreshing is their respect for the local villagers' knowledge. Where the ancient sites are covered by forests or modern roads, the advanced technology of remote sensing can identify only the broad area, needing ground surveys, said Col Surat.

Without the local legends linking the ancient royal road and the villagers' knowledge of their areas, the research teams could not possibly have found the missing rest houses nor established the outline of the Angkor-Phimai ancient route, he added.

These villagers are struggling with harsh poverty, which is a world apart from the modern luxury in Siem Reap. Things are changing there.

At the Bayon Temple, however, the bas-reliefs depicting the lives of little people show us that for the peasants, their life has not changed much from 800 years ago.

As these villagers happily sang and danced their way to their temples to celebrate Asalaha Bucha and Buddhist Lent, I couldn't help wonder if this royal road project could give our countries more than tourism potential.

Though built by a great Buddhist king, the ancient rest houses have been changed to places of worships of different faiths over time. Now ruined, they best attest to the law of impermanence.

The multi-disciplinary approach and the researchers' no to ultranationalism is also in line with the Buddha's teachings on letting go of self to attain peace and truth.

Our world is rocked with violence from racist nationalism, environmental destruction from insatiable greed and political instability from ego clashes.

If archaeological ruins can remind us of the law of impermanence to reduce our greed and ego, they will best serve our present.

If so, we will not have to worry about the future.

Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor (Outlook), Bangkok Post.

Cambodia's temple tranquillity

JUNGLE beauty ... Angkor Wat.

July 28, 2007
Sarah Nicholson
Courier Mail (Australia)

I ALWAYS thought that visiting Cambodia's Angkor temples would be like exploring a lost city.

For many years I had heard tales of crumbling ruins hidden from time by steamy triple-canopy jungle that echoed with birdsong and the call of mysterious animals.

I imagined walking along jungle tracks, coming upon a faded ruin only after the last strike of a guide's machete cleared an overgrown patch of scrub. But the reality of Siem Reap's Angkor is this: hordes of tourists and well-worn paths leading to crowded temples.

Pick the wrong time of the day to visit Angkor Wat, the most famous of the region's temple complexes and the symbol on the Cambodian flag, and you'll be sharing the site with thousands.

The tour buses start arriving mid-morning and drop their passengers on the other side of the moat, with tourists flooding across the Naga Causeway to the dusty temple compound.

While Angkor is now firmly on the tourist track there are still ways to guarantee that you get to see the temples without being surrounded by hundreds of other people, and one is to pick the time of the day you visit.

Start early, and head into the temples while they are still quiet.

If your target is Angkor Wat, which was built by Suryavarmsan II between 1113 and 1150, start at the back gate and work forward past the teams of locals tending the grounds.

Your first view of the grand temple will rise from the path as you walk up the slight incline and you will get to see parts of the complex that many visitors don't come close to, like the detailed carvings on the long walls of the outer gallery.

Angkor Wat is a combination of corridors and courtyards, that are revealed like a Russian matryoshka doll, and it all surrounds the central towers which reach like blooming rose buds towards the sky.

When you're walking towards the front gate, with the temple behind you, make sure you leave the pedestal path and walk to one of the side ponds where you can see the structure perfectly reflected in the still water.

After visiting Angkor Wat make the short drive to Angkor Tom which was known as the Great Capital and considered to be a settlement under the protection of the gods when it was home to millions in the 14th century.

At the centre of this ancient city is Banyon which is a dilapidated structure made up of 16 towers that are clustered together and each one has four giant faces carved into the stone.

After the original inhabitants moved out of this complex around 1600 it was given back to the jungle and only rediscovered in the 19th century, by which time it had crumbled and only some of the faces remained.

This place is a maze of tiny rooms, steep staircases leading to open ledges, and dark corridors and every step will reveal a different perspective of a ruin that's built from ageing black and grey stone set against a moody humid sky.

Further along the same road is the monastery temple of Jayavarman VII, called Preah Khan, and while the secret with Angkor Wat is to start early the hint to visiting this peaceful complex is to come during lunch.

It's the hottest part of the day, when the daytrippers are hiding from the searing heat in the hotel pool, so the crowds all but disappear and the silence of the Cambodian bush that hugs this steamy site is disturbed only by the buzz of insects.

While Angkor Wat and Thom are impressive in their dilapidated beauty, it's hard to imagine anyone using those structures in the past. But Preah Khan is just as it was when it was a thriving community and while some walls have tumbled, and are now just a pile of stone blocks, it's still clear to see where one room finished and the other started.

Climbing through the dark corridor, which takes some effort because different levels have appeared as paving blocks and have moved over time, the door frames become smaller which was a design feature to thwart invading armies.

Just as with every building at Angkor there are sprays of intricate carvings on every wall and it's no different at Preah Khan with little Apsaras – Angkor's trademark celestial nymphs – or faceless buddhas on every surface.

Preah Khan was also given back to the jungle when the original community abandoned the town and now this is where you will see trees growing out of stone.

Right at the back of the complex, near the stage where dancers and musicians performed for the aristocracy, a seed dropped into a shelf in the stone wall hundreds of years ago and today the roots of a plump tree are draped over this ancient building.

There's one more temple that's worth a visit and while the first three sites are huddled together the fourth one, Banteay Srie, is a bit of a drive.

This is the Citadel of Women which was completed in 967 and today it's considered to be one of Siem Reap's treasures because of the intricate carvings, delicate structures and good repair.

This complex is also set inside a tall outer wall and protected by a moat, but while the other structures have been presented in a dull palette of black and grey this place is a rich ochre hue that glows in the Asian sun.

When a late shower falls on the area large drops plonk into the moat and make the lotus flowers dance as if they're being controlled by a puppeteer holding a string.

There are no grand structures here, just small chambers protected by false doors and connected by elevated walkways with high porches, and an old woman sits silently on a step with her back against a crumbling column to watch the tourists.

But it's the intricate carvings – more detailed and in better condition than at many other structures in the region – that make it a memorable place to visit.

It's not just the walls of carvings that tell historic tales but panels of stylised stone flowers that surround a false door and Apsaras beauties posing above a window.

Another rule is the further you get from Siem Reap the more quiet the attractions become and, with dozens of ancient sites to visit, it's not hard to find a place to enjoy without the crowds.

It's so easy to get to Siem Reap and Angkor these days and it's not considered to be a dangerous place any more, with the risks of getting into trouble no higher than in any other part of Asia that's on the tourist track.

But if you do plan to explore Angkor's ancient buildings consider engaging a local guide who will take you to the different attractions and pointing out things that make a visit more meaningful.

Our guide, Sarin, was a child of the Killing Fields who fled to a Thai refugee camp after his father was murdered. He waited out the Khmer Rouge regime and then had to live with monks when he returned to Siem Reap because his mother was too poor to care for him.

Sarin knew so much about every place we visited and would give us a commentary about carvings and pavilions with stories of kings and battles.

Capturing Angkor Before Tourism Works Its Changes

The eerie calm near the moment of a total solar eclipse at Angkor in 1995. (Photo: John McDermott)

Monks in a window in 2001. (Photo: John McDermott)

The photographer John McDermott at work in Angkor. (Photo: Courtesy of John McDermott)

June 10, 2007
By MATT GROSS
New York Times (USA)

THERE is a moment at Angkor, the vast complex of ancient temples in the Cambodian jungle, that every visitor hopes for. Perhaps it comes while passing under a 60-foot-high gate carved a thousand years ago, or at sunrise when the lotus-like spires are reflected in a placid pool of water. Or maybe it comes when you encounter a centuries-old tree, growing straight from a sandstone slab and slowly devouring a temple.

These are the moments that John McDermott specializes in.

A 52-year-old photographer from Little Rock, Ark., Mr. McDermott may be the Ansel Adams of Angkor. In the last decade, his photographs have almost become the definitive images of the temples. His pictures — the silhouette of a stone lion at sunset, monks resting on a windowsill, apsara dancers primping before a performance — are not just beautiful but iconic.

Mr. McDermott didn’t deliberately set out to become the unofficial court photographer of Angkor. He first visited in 1995, when he was living in Bangkok. Back then, the only lodgings were tents and small guesthouses, and few if any tourists traipsed through. To capture the eerie calm, he had planned his trip to coincide with a total solar eclipse.

“The light does really funny things during an eclipse,” he said. “First of all, it’s devoid of color, becomes monochromatic, sort of platinum. And then it ripples and does unusual things, so the whole setting becomes quite surreal” — as if Angkor Wat, with its graciously decaying walls and bas-relief depictions of Buddhist hell, wasn’t surreal enough already.

Capturing that ambience, however, posed a problem; normal film couldn’t match what Mr. McDermott had experienced. Luckily, he had also tested infrared film, which he chose to reproduce a specific appearance. When he developed the infrared shots (which were taken after the eclipse had passed), he found what he had been hoping for: temples bathed in otherworldly light.

“It was a eureka moment, you know?” he said.

Another eureka moment came five years later, when he returned to Angkor for an exhibition of his photographs at the Grand Hotel d’Angkor in Siem Reap, the town that serves as a base for exploring the temples. The new luxury hotel was, to McDermott’s surprise, full of tourists. “I recognized two things,” he said. “One, that the tourism industry had just had the fuse lit for Angkor” and two, that the magical-looking temples were going to change from the tourist onslaught.

Sensing that time was of the essence, he returned on his own several months later to “get as comprehensive a portrait of Angkor as I could,” he said. “I wanted them to look as if they’d been taken 300 years ago, 500 years ago, or yesterday — or tomorrow.”

Over the next several years, Mr. McDermott trained his camera (and infrared film) on Angkor’s crumbling walls, gnarled roots and mystical light. The dreamlike photos, which look as though they were taken in an ancient, forgotten world, have been exhibited and published in magazines and newspapers around the world (including The New York Times) — becoming, in essence, defining images of Angkor.

In a way, his quest for the quintessential Angkor image puts him in a league with Ansel Adams, whose photographs of Yosemite shaped the public’s imagination of that vast and unknowable park. Mr. McDermott’s prints now grace the hallways of Cambodian hotels and are sold in stores as far away as Palm Beach, Fla. And this November, he plans to publish them in a book, “Angkor at the Turn of the Century.”

Meanwhile, change has come to Siem Reap, where Mr. McDermott and his wife, Narisara Murray, settled in 2003. Hundreds of hotels have gone up, a million foreign tourists visit annually, the temples are cluttered with wooden walkways, and Siem Reap is now an arts hub, thanks in part to the two galleries Mr. McDermott opened there.

But Mr. McDermott is no one-trick infrared pony. He has turned his camera to the temples and tribal areas of Myanmar. “Burma’s just a really fantastic destination,” he said, using Myanmar’s former name, “and I think it’s probably going to change pretty quickly.”

In other words: Come 2012 or so, expect Mr. McDermott’s vision of Myanmar to be yours as well.