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Happy Khmer New Year! The year of Dragon

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Thailand and Vietnam: South-East Asia’s enticing new travel frontier

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11/03/2024

Bridge Paen 1km and can support 4 tons

Cambodia, a magnificent feat of architectural ingenuity takes place every year as the world’s longest bamboo bridge is reconstructed. Spanning a whopping 3,000 feet, this bridge is composed of approximately 50,000 bamboo sticks and serves as an essential link between Kampong Cham, the country’s sixth-largest town, and Koh Paen island across the Mekong River.

The bridge is meticulously built during the dry season when the waters of the Mekong River recede, rendering the customary ferry service impossible. This annual reconstruction ensures that the bridge is always sound and secure for use. However, as the rainy season approaches and the river waters start to rise, the bamboo bridge must be dismantled by hand. The bamboo used in its construction is either stored away for future use or repurposed in other architectural projects. During the monsoon season, when river currents become treacherously strong, boat or ferry travel becomes the norm for people seeking to cross the river.

The construction of the bamboo bridge commences when the river is dry and devoid of water. The process involves driving tall bamboo poles into the riverbed, which serve as the foundation of the bridge. A layer of split bamboo matting is then placed on top to create a sturdy and stable surface. Additional poles are carefully added at different angles to reinforce the bridge’s foundation. The end result is a robust and wide structure capable of supporting the weight of light vehicles. From a distance, the bridge may appear delicate, akin to a construction crafted from matchsticks.

While the bamboo bridge can bear the weight of cars and two-wheelers, the experience of traversing it is far from smooth. Due to the flexible nature of bamboo, the bridge gives way under pressure instead of breaking. Consequently, travelers must endure a bouncy ride accompanied by the rattling sound emanating from the bridge’s deck under the tires.

Each year, thousands of tourists flock to Kampong Cham to witness and experience the bamboo bridge. Local residents are charged a modest fee of 100 riels (approximately $0.02), while foreign tourists are subject to significantly higher rates. The tolls collected generate between 1 to 2 million riels per day (approximately $250 to $500), with the majority attributed to the fees levied upon tourists.

Interestingly, situated just two kilometers south of the bamboo bridge is a more recently built concrete bridge. This 800-meter-long structure has the capacity to accommodate vehicles weighing up to 30 tons, in contrast to the bamboo bridge’s limited capacity of only 4 tons. The concrete bridge boasts an expected lifespan of at least 50 years, offering a longer-lasting alternative to the marvelous but temporary bamboo bridge.

09/03/2024

Bridge Paen
Connecting the island of Koh Paen to Kampong Cham city in Kampong Cham province is a giant 779m concrete bridge, opened in March last year, able to carry loads of 20 to 30 tonnes across the Mekong river.

Is it functional? Perhaps. Does it have any charm? Absolutely not.

But 2km south down the Mekong used to sit another bridge fulfilling a similar function, less robust and practical, but exuding an antiquated charm by anyone’s estimation.

Each year, for decades, the island residents of Koh Paen built a seasonal, kilometre-long (1,000m) bamboo bridge for cars and pedestrians to cross the Mekong when the water levels were too low for a ferry. And each year, when the rains swelled the river, the elements would tear it down again.

For local residents, the bridge was a backdrop to daily life since they can remember – only disrupted between 1973 and 1986 with the civil war and emergence of the Khmer Rouge – though the specific history of the bridge remains hard to pinpoint.

Prior to 1973, the bridge was owned collectively by a company established by 14 villagers from the island, according to 74-year-old Nai Seang, speaking to The Post back in 2017. She joined the company in 1964, purchasing two shares for 7,000 riel (approximately $1,500 after adjusting for inflation).

Back then, the bridge was only a foot and bicycle bridge built from locally sourced bamboo, with a 1 riel toll for pedestrians, or 2 riel for a bike (equivalent to $0.19 and $0.37 today, respectively). As the youngest in the company when she joined at the age of 22, she was the sole surviving member.

“The knowledge would be passed down from one generation of builders to the next,” she said. While Seang says she never asked the older members of the company about the bridge’s history, she remembers it when she was an infant, which indicates that it dates back to at least the 1940s.

That the bridge has become a tourist attraction was a strange curiosity for Seang. “I did not know the bridge has become such a tourist attraction. I was very young when I bought my shares, and to me it was just a thing that helps people cross the river, and a business,” she says.

But back in March last year, as the concrete monolith neared completion, for the first time in decades the residents of Koh Paen decided against building their bridge as a river crossing for vehicles.

Yung Oun, the owner of the old bamboo bridge, told The Post that it served as a major tourist attraction in the province, for both local and international visitors, so the loss of the bamboo bridge signalled a loss of money for the area too.

To avoid this, last year enterprising locals decided to keep the tradition alive on a smaller scale by building a tourist friendly, pedestrian only bridge as a replacement.

“Last year, our new bridge was only 700 metres. This year, we will construct it up to 800 metres,” said 60-year-old Bun Dara, a former Institute of Technology of Cambodia engineer and owner of the new bamboo bridge.

The bridge, built using more than 20,000 bamboo sticks, was officially opened on December 1. It is open from dawn to dusk, including weekends and holidays.

“On a normal day, I see about 30 to 50 people walking across the bridge,” said Dara.

To cross the bridge, pedestrians cost 2,000 riel, a motorbike costs 5,000 riel, a vehicle or tuk-tuk costs 10,000 riel and a larger vehicle costs 20,000 riel.

09/03/2024

Hanchey overlooks the Mekong River from its hilltop location featuring ancient sites that date back to the 7th and 8th centuries during the Chenla Era. The monastery is area is large, featuring several sculptures, pagoda, halls, a recreation of an Angkorian era temple, seating with views over the massive Mekong river making it a popular spot to relax.
The two ancient temples are located beside the pagoda on the south side of the site. One is a large brick temple, the other, a small cell, there is also a small rise of bricks where a decorated door column from an ancient temple has been placed.
Located immediately south of the pagoda, the brick temple opens to the east with a sandstone doorframe that is inscribed on both sides, more on that below, preceding which are several decorated sandstone steps. Around the other sides note the remains of the white rendering and decorative carvings which still exist in places, especially so above the columns flanking the false doors on the west and south side, above which you can just see the decayed remains of the decorative lintel that was carved and rendered into the brick. On the north side, you can see the remains of the water spout for sacred water. Very close to the temple is an old small stupa from a much later era.

A plethora of sandstone remnants surrounds the temple including a very decayed lintel, beautifully decorated round door columns, a decorated pedestal, and sandstone slabs.

As mentioned, the doorframe carries an inscription registered under K. 81 featuring 12 lines on one side and 35 on the other both in Sanskrit. According to early French research, lines 1-16 of side A are devoted to the praise of King Bhavavarman. Then comes the eulogy of his son and successor (17-21), that of a person who was at the service of the father and the son (2-31), finally the er****on by this character, who was lord of a locality called Ugrapura, of a Shivalinga invoked under the name of Bhadrecrara. The twelve lines of B contain only the eulogy of the same king Bharavarman, and the inscription stops abruptly after having introduced, in the last line, a personage in the service of this prince, apparently the same as that who appears in A. Baht notes that the inscription is unfinished and raises several questions which you can continue to read in Inscriptions sanscrites du Cambodge, M. A. Bath 1834.
In front of the pagoda on the east side is a construction of brickwork atop which a decorated door column has been placed. Around the pagoda are several old sema stones.

On the north side of the pagoda is a small cell, a couple of meters high and a few meters wide also with an entrance to the east which is flanked by round columns atop which is a decorated lintel. The artwork on the pilasters and the band top and bottom is quite beautiful featuring floral patterns occasionally with animals appearing. On the base slab you can see carvings of mini-prasats.

As mentioned earlier, the grounds are large and you can also relax and enjoy the views over the Mekong, check out the newer prasats, numerous sculptures including some of fruit…

Down by the river, about 300 m north-northeast of the pagoda is Kok Preah Theat and around 2.5 km south (along the way to/from Kampong Cham city) is Kok Lvea Temple.
From Kampong Cham city, you can travel a scenic sealed road, sometimes bumpy and narrow in parts for two-way traffic, along the river for about 35 minutes by car, moto, or bike. There are lots of other pagodas along the way too.

07/03/2024

Kuhak Nokor is located in Trodork Poung Village, Pong Ror Commune, Baray District, Kampong Thom Province and is in the complex of Wat Kuhak Nokor (Buddhist Pagoda).

To reach there, passenger can take all kinds of vehicle on National Road 6, then turn west through the gate of Kuhak Nokor pagoda in a distance of 2km. It is 79km from Provincial Town of Kampong Thom. These sanctuaries were built on the flat ground, on a square terrace made of laterite and sandstone facing to the East with the rampart surrounding. This rampart has a 35m-length (East to West) and a 25m-width (North to South). There is surrounding rampart of one meter height and 0.8 meter thick with two gateways: Eastern gateway is 9m height divided into 3 rooms, and western gateway is small and has square shape.

The structures of the buildings are mixed, made of laterite and the decoration of sandstone. East of the temple, there are 2 ponds-the small one has about one-meter depth,45-meter length and 20-meter width, and the big one has 160-meter length, 88-meter width and more than one-meter depth.

Prasat Kuhak Nokor comprises:
- The throne is square shape, made of sandstone and decorated by lotus flowers and pointed-diamond style, and has square hole at the middle.
- A male standing statue remains from thigh to shoulder.
- A male standing statue remains from thigh to the navel.
- A male coiling statue is difficult to be identified as the statue broke the end of the arm and the sole of the foot (local people called the statue ?Neak Ta Bark Kor?.

Prasat Kuhak Nokor was built in 10th -11th century by the king Suryavarman I (1002-1050). But in the same year (1002), another document said there was a king named Preah Bat Jayviravarman who who was also on throne (1002-1010). The two kings claimed that they were on throne at the same year, this leading to war between king and king until 1006. Then the king Suryavarman I conquered Yasodharpura city, however the war still lasted for 04 years to end. In 1010, the king Suryavarman I gained success over the entire territory and had full power in the country.

06/03/2024

chiso Mountain Temple 62Km from Phnom Penh.

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Village

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Wat model in Silver Pagoda Complex

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