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2001 Yet another article bemoaning the hoards of tourists that will flock to the Angkor area in coming years: Mysteries of Angkor ready to unravel before the tourists hordes. It is a good article with relevant points, but might not reflect locals' opinions. This type of story typically features quotes by Westerners who inevitably complain about things like the film Tomb Raider (shot on location around the ruins). However, it is hard to meet a local in the area who does not constantly bring up the film and point out to tourists where all the scenes were shot. The Guardian has good article on the impact of tourism on locals and the monuments themselves. It also has a short list explaining how the World Heritage system works: 1 A country becomes a "state party" by signing the world heritage convention, pledging to protect and preserve its cultural and natural heritage 2 The state party makes a formal nomination to the World Heritage Centre in Paris. The nomination must include a detailed plan for managing and protecting the site 3 The World Heritage Centre sends the application to one of its two main NGO advisers - the International Council on Monuments and Sites (for cultural properties such as cathedrals, castles and town centres); the World Conservation Union (for natural sites, often conservation areas or national parks) 4 The two bodies send experts to evaluate the current protection and management of the site and check that it meets the convention's principal criteria as a property of "outstanding universal value" 5 This and the experts' recommendation is send to the world heritage committee, comprising heritage experts from states parties, which makes the final decision 6 Thereafter responsibility for the site's conservation and preservation lies with the state party. The WHP allocates limited funds for technical, training or emergency assistance. It can also help secure multilateral or bilateral funding New Destination: Anlong Veng - November 12, 2001 Pol Pot Town to Be Tourist Resort - Cambodia plans to turn the remote jungle hideout of Pol Pot, the infamous leader of the 1970s Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" regime, into a tourist resort, the Tourism Minister said Monday. .... Veng Sereyvuth said the government had repaired a road linking Anlong Veng with the tourist town Siem Reap, home of the world-renowned 9th to 13th century Angkor Wat temple complex. The drive now takes about three hours, compared to the eight to 10 it used to take. The government also plans to open border a crossing to Thailand. Royal
Air Cambodge has gone out of business and their domain name has become
a porn site As Cambodia celebrates the 79th birthday today of ailing King Norodom Sihanouk, his countrymen have no idea who will succeed him, or exactly how Cambodia's next monarch will be chosen. "We're really in the dark," said Kek Galabru, one of Cambodia's leading human-rights activists. "We should know what's going on and know who are the candidates so the public will trust the process." King Sihanouk, the central figure of Cambodian politics for half a century and a symbol of national unity and endurance, has suffered from serious illnesses. He is aware of his mortality, although for others to speak of it is considered unseemly. "Now my life enters a period that is similar to the setting of the sun," he said before his birthday two years ago. Cambodia's royal succession is not hereditary, nor does King Sihanouk have any right to appoint a successor. Under the constitution, a successor must be chosen by a nine-member "throne council" one week after the king dies. But there is much vagueness in the rules, and the throne council is dominated by allies of Prime Minister Hun Sen, an on-again, off-again antagonist of the king. Hun Sen, a tough and wily former communist, has for years wielded more power than King Sihanouk, even if most of the king's 11 million subjects still revere him. King Sihanouk first took the throne in 1941 at the age of 18 and led his country to independence from France in 1953. He abdicated in 1955 to take direct control of the government, steering the country on a neutralist course until he was ousted in 1970 by a pro-United States general, Lon Nol. In a fateful move, King Sihanouk allied himself with a then-small communist guerilla movement, the Khmer Rouge, to fight his usurper. After the Khmer Rouge won a bitter civil war and took power in 1975, the king became their prisoner in the Royal Palace. An estimated 1.7 million people, including several members of the king's own family, died of starvation, overwork and execution under the Khmer Rouge rule, which ended in 1979 with a Vietnamese invasion. Three years later, King Sihanouk emerged at the head of a resistance coalition - including the Khmer Rouge - to try to expel Vietnam's occupying army. A peace accord was signed in 1991, and King Sihanouk was restored to the throne after a 1993 election organised by the United Nations. Three princes are the leading candidates to succeed him: Norodom Ranariddh, 57, leader of the royalist Funcinpec political party and president of the National Assembly; Norodom Sihamoni, 48, Cambodia's ambassador to Unesco in Paris; and Norodom Sirivudh, 50, a former foreign minister now working in a leading think-tank. Princes Ranariddh and Sirivudh were convicted in the 1990s of plotting against Hun Sen in trials of questionable fairness, but later amnestied by King Sihanouk with Hun Sen's blessing. Prince Sihamoni has never showed any interest in politics. Queen Monineath is another possible successor. She could rule as regent, although the constitution would need to be amended. A recent biography of Prince Ranariddh, in which the son described King Sihanouk as a distant and usually absent father, elicited rare public comment on the issue from the king himself, who criticised the book. Observers hope the convoluted process for selecting the next king doesn't bring turmoil back to Cambodia, which is experiencing peace for the first time in about 30 years after the final collapse of the Khmer Rouge insurgency in 1998. "Poipet
to Siem Reap in 2.5 Hours!!!" Sharpless lives in Siem Reap and writes a monthly column on the latest things going on around there. There are just three columns so far, but they are a sorely needed source of info for the area. We hope he continues writing them! News of the road situation is detailed in his August, September, and October 2001 columns. Past articles about the road to Angkor Wat Siam
Reap Airport Expansion Approved Siam
Reap Airport taxi warning The
Snake King Harvard
calls on Cambodian typists for net project More about the company that provides the typing service in the AP: "Cambodia Eyes Global Tech Industry" (the article is no longer available online) and the company's interesting website. Thanks to Jim Romenesko's Media News for pointing out this story.
Symbol
draws Cambodian protest Call
for info on Cambodian aboriginal groups
Stefano from Italy is looking for any recent news or photos concerning
small Cambodian aboriginal groups located in remote mountainous areas.
Particularly the "Kuy" and "Samrč" in the Dangrek chain, "Pearr" or
"Porr" in the Cardamom chain, and "Saoch" in the Elephant chain. The
only info he has found is a very old photo (1923)
portraying three "Pearr" men (44KB). Does anyone have any recent
photos of them, or any recent news about their lifestyle and integration
with Khmer society? Email angkor.com
and we will pass along the info to him.
Proposal
for new crossing to Angkor at Sangam in Sri Saket -
MCOT, 09:26, May 26, 2001
Show
us the money
May 10, 2001 - Far Eastern Economic Review has an article on the state of Angkor tourism. It seems Angkor tourism brought in $200 million last year, but most of it goes overseas since Cambodia still doesn't manufacture much. What's left goes to Sokimex, an oil and gas company that holds the rights to collect fees from visitors to Angkor. However, it doesn't reinvest any of it in Angkor (for instance, there are no bathrooms in the 81 hectare Angkor area). Thanks to Ticket Planet George for alerting us to this article. May 8, 2001 - Eric Etheridge traveled to Angkor in February and reports on the lack-of-bathroom issue: "There are a handful of public toilets just north of the main building at Angkor Wat... Also, there's a small wooden structure on the south side of the main building, near the drinks stands, where the Germans who are running a restoration outfit display photographs and stuff. As I remember, it also has restrooms." Interview with the wife of opposition leader Sam Rainsy, on the status of women in Cambodia today - February 21, 2001 Online checkup-With a click, Cambodia patients get top medial care February 20, 2001 - "The 10-month-old girl had coughed and sputtered since birth and her belly had swollen, leaving rice farmer Thoung Pou convinced her daughter was at death's door until she got word of the foreigners and their mysterious Internet." <- May, 2001 - DEAD LINK - We should have copied this article, because it has disappeared and we cannot find it. Road
to Angkor Wat |
