Tourism Indochina: Preah Vihear to get new border crossing

Preah Vihear to get new border crossing

The Cambodian government is seeking a new international border checkpoint in Preah Vihear province to link with Thailand’s Ubun province, officials say.

Preah Vihear provincial governor Um Mara said officials from both countries had met to examine the possibility of opening a new international checkpoint.

“These days, this gateway is open only two days a week, but we want it to become an international checkpoint that is open every day of the week,” Mara said.

There is no scheduled deadline to open the new international checkpoint, to be named Anses, because discussions are still in the early stages.

“We are preparing the infrastructure there first, but the opening date is unknown at this time,” Mara said.

When the gateway becomes an international checkpoint, it will allow more goods to be transported through, and tourism in the province would soar as a result.

Kong Vibol, director of the Tourism Department in Preah Vihear province, said the Preah Vihear temple was only a 60-kilometre drive from Anses.

Ho Vandy, co-chair of the Tourism Task Force of the Government-Private Forum, said he welcomed the news.

Opening the gateway would open the area up to the tourism industry, as associations have suggested since March, 2008.

Source: Phnompenhpost/16August2012

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Tourism Indochina: Preah Vihear on the tourist trail

Preah Vihear on the tourist trail

The number of international tourists visiting Preah Vihear temple increased more than 166 per cent in the first four months of this year compared to the same time last year, tourism officials said yesterday.

Combat between Cambodia and Thailand over an area near the temple discouraged tourism in the region early last year.

Kong Vibol, Preah Vihear province’s tourism department director, said the number of foreign tourists increased from 950 in the first four months of last year compared to 2,527 this year.

“Most of [the] tourists come from Asia, and they go there by driving [their own vehicles], but there are not so many tourists [who] went there [in] groups,” said Kong Vibol.

The number of Cambodians visiting the temple increased more than 49 per cent between January and April. “We see more and more visitors at the temple because there were not many last year due to the clash in February,” Kong Vibol said.

Kong said he expects the number of tourists to decrease in the coming months because of the rainy season.

According to Ho Vandy, co-chair of the government-private sector working group on tourism, said visiting the site of Thai-Cambodian border clashes was a main reason for visiting the temple. More tourists are also arriving due to better roads and other infrastructure in the region, he said.

The last stronghold of the Khmer Rouge, Anlong Veng, has also become a popular destination.

“The private sector is trying to promote the temple with tourist packages. There wasn’t any interest but now things are starting to change,” he added.

Source: PPPost/18May2012

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Tourism Indochina: Cable Car and Air port construction proposal in Preah Vihear

Preah Vihear Temple (Khmer: ប្រាសាទព្រះវិហារ) is a Hindu temple built during the reign of Khmer Empire, that is situated atop a 525-metre (1,722 ft) cliff in the Dângrêk Mountains, in the Preah Vihear province, Cambodia. In 1962, following a lengthy dispute between Thailand and Cambodia over ownership, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague awarded the temple to Cambodia.

Tourism Indochina: Preah Vihear Temple

Affording a view for many kilometers across a plain, Prasat Preah Vihear has the most spectacular setting of all the temples built during the six-centuries-long Khmer Empire. As a key edifice of the empire's spiritual life, it was supported and modified by successive kings and so bears elements of several architectural styles. Preah Vihear is unusual among Khmer temples in being constructed along a long north-south axis, rather than having the conventional rectangular plan with orientation toward the east. The temple gives its name to Cambodia's Preah Vihear province, in which it is now located, as well as the Khao Phra Wihan National Park which borders it in Thailand's Sisaket province and through which the temple is most easily accessible. On July 7, 2008, Preah Vihear was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tourism Indochina: Cable Car and Air port construction proposal in Preah Vihear

(Tourism Indochina:Date : 2008-06-05):

Preah Vihear temple, one of the popular heritage destinations in Cambodia, received 110, 000 visitors last year and this number is expected to rise when the accessible road is improved. Prime Minister Hun Sen last month inaugurated a 118 km road, linking to Preah Vihear’s Provincial capital Tbeng MeanChey with the temple.


According to the senior government official on 14 May, An Indian Company has unveiled the multimillion-dollar proposal to construct the air port serving the Preah Vihear Temple. Hong Soth, the director of the Preah Vihear National Authority, said the cable car is included in the proposal. This proposal would be potential to attract more tourists to Preah Vihear Temple. The proposal is in processing and five members team of the company has arranged the further talk with the government.


In order to minimize the negative impact of vibration destruction, the air port is expected to build 32 km from the temple in the case that the proposal is approval. Cambodia officials hope that the temple will be listed in the World Heritage Site but this is not yet preceded due to the disputation over the surrounding land ownership with Thailand.


By CHHEM Samnang

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Tourism Indochina: Angkor temple shooter to turn his lens to Preah Vihear

Tourism Indochina: Angkor temple shooter to turn his lens to Preah Vihear

(Tourism Indochina:Date : 2008-07-06):

A Japanese photographer who has spent 15 years and millions of dollars shooting the Angkor Wat complex will now turn his attention to the controversial Preah Vihear temple, government officials said.Baku Saito, a 60-year-old freelance photographer, has won praise from Cambodian officials for restoring Khmer pride through his depictions of the ancient stone carvings at Angkor Archaeological Park.


His photos have toured the world and are now making their way through Cambodia in the “Holy Faces of Angkor” exhibition, which is being shown at the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center, inside the Royal University of Phnom Penh, until May 31. Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said the government was proud of Saito’s work because it brought Cambodia’s rich past to the world stage and helped strengthen the roots of Khmer people.


“We learned that his job wasn’t done in one or two days, in fact it took more than 10 years and cost him millions of dollars,” Sok An said at the exhibition’s opening on May 17.He added that Saito was now considering turning his lens on Preah Vihear temple, an ancient set of Hindu ruins on the Thai border that is at the center of a long-running territorial dispute with the neighboring kingdom.


Ek Buntha, deputy director general of cultural affairs at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, said Saito “plans to take photos at Preah Vihear for the next half-year.” In the mid-1990s, Saito was part of a Japanese-funded team documenting the Angkor ruins. He was tasked with photographing the stone faces at the Bayon temple and his since built a portfolio containing hundreds of images of the site.


The photos I took are not just for fun,” Saito said on May 17. “I took them to show the world and make people aware of the richness of Khmer culture” in the 12th and 13th centuries.He estimated that his craft has cost him $5 million over the years, although his photos now fetch $4,000 to $5,000 each.


By Kay Kimsong

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Tourism Indochina: Will there a wall around Preah Vihear Temple

Tourism Indochina: Will there a wall around Preah Vihear Temple

(Tourism Indochina:Date : 2008-08-29):

According to reports from some agencies in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is planning to build a "Berlin-style" wall to shut-off Thailand and develop tourist facilities around the still disputed Preah Vihear Temple by its own.

The Cambodian government will build a series of walls at "complicated border areas," while still calling for talks to mark and properly demarcate the frontier, Camdodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith and a government spokesman told reporters at a press conference.

"Both sides should start to discuss to plant border markers from undisputed border areas to the complicated border areas and some complicated border areas will be built with border markers or concrete walls," Khieu Kanharith said.

"Cambodia will allow private companies to invest at least $2 million dollars at the Preah Vihear Temple to set up cable cars for tourists," he explained, adding that the government is also trying to rebuild an existing road to the temple.

It seems that the Preah Vihear border gate to Thailand will only be opened again, when the situation there is stable, but foreign tourists could visit the temple from the Cambodian side. At the moment, authorities have closed the temple grounds to visitors. For decades, the only way to get to Preah Vihear was through Thailand, because the temple is situated atop a sharp cliff on the Cambodian side (http://www.tourismindochina.com/history-cambodia.htm).

Cambodia and Thailand share a border of over 800km with only 73 demarcation markers, the Cambodian official said on Sunday. At a meeting on Aug 18-19, Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers agreed to arrange second-phase troop redeployment at the disputed border area near the temple.

They agreed to a meeting of the Cambodian Temporary Coordinating Task Force and the Thai Regional Border Committee on Aug 29 in Cambodia to discuss the troop redeployment.The two foreign ministers also agreed to recommend to their governments that the next meeting of legal experts and the Thai-Cambodian Joint Border Committee be convened in early October, to discuss the issues related to border survey and demarcation of the relevant frontier sectors.

On July 15, Thai troops went into the border area to fetch three trespassers who had intended to claim Thai sovereignty over the Preah Vihear Temple. The incident triggered a military standoff, as troop strength on each side grew to more than 1,000 soldiers. In 1962, the International Court of Justice (or World Court) in Den Haag/Holland decided that the 11-century temple belongs to Cambodia (http://www.tourismindochina.com/preah_vehear.htm).


By Reinhard Hohler, eTN Ambassador, Chiang Mai


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Will there a wall around Preah Vihear Temple

According to reports from some agencies in Phnom Penh, Cambodia is planning to build a "Berlin-style" wall to shut-off Thailand and develop tourist facilities around the still disputed Preah Vihear Temple by its own.

The Cambodian government will build a series of walls at "complicated border areas," while still calling for talks to mark and properly demarcate the frontier, Camdodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith and a government spokesman told reporters at a press conference.

"Both sides should start to discuss to plant border markers from undisputed border areas to the complicated border areas and some complicated border areas will be built with border markers or concrete walls," Khieu Kanharith said.

"Cambodia will allow private companies to invest at least $2 million dollars at the Preah Vihear Temple to set up cable cars for tourists," he explained, adding that the government is also trying to rebuild an existing road to the temple.

It seems that the Preah Vihear border gate to Thailand will only be opened again, when the situation there is stable, but foreign tourists could visit the temple from the Cambodian side. At the moment, authorities have closed the temple grounds to visitors. For decades, the only way to get to Preah Vihear was through Thailand, because the temple is situated atop a sharp cliff on the Cambodian side (http://www.tourismindochina.com/history-cambodia.htm).

Cambodia and Thailand share a border of over 800km with only 73 demarcation markers, the Cambodian official said on Sunday. At a meeting on Aug 18-19, Cambodian and Thai foreign ministers agreed to arrange second-phase troop redeployment at the disputed border area near the temple.

They agreed to a meeting of the Cambodian Temporary Coordinating Task Force and the Thai Regional Border Committee on Aug 29 in Cambodia to discuss the troop redeployment.The two foreign ministers also agreed to recommend to their governments that the next meeting of legal experts and the Thai-Cambodian Joint Border Committee be convened in early October, to discuss the issues related to border survey and demarcation of the relevant frontier sectors.

On July 15, Thai troops went into the border area to fetch three trespassers who had intended to claim Thai sovereignty over the Preah Vihear Temple. The incident triggered a military standoff, as troop strength on each side grew to more than 1,000 soldiers. In 1962, the International Court of Justice (or World Court) in Den Haag/Holland decided that the 11-century temple belongs to Cambodia (http://www.tourismindochina.com/preah_vehear.htm).



By Reinhard Hohler, eTN Ambassador, Chiang Mai

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The listing of Preah Vihear Temple as world heritage site could boost Cambodia Tourism

Preah Vihear is one of the most fascinating places in the world, with its ancient ruins and mysterious temple. Preah Vihear temple is the historical site named “Se Khari Svarak” means “power of mountain” and was built at the end of 9th century and at the beginning of 10th century by four Cambodian kings namely: Preah Bat Yak So Varman I (AD 889-910), Preah Bat Sorya Varman I (AD 1002-1050), Preah Bat Chey Varman VI (AD 1080-1109) and Preah Bat Sorya Varman II (AD 1113-1150).


After having been listed the Preah Vihear, a temple built in at the end 9th century, as a world heritage site, Cambodian was very happy with victorious event of the nation and celebrated a congratulation party at stadium in Phnom Penh. Listing Preah Vihear Temple as a world heritage site could not only help preserve the temple but also reflect an economic miracle that would help mitigate poverty, one of the most crucial Millennium Development Goals of Cambodia, through the tourism economic contribution while Cambodia’s Tourism Action Plan targeted 3.2 million tourists by 2010 and 5 million tourists in 2015. Preah Vihear's World Heritage listing reflects the success of the Cambodian Government's Economic Quadrangle policy.


It is no surprise to say that Preah Vihear Temple is one of the most foremost temples in Cambodia. Significantly, promoting the Preah Vihear site as a Cultural Development Area would be an option to enable Cambodia to enjoy economic benefits and let the world to increase cultural understanding as well as cultural link in the region via tourists flow.


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Angkor temple shooter to turn his lens to Preah Vihear

A Japanese photographer who has spent 15 years and millions of dollars shooting the Angkor Wat complex will now turn his attention to the controversial Preah Vihear temple, government officials said.Baku Saito, a 60-year-old freelance photographer, has won praise from Cambodian officials for restoring Khmer pride through his depictions of the ancient stone carvings at Angkor Archaeological Park.


His photos have toured the world and are now making their way through Cambodia in the “Holy Faces of Angkor” exhibition, which is being shown at the Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center, inside the Royal University of Phnom Penh, until May 31. Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said the government was proud of Saito’s work because it brought Cambodia’s rich past to the world stage and helped strengthen the roots of Khmer people.


“We learned that his job wasn’t done in one or two days, in fact it took more than 10 years and cost him millions of dollars,” Sok An said at the exhibition’s opening on May 17.He added that Saito was now considering turning his lens on Preah Vihear temple, an ancient set of Hindu ruins on the Thai border that is at the center of a long-running territorial dispute with the neighboring kingdom.


Ek Buntha, deputy director general of cultural affairs at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, said Saito “plans to take photos at Preah Vihear for the next half-year.” In the mid-1990s, Saito was part of a Japanese-funded team documenting the Angkor ruins. He was tasked with photographing the stone faces at the Bayon temple and his since built a portfolio containing hundreds of images of the site.


The photos I took are not just for fun,” Saito said on May 17. “I took them to show the world and make people aware of the richness of Khmer culture” in the 12th and 13th centuries.He estimated that his craft has cost him $5 million over the years, although his photos now fetch $4,000 to $5,000 each.


By Kay Kimsong


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Cable Car and Air port construction proposal in Preah Vihear

Preah Vihear temple, one of the popular heritage destinations in Cambodia, received 110, 000 visitors last year and this number is expected to rise when the accessible road is improved. Prime Minister Hun Sen last month inaugurated a 118 km road, linking to Preah Vihear’s Provincial capital Tbeng MeanChey with the temple.


According to the senior government official on 14 May, An Indian Company has unveiled the multimillion-dollar proposal to construct the air port serving the Preah Vihear Temple. Hong Soth, the director of the Preah Vihear National Authority, said the cable car is included in the proposal. This proposal would be potential to attract more tourists to Preah Vihear Temple. The proposal is in processing and five members team of the company has arranged the further talk with the government.


In order to minimize the negative impact of vibration destruction, the air port is expected to build 32 km from the temple in the case that the proposal is approval. Cambodia officials hope that the temple will be listed in the World Heritage Site but this is not yet preceded due to the disputation over the surrounding land ownership with Thailand.


By CHHEM Samnang


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