Preah Vihear

If Angkor Wat is the spiritual and national pride for Cambodians, Preah Vihear is the cultural pride for them. Ever since Cambodia won victory over Thailand on its ownership of this UNESCO site late last year, there’s been a sigh of relief all over the country. 

The tensions have been running high ever since there the shootouts in 2011 and there were additional threats last year from ultra Thai nationalists who were awoken by the Thai protests in Bangkok. 

It’s also been a sigh of relief to tourism and pilgrimages since it was taken off the danger list, although there are still warnings of potential strife. One of our volunteers was going to take her students to the site and she has kindly invited some of us to come along. The temple is located about 3 hours from Siem Reap, few kilometers away from the Thailand border. 

After a long surprisingly smooth car ride (the roads have been renovated the past few years. Before that it was said to have taken 5 hours to get there from Siem Reap), we bought our tickets at the foot of the Dangrek mountains and switched cars as our van is not “physically capable” of going up the mountains. First I thought it was a money making scheme until I saw the hills we had to embark in order to get to the temple. No way could we had made it up there. 

 

The complex is actually a Hindu temple, dedicated to Shiva and stands on top of a cliff  (over 2,000ft above sea level) that overlooks the Thailand. There are five main entrances or gates that lead to the temple hence, the complex is huge: 2,600ft. It is said to be constructed around the 12^th century and the architecture is just magnificent. 

I’m very lucky to have gone to the site with Cambodian students as I can see many were enjoying it but also was in awe in glee of the great establishments that their ancestors have constructed.

Nevertheless, the presences of Cambodian soldiers could not be ignored. They were quite friendly to us; they let us in to areas where general public were forbidden and one of them even lent me their binoculars that they use to watch over the Thai army on the other side of the mountains. Later we learned that our students have bought a carton of cigarettes from the local children and have been handing out to soldiers as a sort of gift/bribe. In return they have treated us well.

It’s a bit of drive from Siem Reap, but there are very little tourists and the vast area of the site makes it much more relaxing and spacious to look around than heavily tourist infested Angkor Wat.