 |
| Signing the Visitors' Book at the Embassy of Malaysia in Phnom Penh, Cambodia |
 |
| Wearing the mask as we moved around Phnom Penh as it gets dusty on a hot sunny day. The 'tut-tut' is a popular and convenient form of transportation in Phnom Penh |
 |
| With HE Datuk Pengiran Hj Mohd Hussein, the Malaysian Ambassador to Cambodia and Mr Marith |
 |
| Two hostesses at a seafood restaurant at a small port at the Gulf of Som, some 65 km from Sihanoukville |
 |
| Wood carvings by Cambodian carvers in front of the souvenir store |
 |
| The Mekong River Esplanade, a popular place to tourists |
 |
| With the Cham Malay Community in Phnom Penh we met in the compound of the mosque |
 |
| Children of the Cham Malay families
Friendship
Journey to Phnom Penh – July 12 to 15, 2012
1.
I usually like to visit neighbouring ASEAB
countries for a holiday. ASEAN countries that I have preferenced for
include Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The
attractions to these destinations include friendly people, reasonably prized
food and entertainment, cultural institutions such as museums, nature parks. The
journeys I have made to these countries on various occasions are reported in
the blog. I have also visited the other ASEAN countries. At one time when I was still working in the Malaysian Agricultural Research and
Development Institute (MARDI),my visit to the Philippines was frequent as we
were involved in a collaborative research management project with University of
the Philippines at Los Banos and rice research link with the International Rice
Research Institute. Among the cities in
the Philippines that I have visited include Manila, San Jose, Zamboangga. I visited Brunei Darussalam a couple of time
and of course Singapore.
2.
This is my third trip to
Cambodia, the first was to Siem Reap and this is the second trip to Phnom
Penh. It is a pleasure cum business
trip. Though I have communicated to a
few friends who were my regular companions on the backpackingtrip, it was Mr
Walter Netto from New Zealand, who accompanied me.
3.
I booked the Golden Holiday
flight-hotel package at RM 680 per pax for a hotel stay of 3 days on a twin
sharing basis. My choice of the hotel was Juliana as it has a swimming pool (an
important criteria) claimed to be the biggest in Phnom Penh.
4.
It was an early flight
scheduled at 6.45am on Thursday July 12. I left the house at 4.45am. I had to
resort the assistance of my son to send me to the airport as the taxi was not
available at that early hour of 5.30am.
LCCT was busy even at the early hour.
The KL- Phnom Penh flight took about an hour and forty-five minutes and
with a saving of one hour we arrived in Phnom Penh at 7.30am local time. The
taxi to the hotel was US$9. All transactions
in Cambodia are in US$. We rested until the lunch appointment at 12.00 oonwith
Mr Marith, a businessman. Mr Marith was
introduced to me by a friend and he is closely associated with Malaysian
businessmen who have or plan to invest in Cambodia. He spoke of a massive agricultural projects
extending into an area of around 300 000 acres being planned by a Malaysian
investor. He also knows the Malaysian Ambassador
well. I have solicited the assistance of Mr Marith to fix an appointment for me
to pay a courtesy call on him. We
managed to get an appointment at 2.45pm inspite of the his busy schedule as he
is in the midst of participating in the ASEAN Ministerial meeting and other
associated meetings. The Malaysian
Embassy that afternoon was quiet as most of the personnels were involved in the
ASEAN deliberations. We were about 15
minutes with the Ambassador, exchanging pleasantries and latest development.
Before departure I presented the Ambassador my two books, Adventure Journeys in
Sabah and In Search of Happines, for the Embassy’s library. We decided to have
an easy first day. On my return to the
hotel I did my regular laps in the pool, following with a two-hour body massage
at the hotel health centre. It was a
good massage by a 35 year old plump masseuse who has a liking for karaoke singing at a fee of US$15.
5.
We were up early on the
second day (Friday July 13) as we were scheduled to travel to Sihanoukville.
After the breakfast at the hotel the Land Rover vehicle that we rented at
US$150, came by with Mr Ma Soktha,
Director of the Department of Forest Plantations and Private Forest
Development. Mr Soktha is an associate and business partner of Mr Marith. We took Highway N4 heading for Sihanoukville and
I observed that on both sides of the road there are paddy fields with cattle grazing the unplanted fields. Other areas which are vacant are planted with
forest species such as Acacia and fruit trees such as longan and mango. As we
approached the southern region of Cambodia we observe oil palm being
planted. According to Mr Soktha oil palm
yield attains 18 tonnes FFB per ha, which is low compared to that obtained in
Malaysia but however, adequate to provide the profit margin for the investment .
We stopped for lunch at a small port located around 65 km from
Sihanoukville. After lunch with rain
falling we decided to turn back and head back for Phnom Penh.
6.
We decided to tour the city and visit places
of interest on the third day (Saturday July 14) of our stay . We thought the ‘tut-tut’ was a convenient
vehicle to travel around the city and through the hotel, rented one. We
negotiated and agreed that the rental for a day from 10 am to 4 pm would be
US$25. The first stop was a row of
handicrafts shophouses displaying the usual wooden figurines of Buddha and
those of the Angkor Wat fame. The second stop was the National Museum. The
entrance fee was US$3. The museum
contains an excellent collection of Khmer sculpture. The highlights of the sculpture were the
eight-armed statue of Vishnu and statue of Shiva. We stopped by the Esplanade by the Mekong
River and was heading for Naga Hotel, where the casino is, when we decided to
cut short the ‘tut-tut’ trip as Mr Soktha contacted us and invited us for lunch
and agreed to take us to visit the Cham Muslim community after that.
7.
Phnom Penh is situated at the
confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap Rivers.
It is a sprawling city but its population is not known. The city population went through a tragic history
when, during the Khmer Rouge regime in a period of 1975 to 1978 when the
people were forced out to the rural
areas to far.Mmany were also tortured and killed. The tragedies during the Khmer Rouge regime
are remembered in the many photos and artifacts kept at the Tuol Sleng Museum and
the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek . I
visited these Museum and Killing Fields on my previous trip to the city. Cambodia
is politically stable under the able leadership of Cambodian People’s Party,
headed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, with investments coming from South Korea,
Thailand, China. The main foreign
exchange earnings are from tourism and the textile industries.
8.
We visited the Cham Muslim
community at Km 8. There were 3 big mosques in the area. The interest in meeting with the Cham Muslim
people arose following the International Conference of Malay-Polynesian
Ancestral Nations held in Seremban on 5 and 6 July, in the effort to reconnect and reenergise the common ethnic
heriatage of the MP peoples. We stopped
at a mosque that had a group of people chatting. We introduced ourself with ‘Assalamualaikum’
to the elders in the group, which include the ‘siak’ (caretaker) of the
mosque. We tried to speak in Malay which
they appear to understand but find difficult to respond. We were lucky as one of the elders called his
grandson, Nory El, who speak fluent English.
We explained who we are and why we are there.
9.
The Chams belong to the
Austronesian stock, the same ethnic link with the Malay-Polynesian. They has
established a kingdom stretching from the present Hue to the south of Vietnam
in the 9th and 10th century. However, the kingdom was
invaded by the Vietnamese and the Chams
were pushed to the southern and interior part right to present day
Cambodia. The Chams are Muslims, estimated to number 400 000 in a population of
15 million in Cambodia, largely living in the provinces of Kompong Thom,
Kompong Chhnang, Kompong Speu and Kompot.
10.
We woke up at 4.30 am on the
fourth day in Phnom Penh (Sunday July 15). After breakfast we left the hotel at
6.30am for the airport to catch the 8.30 am flight to Kuala Lumpur.
11.
It was a satisfying
trip. We manage to go outside the city,
to the rural areas of the country; met the Cham community, able to do my laps
in the pool and enjoy the massage.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment