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Selective Buddhist landmarks
in the capital city of
Phnom Penh
The Kingdom of Cambodia
Formerly known as Kampuchea or kambuja
Population: approx.
13 million.
Group:- Khmer 90%
Theravada Buddhist 95%, other 5%
Currency: Riel approx. USD1-00=4000 Riels
Voltage: 220 / 50 hz
Resources:
History and Background of Cambodia
History of Phnom Penh (most orderly, I think)
Map A
& Map B of Phnom Penh
Their Majesties the King & The Queen
Official Site for Cambodian Tourism Board & Another by the Ministry of Tourism
Cambodian Government Official Site
Official Site - National Assembly
Cambodian Post
- Media/Newspaper
Cambodian News Network
The Capital, Phnom Penh Official Site
Phnom Penh Municipality website
Visa & Entries
Yahoo Directory on Cambodia
Google Search on keyword of Cambodia
Google Search on Cambodian Political Premier Hun
Sen
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After my earlier journal to Burma in March, 2005. I had generated a little urge
inside in visiting other nearby ASEAM Nations. Between Laos, Cambodia and even slightly
off-the trade route of Sri-Lanka (Ceylon); I had chosen Cambodia as the first destination.
Actually, it came as coincidental trip as a business survey requirement required
me to make a trip there, went Phnom Penh in December, so, that was how this site
came about after its various visual and content after the visit.
Cambodia has been much publicized by many negative media reports over past few decades.
Very few people actually thought of establishing business presence over there. But
Malaysian was among the forerunner in exploring such potentials (Among the ASEAM
members, Malaysian is the only country being exempted from applying Visas prior to
visit, regardless business or leisure). Further, as new airline operators such as
Air Asia began offering quite reasonable air fair, it has made Cambodia growing in
popularity among many Malaysian as its choice for holidays.
Most people would easily regard Angkor Wat as their primary destination whenever relates
to Cambodia; but due to business commitment, I have to stay at the capital city of
Phnom Penh. I thought it was fine as a 5-days business-cum-holiday schedule, I should
be able to explore something out of nothing - even if I have no clue of whereabouts
and what should I do when I was there.
Religious belief in Cambodia also had a long history in tracking back to approx.
600 A.D. from India. Buddhism remains as the primary religious belief in this Kingdom
with a rough population of 13 million. The boundaries between Hindu influence and
Buddhism was a mixed (and a little blur as well) and has cast a very strong influence
in the various image forms. Unlike popular Thai practice, wearable votive images
from local legends and guru monks are quite a rare practice. Most of the image size
are of medium to large scale which makes it quite similar to the form in Burma/Myanmar.
This may not interest to some of you who are fond of small amulets collecting. However,
during this trip, I also had the opportunity to witness some of the best and most
amazing in Buddhist art form not easily found in other nearby countries.
In order to lead you easier to browse around in this site; I have separated the visual
content into three main sections. i.e.
Official Locations (Palace, Museum, Silver Pagoda);
Wat Phnom - Best representation of publicly accessed
local Buddhist Landmark
Selective Wat
and Pagodas in an around
it capital City of Phnom Penh
Supplementary: Some Background & History of of Cambodia/Phnom Penh
Streets of Phnom
Penh - Photography
I don't intend to use this as a case study kind of web resources. But rather, I hope
the soft introduction of Cambodian Buddhist practice may give some of you who still
not have visited this Nation a way to get a rough idea in their different approaches.
Besides, for tourists and/or travelers, some of these content/visual may also help
you to gather and compile some traveling tips or reschedule your trip to Cambodia.
. Enjoy.
| BACK | to Main Index page of Thai Amulets/Pendants
This site is rather
graphic intensive,
please ensure you have broad band access. As a matter of reference, this site is
made up of 25MB of raw data in Jpegs, HTML files.
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