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CENTRAL CAMBODIA
Kampong Cham | Kampong
Speu | Kandai | Prey_Veng
About
KAMPONG CHAM
Phnom Pros & Phnom Srei: The
name of the two hills translates as “Male hill” and “Female hill”
respectively. Local legend has it that two teams, one of men and the
other of women, toiled by night to be the first to construct a stupa
on their summit by day-break. The women built a big fire, which the
men took to be the rising sun and gave up work. The women, having
won, no longer had to ask for the man’s hand in marriage. Phnom Srei
has good views of the countryside during the wet season.
NOKOR BACHEY TEMPLE
Is the historical site located
at 2.2 Kilometer distance from the Kampong Cham provincial town
along the National road N0 7 (Phnom Penh- Kampong Cham)
in 12-kilometer distance and turn left more 200 Metres. The temple
can be accessible by all types of vehicles. In the temple site is
divided into:
Tonle Om:
Size 400 Meters x 500 Meters located at the East of the temple in
approximate 300-metres distance from the temple.
First long
building:
Size 421 Metres x 371 Metres made of late rite stone of 2.9-meter
height and 2.4-metre length. Now, most part of this long building
has broken.
In the area of the first long
building included:
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Six Lions: Located at the
entrance of the second long building; the entrance has two-metre
width.
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Eight dragons: Located behind
the six lions.
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Two devils: Stand at both
sides of the entrance.
Second long
building
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Two statues of Te Cho Dam Din
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Two devils each have 1.6-metre
height.
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Two ponds each has size 20
Metre x 20 Metre; the two ponds are not dried during the dry
season.
Third long
building:
Is thicker than the first and the second and has accesses from the
four directions. In the third long building, there are:
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In front of the entrance,
there is an eight-hand statue of Preah Norey
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At the left-hand side, there
is a four-hand statue of Preah Norey
Fourth long
buidling:
Made of late rite stone; it
is separate and different from the first, second and third because
it has accesses from the 12 directions. If we enter into the middle
of the temple, we notice a high mid-peak made of sandstone with
Buddhist statue facing to the four directions of East, West, North
and South.
Nor Kor Ba Chey temple has wide
location; it is not smaller than other temples in Cambodia. The
temple is the main gathering place for the people in Kampong Cham
province, and other provinces and municipalities. The temple was
building in 11th century.
PEAH THEATTEUK CHHA RESORT
Located at Thmor Da village,
Boeung Peay Commune and at Thmey village, Kroch Commune, Prey Chhor
District in distance of 39 kilometers from the provincial town. The
resort was organized in AD 1005 during the reign of King, Sorya
VarmanI. The construction of Pheah Theat Teuk Chha temple was
arranged by Mr. Chung Chheal (Cheak Teak Kho Leah or Dr. Lak Sin
Trak); the place of Pheah Theat Teuk Chha called Srey Kon Trei
Svarak; the two Buddhist statues called Bornesvarak and and Sorak
Svati; in front of the temple, there is another temple, the small
residence of angel.
In the Preah Theat Teuk Chha
resort, there are 551 small temples characterizing Buddhism and
Brahmanism.
King, Sorya Varman I agreed with
the proposal set up and he contributed a lot of his properties as
the mean for constructing the temple. Dr. Chung Chheal or Dr. Lak
Sey Trak started constructing the temple by his property and his
intellect as well as encouraging people to contribute their
property.
At the middle of the big temple,
there is Linga of Siva called Srey Pheak Tre Svarak flanked by two
statues, namely: Bo Rak Me Svarak and Sorak Svati.
At the East, in front of the
Linga, there is another small cavern, the angel resident, now the
cavern is dumped by stones in the forest, at the canal of the
waterfall, there ins only one door-frame remains to proof the fact.
At the right hand side of the
temple, where the architect takes measure to excavate a large pond
called Leakin Trak Dak, at the middle of the pond where a golden
Linga was built. At the surrounding of the area, there is a wealthy
village, which has been set up by gathering the neighboring people
to live in that village altogether at that time. So it makes the
atmosphere of this new city crowded and cheerful.
After the arrangement of this
new city finished, Dr. Leak Sin Trak brought news to inform the
King, Sorya Varman; the king when to splendidly inaugurate this
place in AD 1025; at the inauguration ceremony, the king provided
resources like equipment, 29 soldiers, rice field around the temple,
all ponds and big courts for festival celebration or decorating
furniture. Also, the king named this place Leaksin Trak Bot abiding
by the name of the Doctor, the builder.
Then, due to the change of
history, this place became the sacrificing place for religions
because from reign to reign, the kings clings to different
religions, some cling to Brahmanism, some cling to Teravada Buddhism
and some cling to Buddhism. So the temple of Preah Theat Teuk Chha
has until 551 temples included Buddhism and Brahmanism temples as
well as the temples for keeping statues of heroes who have
sacrificed their life for the nation.
The war destroyed everything and
seriously damaged temples like some temples do not exist names and
figure. Nowadays, by the participation from people and monks of
pagodas have tried to search for location, names and fundamental
location of old temples in order to have them renovated. Some of
those renovated temples made of wood with tile roofing and some made
of concrete.
MAN- MADE RESORT OF TEUK CHHA
Next to the temple, there is a
canal existing since the ancient time, the canal has water for year
round, either dry or raing seasons; this water is clear and
non-stopped flowing which leads to attracting tourists to enjoy it
happily.
On either side of the
clear-water canal, there are plants and trees growing, but now these
plants and trees have been cut off to make a big plain where the
wast water spreads out at the rock temple. In order to take
advantage from the canal, a dam has been constructed to provide
water to big rice fields in Prey Chhor District, Kampong Cham
Pronvice and in Ba Ray District, Kampon Thom province.
Due to the area is the cool
place having great quantity of water and cool shadow from the trees
that are growing around the ancient temple; these can sometime
attract tourists to visit and enjoy during their holiday leading to
be well known.
Nowadays, the ancient pond,
which we described as the achievement of Dr. Chung Kheal is the wast-water
pond located in front of the dam that has been just constructed
recently. The canal has water flowing from above and has source at
the North in Kampong Cham province; the water flows from the North
to the East, when touching a side of the temple, it flows down into
a big slit.
From the ancient time, the slit
has been full of water, but there are small currents of water shared
from the slit, then flow into rice fields of the surrounding
villages such as Kroch village in Sre Chhor District as well.
Because of the canal is old, the Ministry of Agriculture has
organized a dam for stocking water in order to accelerate the water
flow of the canal to thousand Hectars of rice fields in districts of
Prey Chhor and Ba Ray.
The canal of Teuk Chha has
corner where they can enjoy swimming; if someone like swimming in
the shallow water, he can swim in the old canal, North of the dam
because the bottom of the old canal has four-meter or five-meter
width. The clear water, we can see its bottom with flock of small
fish swimming in reverse direction to the water flow. If some one
like swimming in deep water, he can swim in a wast water, South of
the dam.
Around the Slit of the canal
bank, there is a high tree where a shelter to tourists and birds.
The water surface of Teuk Chha has appoximate 3-square kilometre
size filled by nearly 10 sources at the Northeast Mountain and
plateau called “Kbal Teuk”. The tank of stocked water has
appoximately more than two-metre depth and pours to three accesses:
two accesses via the dam can be closed and opened, and another one
is the 10-meter Slit, North of the dam.
The first dam is opened every
day; the water flows down sounding as water fall; this can attract
tourists to enjoy swimming.
The second dam is opened during
the festival days sometime; the water flow is not strong.
PHNOM SREY, PHNOM PROS RESORT
Located at Kro La Commune,
Kampong Siem District in Seven- kilometre distance from the
provincial town of Kampong Cham or 114-kilometre distance from Phnom
Penh with exceeding 500 Metres to the left. The pagoda of Phnom Pros
has official name called “What Sovan Kiri Rotanak Phnom Pros”; in
1000 Meters to the North, there is another mountain, which has
pointed peak called “Phnom Srey”.
North of the Phnom Srey, there
are ranks of mountains such as mountains of Dang Rek, Ba Ley and
Chhuk.
The mountain of Pros has dull
peak and has approximate 30-metre height. It can be reached by road
until the top. At the top, there are a high-five peak temple adapted
the model of Bontey Srey temple and two pagodas closed to each
other: one is the old pagodas having two peaks built in Sang Kum
Reas Niyum time and the other one is being built.
Under the temple, there is a big
statue having 15-metre height built by the first dead of pagoda,
named Keo So. At the mountain base, there are Kot for monks staying.
In addition, at the top of Pros Mountain we can view the beautiful
scene of Kampong Cham province.
From 1975-1979, the mountain of
Pros was a big detention place for torturing Cambodian people in
Kampong Cham province.
The mountain of Srey has pointed
peak and can be climbed up by 308 Stair steps. At the top, there is
a ruined temple, which has no monks, bit only nuns who stay there
for maintaining and collecting contribution to rebuild the temple.
In this resort, there are many
local people who go there during the Khmer traditional festivals
such as Khmer New Year and Pchum Ben.
PREY NOR KOR KNONG- KROV TEMPLE
Is an ancient site located at
the Southeast of Kampong Cham province, at Prey Nor Kor village,
Daun Tey Commune, Ponhea Krek district in the distance of 42
Kilometers from the provincial town of Kampong Cham.
Prey Nor Kor Knong-Krov temple
can be accessible by the National Road No 7 and turn right by a
trail at Dam Nak Cha village. This resort has five trails at the
public gathering place of Daun Tey Commune such as:
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The trail at the public
gathering place of Knar has six-kilometre distance.
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The distance from the main
road to Preah Theat is five kilometers.
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The distance from the trail to
Kon Dol Chrum is five kilometers.
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The distance from the trail to
Dam Nak Cha is 10 Kilometres.
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The distance from Poan Chrey
to Prey Nor Kor Knong is 5.3 Kilometres.
The resort of Prey Nor Kor
Knong-Krov temple is the gathering place where the local people and
tourists meet each other for enjoying popular games and religious
purpose during the traditional festival.
The Temple of Prey Nor Kor has
the same form to the temple of Sam Bour Prey Kuk and it was built in
the 9th century. Until the assassinated plan set up by the princess
of Kun Bot and he had mobilized troop to fight against the princess
until he achieved success.
Prey Nor Kor Knong-Krov temple
has 2500-square meter landarea consisting of:
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Thum Temple: Located on high
hill of the Khoeun of present temple. It included three temples
made of solid brick: one at the left was completely damaged and
other two temples remain good forms. Inside these two temples,
there are some statues and broken ancient objects remain. The
local people there believe that the temples has been protected and
maintained by sacred spirit because if tourists would like to
photograph the two temples, they should light incense to pray for
allowance first otherwise the picture of the two temples do not
appear in their cameras.
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Preah Theat Temple: Located at
the East of Thum temple. It included six temples, which were
damaged by war. At the present, there is one temple remains but it
is almost collapsed because of thief’s who dig the place to find
treasure.
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Preay Theat Pond: Located at
the Northeast of the Thum temple. At that time, there was a Pond
called Ku Teuk.
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Koh An Det or Kor Prak: or
another name called Sras Toem located at the North of the village,
and has 30-metre length and 20-metres width.
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Tum Nup or Kam Pheng Poat Chum
Vinh: Located around the city of Prey Nor Kor Knong-Krov and was
planted the complex wild bamboo, which make it impossible to go
through.
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This dam has approximate
10-metre height, 15-metre vertical angle, and square angle; each
angle has 2,500 Metres. Some parts of the dam have been damaged.
WAT PREAH THEAT THMOR DA TEMPLE
Is the ancient site located at
the Southeast of Kampong Cham province; it located at Preah Theat
Thmor Da village, Preah Theat commune, Ou Rang Au District.
This pagoda has 38-kilometre
distance from Kampong Cham province and can be reached by the
National Road No 7 and turning by the Road No 11 to Au Rang Au
District, then continuing more eight kilometers by a trail. The area
of the pagoda has 190-metres length and 160-metre width consisting
of a Preah Theat temple and a big pond with clear water called
“Tonle Sor Nguot”; the pond has 950-metres length and 180-metres
width.
At the right hand side of the
entrance, there is a temple called “Preah Chol Niphean temple”,
before, there was a statue of Buddhist who achieved nirvana, but
now, it disappear because of thief stealing.
The statues worshipped by our
people in this area included:
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The statue of Atitep Vetayak
Wann
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The statue of Atitep Ve Ro
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The statue of Ang Krong Pleung
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The statue of Atitep Kong Chak
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The statue of Atitep Hek Pous
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The statue of Atitep Srey Krup
Leak
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The statue of Atitep Tous Muk
Behind the temple, there is
another Me Ruk-Me Na, which was built in French Colonial time. At
the front door, there is a Me Ruk with a ruined fronton made of
sandstone; inside the Me Ruk, there is a sculpture of Hoa Thi Neang
Oup Meapak Vo Tey who is worshipped by Brahmanism.
It is believe that if we drop a
coconut into the hole of Me Ruk, the coconut will appear at the
middle of the lake where the old temple located.
PHNOMHAN CHEY RESORT (CHEY KIRI MOUNTAIN)
Han Chey Mountain has official
name “Chey Kiri Mountain” located at the East of Kampong Cham
province, at the northern part of Mekong River. This resort located
at Han Chey village, Han Chey commune, Kampong Siem District in the
distance of 18 kilometres by water and 20 kilometres by land.
The mountain can be climbed up
by 295 beautiful stair steps, and has pagoda and the temple of Kuk
made of ancient solid bricks each has seven-square meter size. In
addition, there is another temple having square shape made of
sandstone located at the North of pagoda; at the valley of the
mountain, there is another temple called “Pra Sat Neang Khmao” made
of stones each has seven-square metre size.
The mountain of Han Chey has
beautiful scenary and also has many visitors; the international
visitors who go there as group by boat. Recently, there are many
tourist sites have been found in the province Kampong Cham, but not
yet operated for tourists to visit. Along the Mekong River, there
are a beautiful bank and island of Pen, which have been needed by
the provincial visitors who visit there during the Khmer New Year
festival.
OTHER INTERESTING PLACES
Chor Cha &
Sanlogn Hills
Classification:
Nature Wildlife Preserves
Location:
National Road No. 6, Chealear
Commune, BaTheay District
Accessibility:
86 km (2h:15mn) From Provincial Town
Koh Pen beach
Classification:
Operations of Recreation Park
and Beaches
Location:
Kampong Cham & Kampong Siem
District
Accessibility:
2km (2mn) From Provincial Town
Chroy
Chek
Classification:
Nature Wildlife Preserves
Location:
National Road No.7, Veal Kreal
Village, Trean Commune, Kampong Siem District
Accessibility:
17km (30mn) From Provincial Town
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