Khao Phra Viharn

[Flashermac]

The temple sits on top of a peak in the Don Rek Mountain range. It's an easy walk or drive from the Thai side, and the ruins of the now abandoned village, the water reservoir etc are still in Thailand. But the temple is on a point that sticks out in sort of a V shape. It is a sheer drop down to the Cambodian plains. A road on the Cambodian side isn't the problem. The problem is that you need to be a mountain goat to climb up to it from Cambodia!

 

What pissed off the Thais is that they made visits to the temple and the Ministry of Fine Arts was actually doing restoration work. The Cambodians didn't even seem aware the temple was there, until Sihanouk found an old map. The maps used by the United States and other countries showed the border as following the mountain ridge, which put the temple in Thailand. But that century old French map was the trump card for Sihanouk -- even though it was shown to be wrong in other respects (e.g. rivers running the wrong way). If the Thais had known about that map -- the French in the 19th century hadn't even given them a copy -- they never would have gone to the World Court. They'd have just sat tight and told Sihanouk to fork off.

 

From the pics it doesn't look much different from what I saw in 1975, certainly no better. But I've heard the Khmer Rouge hacked off carvings and sold them on the black market to get money for their rule.

 

p.s. Periodically, Cambodian students will stage protests in Phnom Penh demanding the "return" of Surin and Buriram.

[Guest lazyphil]

great stuff!

[Torneyboy]

Great photos... ::

[longwoodguy74]

Old Hippie said:

This trip, I didn't see one Khmer Soldier, only Thai. The Khmers I don't think cared about it during the internal strife under Pol Pot...Cared again when it appeared as a source of revenue...

 

Most khmers were busy trying to survive the Pol Pot regime to worry about temples. Doing so openly, might have marked one for death.

 

That said, Khmers are intensely proud - and rightly so - of their cultural heritage. These places are a lot more than simple places to earn currency...although they are that too.

 

As for the temple facing west to service Korat, i think that is likely a stretch...or likely to be a very thai interpretation of things. Most such temples have an east or west orientation, that is not to say that they only "service" the land in one direction.

[Old Hippie]

Flasher, when did the Thai troops officially pull out of that area? When the Khmer flag go up? I had read (I think in Lonely Planet) that one of the justifications for giving it to Cambodia was that it was Khmer in orgin...yet Buri Ram, Surin, Si Saket and a few other sights have Khmer influence...hence I suppose the logic behind the Khmer students wanting all of that back...