cambodia iii
TRANSCRIPT
CambodiaCambodia
The Kingdom of The Kingdom of WonderWonder
Contents
• Cambodia and Me• General facts about the
country• The journey to the
country• My host family• Society• The Khmer Rouge• Angkor• My experience and
summary
Cambodia and Me
General facts about the country
• Location: in East Asia, it borders Thailand, Laos and Vietnam
• Population: over 14 million,mostly Khmer people
• Religion: 95% of the population is Buddhist, the others are Christian
• Capital: Phnom Penh
• Official language: Khmer, English and French are widely used
The journey to the country
• Travel arrangements– Austrian Airlines (from
Vienna to Bangkok)
– Bangkok Airways (from Bangkok to Phnom Penh)
My host family
Mona
• Hungarian, who spent 10 years in the USA, 10 years In Asia
• Works at the Oxfam America, East Asia Regional Office
• Position: Deputy Regional Manager
Champ
• Thai, lived in Thailand, spent 3 years in Cambodia
• Works as a teacher, in his own nursery school
Mathe
• Mona’s and Champ’s son
• 3 years old boy
Society
• Cambodian people-Khmer
• Their language: Khmer• Religion: Buddhism• Main occupations:
agriculture, work in the households of foreigners
• Poverty
Society
• Foreigners• Different nations
• Language: English
• Work for the embassies, United Nations, different foundations
• Much better living standard
The Khmer Rouge
• Khmer Rouge: the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea, the totalitarian ruling party in Cambodia
• Led by Pol Pot• Agricultural reform • Brutal executions and torture
(1.5 million executed)• Anti-intellectual policy• Resistance movement • The KR was removed by the
Socialist Republic Of Vietnam
• Now: Cambodia is constitutional monarchy
Angkor
• Served as the seat of the Khmer Empire
• The ruins are located in the jungle
• They are the Unesco World Heritage Site
• More than one thousand temples
• The most important temple is Angkor Wat
Angkor• The seat of the Khmer
Empire (AD 802- 1431)
• Kings were like gods
• The Khmer Empire: almost the strongest country in Asia
• Religious purposes: Hinduism, later Buddhism
Angkor
• The fall of the Empire-Thai invaders
-The fall of the state
religion
-Neglect of public works
-Natural disasters
-Internal fights
Angkor• The inhabitants left
Angkor • The city and the
temples were cloaked by the forest until the 19th century
• French archeologist began a restoration process
• Now it’s a Word Heritage
My experience and summary
• Cambodia: safe, peceful, cleared from landmines
• Angkor is impressive
• Developing, poor country, but people are nice and open
• Diseases• Good opportunity to
practise English