CambodiaCambodia

The Kingdom of The Kingdom of WonderWonder

Contents

• Cambodia and Me• General facts about the

country• The journey to the

country• My new family• Climate, traffic• 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

• Her husband Champ, their son Mathe

Champ

• Thai, lived in Thailand, spent 3 years in Cambodia

• Works as a teacher, in his own nursery school

Zénó

• A Hungarian, 10 years old boy

• Mona’s and Champ’s nephew

• Travelled with Me to Cambodia

Mathe

• 3 years old boy• Mona’s and Champ’s

son

Climate

• It’s dominated by the annual monsoon cycle

• Seasons: cool and dry, hot and dry, hot and wet, cool and wet

The traffic

• Very undeveloped• The roads: dirt roads

in the countryside, avenues in the capital

• Cambodian’s means of transports: motorcycles, bicycles, buses, cars, tuk-tuks

• Foreigners: cars

• They don’t follow the Highway Code

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 foundtaions

• 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• Their agricultural reform

caused famine, diseases• Brutal executions and torture

(1.5 million executed)• Anti-intellectual policy• Resistance movement from

Thailand• The KR was removed by the

Socialist Republic Of Vietnam

• Now: Cambodia is constitutional monarchy

Angkor

• Served as the seat of the Khmer Empire

• Angkor means city

• The ruins are located in the jungle

• They are the Unesco World Heritage Site

• More than one thousand temples

Angkor• The seat of the Khmer

Empire (AD 802- 1431)

• Every king built a temple for his favourite 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 (instead of Hinduism Buddhism)

-Neglect of public works

-Natural disasters

-Internal fights

Angkor• The inhabitants left

Angkor • The city and the

temples was cloaked by the forest until the 19th century

• French archeologist began a restoration process

• Now it attcracts tourist, 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

• Prevention against diseases

• Good opportunity to practise English