LTO Cambodia: May 2013

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Old laundry

Digging through boxes I found a couple of old tees that I thought had long disappeared. My 'war souvenirs' from the July 1997 factional fighting in Phnom Penh (a two day military confrontation [July 5-6] between FUNCINPEC and CPP forces.) To my memory there were a few different war tees. One played on the embassies' reluctance to label the fighting a 'coup' or the assisted exodus of expats an 'evacuation.' On the front it had a drawing of civilians running to a C-130 at the airport, entitled "This is not an evacuation." On the back it had a picture of tanks on the streets, entitled "And this is not a coup." Anyway, here's a couple of photos on my old laundry.

From my journal:

"July 13, 1997

A good end to a bad week

Last night, Saturday night, was special. The Australian ambassador (Tony Kevin) had a ‘barbie’ at his residence near Wat Phnom. The ambassador's Saturday barbie has long been a regular weekly event open to Aussies and other expats, but this week's was the first truly normal happening since the little war.

Tents were set on the lawn of the ambassador's villa, steaks and chops on the grill and a free flow of draft Angkor. Very well attended by a strange medley of embassy/NGO types, English teachers, journos and construction guys. Rain threatened but nobody seemed to care. The DG guys were there, selling tee-shirts on the side. I bought my first war-related tee:

Coup? Hunpossible!

Democracy? Sensational!

And another with "What did you get up to this weekend?" on the back and the text of the the recorded war warning from the embassy on the front.

We drank beer, socialized with expats, some of whom were actually not leaving the country, and had a generally good time that stretched into the evening. As the sun sank there was some talk of security, but the party plugged on. It was the first truly light, relaxed and encouraging moment since the fighting, and it was the first time many have been out after dark this week.

After the ambassador's party I went to the Heart of Darkness, my standard. Around 30 people were there, mostly men. Light for a Saturday but, according to Samnang, it was the first night the Heart had had any real business since the fighting. People drank and smoked and told giddy stories of ‘where I was when...’ and what’s going to happen next. Like a bunch of school boys, we were all friends last night.

As I put on a light and listened to stories passing up and down the bar, I felt...a rush. Something male, Hemingwayish and no doubt highly politically incorrect. I know it was wrong and shallow to feel this way, but...We made it! The war is definitely over. The week of hysteria is over. Everybody in the bar is a stayer. The spirit and the talk last night filled my cup."

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Bridge Tower Building

Bridge Tower Building, 2008

Bridge Tower Building and Treasury Bridge (Naga Bridge), circa 1900

Originally constructed in the early 1890s, Phnom Penh's old Bridge Tower Building stood distinctively at the corner of Norodom Blvd and Street 108 until last year when it was razed to the ground by the property owner (1). It would have been nice to see this unique piece of Phnom Penh's architectural heritage preserved and restored, but it was in extremely poor condition and would have cost a small fortune to save, if possible at all. According to the Cambodia Daily (2), at the time it was razed the owner pledged to replace it with some sort of replica, but that has yet to come to pass. Yesterday the Cambodia Daily (2) reported a new building had been constructed on the site - a garishly colored piece of architectural lint slated to be an office supply store (see last photo). Regarding the promise of a replica the owner of the property plead lack of funds in yesterday's article, saying she simply couldn't afford to build a replica at this time, hinting it may happen at some time in the future. I won't be holding my breath.

As distinctive as the Bridge Tower was, there seems to be very little published on its history and fewer historic photos than other buildings and bridges of the time. It was a remnant of the Belle Époque and a particularly productive decade in the early colonial development of Phnom Penh.

In the early 1890s Résident-supérieur Huyn de Verneville initiated several public works projects in Phnom Penh including draining wetlands by the construction of an enclosing canal around the European District centered on Wat Phnom. One leg of the canal ran about 1km from the Tonle Sap River along what is now Street 106/108. Three bridges were built over the canal including the Treasury Bridge (aka the 'Naga Bridge', so named for the naga ballustrades), which linked the European district with the Chinese/Khmer districts and formed the beginning of what is now Norodom Blvd. The canal and Treasury Bridge were completed in1893 (3). The Bridge Tower Building sat at the south end of the Treasury Bridge and was probably constructed at about the same time. Other surviving buildings of the same period include the Treasury Building on Street 106 (namesake of the Treasury Bridge,) the Post Office and the Central Police Station next to the Post Office.

The canals were filled and the bridges dismantled in the early 1930s. The canal with the Treasury Bridge became the boulevard park separating Streets 106 and 108. In 2006, naga balustrades were erected along the short stretch of Norodom Blvd between Streets 106 and 108, creating a faux Naga Bridge where the original sat.

The tower

2006

Collapsed roof

Window

Replacement building on the site of the former Bridge Tower Building. Today.

(1) 'After Demolition, Colonial Building Site to Lie Dormant', The Cambodia Daily, June 20, 2012
(2) 'Store Built in Place of Colonial Building Decried', The Cambodia Daily, May 9, 2013
(3) Phnom Penh Then and Now by Michael Igout, White Lotus Co, 1993

K440: Another Old Building Disappears
Phnom Penh Places Blog: Le Pont Des Najas or The Naga Bridge
1920 Map of Phnom Penh showing the canals around the European District

Cambodia

Cambodia is Srok Khmer, the 'Land of the Khmer,' the primary ethnic group in the area since at least the Neolithic and an Indian influenced civilization with origins near 2000 years old. Centered on the lower Mekong and tributaries the Khmer people have dominated the region for millennia. From 2nd century AD Khmer kingdoms rose and fell, culminating in unification and the 500 year reign of the Angkorian Empire, the builders of the temples of Angkor near Siem Reap. The Empire stretched from Burma to the ocean. But by the 1400s Cambodia fell to centuries of change and decline squeezed between the expanding Siam and Vietnam. Colonized and by the French in the 1860s, independence 90 years later in 1954, a brief post-colonial 'golden period' under Sihanouk, coup in 70, civil war, fall to the communist Khmer Rouge in 75, 3 years 8 months 20 days of madness, Vietnamese rescue in 1979, occupation, low level war and international sanctions in the 80s, the UN, ostensive democracy and an adventure party destination in the 90s and now mainstreaming, tourism, rapid development, rapacious capitalism and NGOs, missionaries and other international busybodies aplenty.

Southeast Asia

As the term implies, Southeast Asia encompasses the southeastern corner of the Asian continent, loosely speaking, the area between India, China and Australia. It is made up of two distinct regions: the mainland zone, a bulbous peninsula jutting into the Pacific Ocean, bounded by China to the north and India to the west; and the insular (island) zone in the Pacific Ocean. The name 'Southeast Asia' is a comparatively recent invention, first coming into use into the 20th century and still a bit indefinite in definition. Mainland Southeast Asia is generally considered to include Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and peninsular Malaysia. The mainland is sometimes referred to as Indo-China though Indochina (Indochine) also designates the 19th/20th century French colonial conglomerate of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Sitting south of the Tropic of Cancer, most of mainland Southeast Asia lies in the hot, humid tropics and sub-tropics with a climate dominated by a monsoon cycle which divides the year into two distinct seasons: a dry season and an extremely wet monsoon season. Much of the mainland is mountainous and thickly jungled, with large river systems and wide, low-lying, flood-prone plains, much of which is, in modern times, deforested and blanketed with geometrical rice paddies. Several major river valleys including the Mekong River, the Red, Ma and Ka rivers and the group of rivers draining to the Chao Praya Delta played host to the rise of early civilization in the area. The Mekong River is one of the world's greatest rivers, the seventh largest on the planet, and since pre-history has been closely associated with the land of the Khmer.