The 70-km long Highway 78 stretching from Banlung Town in Cambodia’s Ratanakiri Province to the Le Thanh border gate in Viet Nam’s Central Highland Gia Lai Province opened to traffic yesterday (18-3-10).

Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen cut the ribbon to inaugurate the highway which cost US$25.8 million to upgrade and was funded by the Vietnamese Government.

The upgrade of this road will greatly ease travelling to Ratanakiri from Vietnam, and it is anticipated that tourist arrivals will increase in the remote province as a result.

In the far northwestern corner of Cambodia the looted Angkorian temple of Banteay Chhmar sits teetering on the brink of a revival. Currently accessed by a bumpy, dusty dirt road, a paved road is scheduled to start construction later this year which is bound to increase visitor numbers.

Built during the reign of King Jayavarman VII and situated some 15km from the Thai border, Banteay Chhmar is often compared to the more well known Angkor Thom in size and structure. The complex is full of sandstone bas-reliefs that tell stories of ancient Cambodian battles.

The bas-reliefs along the surrounding wall of the temple are some of the finest in Cambodia. Yet the stories are incomplete due to sustained looting, which continued as late as 2002. Huge sections of the outer wall have been chiselled away, and are now scattered around the world in private collections. While the loss is felt as you wander around the massive complex, it also drives home the importance of visitors to this remote site. These tourist dollars are helping with the current preservation of the temple and improving the livelihood of the surrounding villages.

Global Heritage Fund (GHF), a non-profit organisation based in California, specialises in tying conservation of historical sites to the needs of the local community to make tourism relevant and profitable, while ensuring local inhabitants are stewards of their own heritage. James Hooper, the manager of Global Heritage Fund UK and International Project Development specialist, sees great potential in Banteay Chhmar.

“Banteay Chhmar is a perfect example of how Global Heritage Fund works with local groups to build sustainable tourist infrastructure,” says Hooper. Through their partnership with the Community Based Tourism (CBT) office, Global Heritage Fund has been able to speed along the conservation work by providing the technical know-how and needed funding. Additionally, it assists with emergency structural issues within the complex. Years of shifting earth, some looting and the advancing trees have taken their toll on Banteay Chhmar. It feels as though the forest is reclaiming the temple for itself.

GHF wants to create temporary, low-impact viewing platforms, so guests can see the complex from a bird’s eye view. The platforms would allow visitors a safe way to experience the heart of the temple, which currently is inaccessible because of unstable stone structures. Hooper explains that these temporary structures work well because they avoid heavy construction which could do long term damage to the site. For now, visitors walk on the ground amongst the ruins, witnessing the temple as westerner explorers first discovered it.

The local community has a clear list of plans needed to improve services to tourists. According to Sophal That of the CBT, about 40 percent of visitors spend a night in one of the villages’ six homestay locations, the only overnight option. The homestays make up just a part of the CBT’s infrastructure around the Banteay Chhmar complex. The rest of the 74 council members are part of the hospitality network for visitors, which includes ox cart rides, silk weaving, woodcarving, traditional music concerts, rice wine distillation, beekeeping, bike tours and the women’s cooking group. The later are trained by Sala Bai and the 5 star Hotel de la Paix in Siem Reap. An ox cart ride to visit some of the local small-scale businesses provides an interesting (but bumpy) two-hour addition to the main reason for your visit.

Future plans include English lessons for the tour guides and homestay families, improving the homestay facilities, establishing a CBT-run restaurant, and simpler transportation around Banteay Chhmar. Hooper has complete faith in his counterparts. “We’ve never questioned their business sense,” he says. “For us, it’s all about training them to be ready for the changes that are coming down the line.”

And change will come. A sealed road is planned to start construction this year with a completion date hovering around 2012, at which point the villages of Banteay Chhmar will be a mere hour-and-a-half drive from Siem Reap or Battambang. This opens the day-trip potential for large groups coming out of Siem Reap.

While more tourists are exactly what the community needs, busloads may be unfortunate. The isolation is what gives Banteay Chhmar its charm – currently no matter what time of day you visit, you are likely to be the only visitors. For the time being, there is no waiting for the hordes to move so you can snap a photo without people. There are no tuk tuks, no elephants, no mega-buses. There is just the temple, nature and friendly people there to help. All this makes now the right time for a visit.

To plan a visit to Banteay Chhmar and stay overnight in a homestay contact: info@asia-adventures.com

Edited from AsiaLife Guide March 2010

‘Cobra!’ my Cambodian guide yells. The warning comes just in time: I leap sideways as the oil black snakes slithers past…

In a recent Metro newspaper article (UK) Graeme Green described the Chi Pat eco-tourism project in Cambodia’s remote Cardamom mountains as ‘a raw, real experience of life in an unspoilt, little-known Cambodian village’.

Asia Adventures arranged Graeme’s visit to Chi Pat and to read his full article please click on the following link: Metro Chi Pat Article - Feb 2010

To learn more about the Chi Pat ecotourism project please visit: Chi Pat Blog Entries

Finally to see a selection of the Chi Pat trekking and mountain biking tours we offer please look at: Chi Pat Tour examples

For any further information please do not hesitate to contact Asia Adventures at info@asia-adventures.com