You asked me to tell you about the temple I took an Australian archaeologist to many years ago, which was very remote and which archaeologists hadn’t yet been to. But maybe there are other people whose understanding is not the same as my understanding. So that is why it is called Banteay Srei Srei means ‘lady’. Its carving are deep, clear, and so detailed, it looks like a beautiful lady. And the carving and decoration are the best compared to all other Khmer temples. But I’ll choose one only, so my reply isn’t too long! Banteay Srei temple is one of my favourites, its feature is pink sandstone, when all other temples are grey sandstone. I have a few favourite temples and they have different features. I’ll also tell my clients about the marriage age previously and now, the amount of children before and now, about the finances for wedding arrangements, and so on! Some old people still know some French language. Most of the young people are gone out of the country for a job to places like Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Malaysia and other countries. We have more females than male and more young than old. There are around 17 million people living in Cambodia. I start to show them more especially I focus on my people. I will not say so much if they’re not interested or don’t ask me more questions.Īfter we know each other and have had a little talk about simple stories, then I say, ‘OK, please let me show you about something in Cambodia’. I tell my clients who never been here before about the Cambodian people: the real living conditions, tradition, culture, civilisation, and any activity that is new or unique that we see on the way and is something that they have never seen in their country. I: called The Pre- Angkorian Era (1st century - 9th century ) II: called The Angkorian Era (9th century - 15th century ) and III: called The Post - Angkorian Era (15th century until now) and inside these three eras, there are more smaller ones. We divide Khmer history into three main eras. Most of the temples were built for the Hindu cult and some were for the Buddhist cult. We are now one of only five countries that still holds on to Hinayana Buddhism: Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
There are two types of Buddhism, Mahayana and Hinayana. Hinduism has three main gods at the top: Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu, Lord Brahman. Later on until the first century, the Indian influence gave Khmers two more religions, Hinduism and Buddhism. We had our own language, but no writing yet, and we lived tribe by tribe. We had our own culture, religion, and performance. Khmer people lived in Southeast Asia since pre-historic times, during the stone age.
Now I would like to bring one of the subjects related to Khmer civilisation to share with you. There were so many subjects that I learned to be a tour guide: first aid, laws and regulations of tourism, understanding the tourist situation, hospitality, tourism statistics and information, the Angkor Apsara Authority, Cambodian geography, participation in protecting and preserving national resources as a tourism guide, Khmer history, archaeology, statues, and Khmer civilisation. As one proverb says, ‘swallow venom, waste honey’.
If they seem interested about Cambodian stories, I tell more stories, but if they only love taking photos, I will choose a good spot for them to take photos and I won’t talk much! A tour guide must be flexible. You meet a lot of different people some want this, some want that. You know, to act as a tour guide is not so easy. At the moment I am living in Thnal village, Sro Nge commune, outside of Siem Reap. My name is Naga Cambo and I am an English-speaking tour guide in Cambodia. In this interview, Naga reveals something of life in Cambodia, particularly under COVID-19, what it takes to become a tour guide, and some of his favourite temples. We caught up with him again during our scoping trip in January 2019.
Naga is a tour guide who we first met in 2016. Our first interview is with our friend Naga Cambo. Many of our friends and partners in Cambodia are facing big changes in circumstance due to Covid-19, so we’re welcoming them to our blog to tell you a bit about their lives in the beautiful Kingdom of Wonder. We have a guest blogger to introduce to you today.