Cambodia airline launches Southeast Asia's first non-stop chartered flight from Lanzhou

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                  / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to All Press & Travel Professionals

Sky Angkor Airlines, a private Cambodian-Korean joint venture airline formerly known as Skywings Asia Airlines before 1 December 2014, has launched Southeast Asia's first non-stop chartered flight from Lanzhou to Siem Reap on 4 February 2016 and will continue to fly direct from Lanzhou to Siem Reap on 9 February, 14 February and 19 February 2016.

The first Siem Reap-Lanzhou flight service is opened on 20 January 2016. On this day, Sky Angkor Airlines flight ZA4319 departs from Siem Reap for Lanzhou at 1 pm, arrives in Lanzhou at 5.50 pm before leaving Lanzhou on 4 February 2016 for Siem Reap at 6.50 pm under flight ZA4329 and touching down in Siem Reap at 10.10 pm.

According to Sky Angkor Airlines, the other outbound flights from Siem Reap to Lanzhou were performed on 25 January and 30 January 2016.

The new charter flights to Lanzhou are operated by Sky Angkor Airlines' Airbus A320 aircraft (registered XU-708). 

Sky Angkor Airlines plans to use the A320 aircraft on future charter flights from Siem Reap to Dalian, Wuxi, Nanchang, Urumqi and Xining without stopovers in other Chinese cities or Incheon. Currently, the carrier only operates regular scheduled flights from Siem Reap to Incheon, Busan and Hanoi, and regular winter charter flights to Nanning, Wuhan, Chengdu and Guiyang. It acquired its first Airbus A321 in September 2015 which is utilized on short-haul flights from Siem Reap to Hanoi and China.

The first airline to fly direct on a scheduled basis from Southeast Asia to Lanzhou is Spring Airlines, operating a scheduled once-weekly flight every Sunday from Suvarnabhumi to Lanzhou. China Eastern Airlines flies from Singapore to Lanzhou with a stopover in Kunming.

ANGKOR WAT SUNRISE 吴哥日出

Heritage Poem by : Gan Yung Chyan
                               / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to Everyone

Altar and steep it is

Neat relief sanctuary

Groups of torch reveal slowly

King of calm

Open balm

Rinse to the farm

Ways upright

A man decides

The city's pride

Silhouette on the pool

Unity is cool

Not a secret shoot

Rise a way that thirst

In clicks of the sun

Silhouette dimmed

Enter future of honour

Angkor is the capital of the Khmer Empire (ninth to fifteenth centuries AD), the largest city in the world in the twelfth century AD. It means "city" in Khmer. Therefore, Angkor Wat in Khmer means "city pagoda".

The Angkor Empire's last king is King Jayavarman II who defeated Champa, an ancient kingdom in present-day Central Vietnam. He introduced Mahayana Buddhism to Cambodia and he is the last great king of the Angkor Empire. His goal is to turn Cambodia into a paradise in which the Khmer people would be the honourable Race with good or benevolent characteristics that other nationalities will look up to. Can the current leader of Cambodia, Hun Sen, accomplish that?

I thank Angkor Palace Resort & Spa for arranging return sunset and sunrise trips to Angkor for me. Return trip costs 10 USD. Buy a three-day entry ticket at 40 USD. The best time to appreciate Angkor Wat's beauty is between 5.30 am and 6.30 am. Angkor opens at 5 am and ticket sales close at 5 pm daily.

祭坛和陡峭的是
整齐的救灾避难所
火炬群体慢慢显露
冷静之王
打开唇膏
冲洗农场

直立方式
有一个人决定
这个城市的骄傲

剪影于池塘
团结就是爽
不是秘密拍摄
上升那份渴望的一种方式
在太阳的点击
灰色剪影
输入荣誉未来

--- 猫恪 / 颜勇前 译，9/2/2016

Seventh-Day Adventist Church marks 20 years of active community outreach in Siem Reap

Heritage Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                                 / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to Everyone

The Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Church, one of the Protestant mainstream denominations in the world, marks 20 years of active community outreach in Siem Reap in 2016 as an organized community.

In 1992, the Australian couple Tim and Wendy Maddocks moved to Siem Reap to manage a rice improvement project under supervision of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) and the Cambodian Government. Tim worked for ADRA until end of December 1995. 

During their free time, Tim and Wendy gradually reached out to the residents in Siem Reap individually and established a bilingual Khmer-English SDA congregation in Siem Reap. Later the Cambodia Adventist Mission sent  a pastor to establish a Khmer speaking group in the town. In 1995 both groups were merged and from then on Siem Reap had one group which met in various locations until a small church which is now known as Seventh-Day Adventist Church Siem Reap (SDACSR) was constructed for congregational worship on Saturdays in 1999 along National Road No.6 ("Airport Road") next to Majestic Orient Hotel. It is about five minutes of walk from the entrance of Angkor Palace Resort & Spa. The church itself only has plastic chairs in the worship Hall.

The Maddocks couple began their search for a suitable location for a training centre to initiate active community service in January 1996. The 19 hectare property now known as Wat Preah Yesu was purchased in March 1996 from the Sombua village (known locally as Sombua Commune) who planted rice. The Buddhist village of Sombua was introduced to Jesus. The first baptisms there took place in 1998 and many villagers are now Adventists.

In the same year, the Commune Chief proposed to the Maddocks family to consider building a primary school at the training centre. The couple agreed and led the project. Their friend Marshal Smith provided funds to purchase enough land to build an orphanage under the name of Wat Preah Yesu. These buildings later became Cambodia Adventist School - Kantrok (CASK), opened since 1999 and the Wat Preah Yesu Children's Home, registered in the name of Cambodia Adventist Mission, operated and funded by SALT Ministries. 

CASK run by volunteers from Australia and Germany was initially a literacy school for poor children. It is officially recognised as a primary school in 2004 that allow children to have Saturdays off on Sabbath, a blessing that Cambodian government school children do not enjoy. 

Adventists believe that humanity should keep Saturdays off from labour as Jesus has not abolished the fourth Commandment requiring humanity to observe the seventh-day of the week (Saturday) from the day God rests from His creation of the world. 

CASK now has a computer laboratory. Children who grow up here continue to learn vocational skills necessary to equip them for life in Cambodia.

The Wat Preah Yesu Children's Home is home to more than 135 children orphaned by their parents who died from AIDS. Some of the children suffered from AIDS.

Wat Preah Yesu as a church is organized in September 2000 and the church building is dedicated to God in January 2002 years after Wendy developed a grassroots healthy ministry in Sombua Commune. It was built in the style of a Khmer pagoda, hence the name "Wat Preah Yesu" which means 'Jesus Pagoda'. Members put on flip-flops and sandals, and come to worship God every Saturday. Well-off members put on shoes. There are no chairs in the Sabbath School-cum-worship Hall. 

Another building was added to the church later where children and members can enjoy their meals or engage in lesson studies.

The first resident of Wat Preah Yesu is Mr Prak Heng. Mr Heng and his family are members of SDACSR. His family lived with him at Wat Preah Yesu later. Local villagers are hired to assist with development of Wat Preah Yesu as an orphanage, school and church to share with the world the love and word of God.

Wat Preah Yesu is located 4 kilometres to the west of Build Bright University in southwestern Siem Reap, 40 to 50 minutes of a tuk tuk drive from Wat Preah Prohm Rath as there is no road sign direction to the church building. 

Today, Cambodia has six organized SDA churches, of which Wat Preah Yesu is one of them while SDACSR has been organized as a church company.

May God bless you in your visit to SDACSR and Wat Preah Yesu. 

For further information on how to reach Wat Preah Yesu and on how to donate to Wat Preah Yesu, visit www.saltmin.org, www.saltcamtv.org and www.youtube.com/saltcamtv. Email Tim or Terence at tim@saltmin.org or info@saltmin.org.

I dedicate my inaugural visit to southwest Siem Reap to Jesus who guides the tuk tuk driver Sorthy of Angkor Palace Resort & Spa and me to this part of Siem Reap and thank Angkor Palace Resort & Spa Tour Desk for the patience and cooperation rendered during the trips to Siem Reap and Angkor.

Fascinating Siem Reap Stories behind Wat Preah Prohm Rath

Heritage Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
                                / KUCINTA SETIA
Distributed to Everyone

Siem Reap the cleanest city in Cambodia in 2015 has a few majestic temple complexes or wat in Khmer. I chose to visit the famous Wat Preah Prohm Rath.

Located along Pokambor Avenue of Siem Reap and within a few minutes' ride from the Central Market,  Wat Preah Prohm Rath officially known as Wat Preah Promreath (meaning Preah Promreath Pagoda) on the gate is a huge temple complex that comprises of several buildings including the ordination Hall known as Preah Vihear, a monastery known as Preah Prohm Rath Monastery, decorated towers and a few replicas of famous Khmer men and legends. The temple gate itself that has three-level Bayon-style King Jayavarman II-like faces on top was unveiled in 1371 AD.

Throughout the grounds of Wat Preah Prohm Rath are balustrades with depictions of Naga and Garuda at the ends that represent peace. 



Located on the right of a smaller Buddhist prayer hall is Preah Prohm Rath Monastery, the oldest monastery of Siem Reap with a history of more than 500 years. Founded in the reign of King Ang Chan (1516-1566 AD), it was dedicated to Preah Ang Chang-han Hoy and to the spirits of the couple Ta Pum and Yeay Rath who owned the land on which Wat Preah Prohm Rath was constructed to propagate Buddha's teaching and provide lodging for monks who came to Siem Reap without any lodging.

The sacred residence of Preah Ang Chang-han Hoy, that is Preah Prohm Rath Monastery, was itself constructed between the late fifteenth century and early sixteenth century AD in honour of the revered monk Preah Ang Chang-han Hoy (1358-1456 AD) who was believed to bestow peace on Angkor (ninth to fifteenth century AD) when the kingdom was not in peace with Champa. King Ang Chan always came to the monastery to seek for thanksgiving and peace.

Preah Prohm Rath Monastery was initially known as Ta Pum Yeay Rath Monastery. In the 1940s, it was renamed Preah Prohm Rath Monastery by a former abbot of the monastery.

Three replicas diagonally in front of the monastery and the reclining Buddha sculpture in the ordinate Hall somewhat continued the stories of Preah Ang Chang-han Hoy and King Ang Chan. 

The boat replica showing the monk Preah Ang Chang-han Hoy where I was standing in front is said to duplicate the boat that he always travelled to a village later known as Longvek, the ancient capital of Cambodia located halfway between Phnom Penh and the southern end of Tonle Sap lake, to ask for freshly cooked rice to be scooped into his pot. 

One day, legend has it that a few sharks attacked the boat. However there is no shark in the Tonle Sap lake south of Siem Reap and since the largest freshwater fish of Tonle Sap lake, the Mekong giant catfish, has no teeth and is a herbivore. The Tonle Sap lake beasts that attacked the boat are actually the Siamese crocodiles that caused the boat to break into two pieces.

Instead of sinking into the lake, one piece of the boat floated to Wat Boribo in Kampong Chhnang Province's Boribo district where the Buddhists there built a standing statue of Buddha. The other piece that water could not flow into it brought Preah Ang Chang-han Hoy safely at great speed to the land of Ta Pum and Yeay Rath where Siem Reap's religious development began here. 

To remember this event for posterity, King Ang Chan ordered Siem Reap's Buddhists to build the reclining Buddha statue made of the wooden piece of the boat that has been kept in Preah Vihear the building where the ordination Hall is situated.

The second replica on the left of the boat replica depicts Ney Khan, the enemy of King Ang Chan and the Khmer people. On the corpse sculpture are the vultures that violently fed on the corpse, his tongue sticking out from his mouth, his eyes opening wide and his face in gory condition. It has a political connotation here. The armies of Ney Khan and King Ang Chan fought with one another in the sixteenth century AD for power after the Angkor Empire was almost destroyed. Ang Chan's army won and established the capital of Longvek and his palace around the village that Preah Ang Chang-han Hoy visited in Kampong Chhnang Province. The corpse sculpture stands for Ney Khan's defeat and burial.

How the reclining Buddha and the corpse sculpture came to be somehow inspired the meaning of Siem Reap, which means "Siam Defeated" in Khmer.

Further to the left of the corpse replica are the replica of a king with an arrow riding on a white horse-carriage and soldier sculptures. The king refers to King Ang Chan who defeated Ney Khan.

Preah Vihear was constructed in 1945 the year when Wat Preah Prohm Rath was officially named. It is flanked by two cannons of French origin which are said to have belonged to Khmer warlord, anti-Communist Indochinese guerilla leader, and right-wing Cambodian nationalist and general named Dap Chhoun (1912-1959 AD).

While the reclining Buddha was installed in a huge immersion pool-like pit of the ordination Hall and was subsiding deeper and deeper because the ground had grown thicker, there is the imposing, yet despondent looking Buddha sitting on the lotus base in front. It was built during the Bayon period (twelfth century BC) with sandstone from an area now part of the Angkor Archaeological Park. This section of the Preah Vihear is known as Uposatha.

Surrounding the ordination Hall and the monastery is an artwork galley depicting various Khmer royal legends, ancient life in Angkor and life of the Buddha in the Khmer language. There is no written English translation. It will facilitate tourists' understanding and appreciation of the Khmer cultures if the monastery, local religious volunteers and Tourism Cambodia could invest in the appropriate translation resource. 

A corner shows sculptures of Cambodia's fauna.

The Haw Par Villa-like temple complex is always seeking donations from well-wishers so that it can further expand its premises. It takes about one hour thirty minutes to explore the entire grounds of Wat Preah Prohm Rath in details.

If one does not have the time to enter Angkor Wat, Cambodia's national symbol, located near Siem Reap, do make an effort to visit Wat Preah Prohm Rath, the oldest temple complex of Siem Reap city proper and Siem Reap's symbol and be fascinated with the panorama of Cambodia heritage. 

Admission to Wat Preah Prohm Rath is free.

Dining Tours in Siem Reap

Report by : Gan Yung Chyan

There has been a surge in the number of restaurants in Siem Reap. Sayacinta - Airpost profiles three restaurants recently in this second largest city of Cambodia.

High-class fussy Korean restaurant

Many international tourists from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Japan, Hong Kong, China and South Korea have frequented this North Korean restaurant set up by the Communist Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in Siem Reap at dinner time since the 1990s. Set options for dinner are however expensive. The lowest cost of dining here is 30 USD. Korean dishes are served.

Enjoy watching North Korean singing Arirang at Pyongyang Restaurant but the restaurant prohibits anyone snapping pictures of its interior and staff at short distances. The staff will incredibly instruct Cambodian police to arrest photographers.

Best time to visit Pyongyang Restaurant at around 5 pm Siem Reap time.

Jin Ja Roo serves healthy full-vegetarian dish japchae-bap

Have you eaten noodles on rice as a dish in a restaurant before? I thought no one would sell noodles on rice as a nice dish as it is a dish whopped up at my home only until I ate japchae-bap in Siem Reap on 1 February 2016.

Japchae-bap, which means 'rice with a mixture of vegetables' in Chinese and Korean, is served by Jin Ja Roo, a two-floor restaurant serving Korean-style Chinese food near Angkor Palace Resort & Spa. Ingredients of this japchae-bap version include white rice, cellophane noodles made from sweet potato starch, sesame oil, onion, carrots, shark's fin gourd, mushrooms, spinach complimented with kimchi sauce, yellow radish and soybean paste. Diners can request for less salt. Cost 6 USD only.

Japchae-bap is the only vegetarian option on Jin Ja Roo's menu. Other dishes are suitable for non-vegetarians with costs up to 15 USD.

The manager and staff of Jin Ja Roo are friendly towards customers. It is easy to initiate a conversation with them. The overall dining experience at this South Korean-run restaurant is great.

Experience Khmer hospitality at NearyKhmer Restaurant

For a more wonderful dining experience, travelers may consider to visit Nearykhmer Restaurant located in Salakanseng Village, Svay Dangkum Commune. The restaurant is 200 metres away from National Road No. 6 before the junction between the road and Phsar Nhe Road. For reservations, contact Mr Lot Lay at 012-335147. Email : reservation@nearykhmerrestaurant.com or visit www.nearykhmerrestaurant.com.

The staff are interested to speak with visitors and serve non-vegetarian options too. Vegetables only option costs 5 USD, while a bowl of steam rice regardless of the number of scoops costs 0.70 USD. Mineral water costs 1.30 USD. The artistic deco of the restaurant deserves praise. 

A pair of chopei hangs diagonally on the interior wall above the restaurant name. Also known as chapei dong veng, the dragon-shaped, three-stringed Cambodian musical instrument is now recognised in the UNESCO's Intangible Heritage of Humanity Programme. Existed since around 500 BC, the chopei is used to provide festive music for special events, cultural occasions and transmit ancient Khmer ancient folktales and poems to generations of Cambodians. Master Kong Nay, the world famous chapei guru, has seen its chopei.