The Royal Palace Chatomuk Mongkul

The Royal Palace at Phnom Penh was the last place I visited in Cambodia on April’s vacation. It was the 18th April 2008. We visited the Royal Palace which in local language is called Preah Borom Reach Veang. The name of the palace is Chatomuk Mongkul, because it is located adjacent to the intersection of four-faced rivers “Chatomuk” including the Upper Mékong, the Lower Mékong, the Tonlé Bassak and the Tonlé Sap. Entrance fee was 25,000 Riel (local currency) or US$6.5 per person. To enter the palace, visitors must wear proper outfits.

Visitors in short pants, short skirts, tank top or the like are not allowed to enter the palace, and strictly no hat neither cap on head inside any of the pavilion within the palace complex

This palace was erected firstly in the reign of King Ponhea Yat in the year 1434, and secondly it was erected in the reign of King Norodom in 1866. This palace is the principal residence of their Majesties the King and the Queen and the royal family; it is like a small town of royal dynasties. This palace compound is 435 meters long by 421 meters wide and a high wall. The Royal Palace includes magnificent temples built in the traditional style. The whole complex wall is decorated with what is called “Seima”-shapes. Most of the buildings include magnificent sculptures are characterized by many tiered roofs and topped by towers which are symbol of prosperity. The Royal Palace is regarded as symbol of the whole nation and all the pavilions are adorned and painted yellow and white. The yellow represents Buddhism and the white represents Brahmanism . The stairway is guarded with Naga figures having many heads, and all pillars are decorated with Kinnoris and Garudas supporting the ceilings.

French pavillion

The picture was taken from the balcony of the throne hall

The Royal Palace consists of seven pavilions with different function. The Throne Hall is used for various purposes including the royal coronation ceremony ; audiences granted by His Majesty and the King on national and religious day, and the presentation of credentials by foreign envoys and formal receptions to distinguished guests both national and international. In the middle of the hall there is a throne symbolizing Phnom Penh as a hill in the center of continents where divinities live – fitting the hall. About half of the hall floors are made of pure silver. No wonder why visitors are banned to enter certain areas in the hall. Taking a photograph of scene inside any pavilion is strongly prohibited , otherwise our camera would be grasped by the hall guard.
Ho Samran Phrum, is another pavilion which is used to keep the royal musical instruments and utensils for the use in the royal coronary procession. The first floor was the waiting room in which their Majesty could take a rest before mounting the elephant that had awaited them in front of this pavilion. Now this pavilion is used as His Majesty King Sihanouk’s museum.

The throne hall

Erna - in front of the throne temple

Another pavilion which amazed me was the Emerald pagoda. A lot of artistic objects are exhibited there. Some of them are Emerald Buddha which is made of emerald. The Buddha sits on a gold throne and wears a gold sash set with diamonds across his both shoulders. The Standing Buddha which was called “Preah Chin Reangsei Reachika Norodom” in the reign of King Sisowath in 1904, is the statue including the pedestal and parasol made of 90kg of gold, and adorned with 2,086 diamonds, rubies and emeralds. There was also marble Buddha stands in a gesture of walking across a river. There were many more Buddha’s statues which were set with diamonds; some were made of gold and some were made of bronze. There were many more magnificent artistic objects on exhibition made of gold, silver, copper, copper alloy, marble, glass and ivory.

Elly with Ben and Naya

The pictures decorated a whole corridor walls of the complex

Walking towards the exit door, we stopped by a room which walls were occupied by many pictures and photographs of Khmer’s traditional costumes , cultural ceremony and other historical pictures of Khmer. Adjacent to this was a museum where we could see the miniature of imagery of the royal coronation procession of his majesty Norodom Sihamoni, the new King of the Kingdom of Cambodia. Before leaving the Royal Palace we wrote briefly about our impression over the royal palace in the guest book. Last but not least, I found people of Cambodia and Vietnamese are very kind and friendly. I hope one day I will revisit Phnom Penh and HCMC.

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One day tour in Ho Chi Minh City

It was the morning of 15th April. Tour de Vietnam. We left the house at 8. The trip to Mekhong river bridge took about an hour. We had to cross the Mekong river by ferry.The gate to the ferry was still closed. The ferry hadn’t arrived yet. Fortunately we didn’t have to wait for too long because it came 20 minutes afterwards. On the deck of the ferry, a few women were selling either green grass jelly, fried crickets, or stewed lotus seeds. Fried crickets are placed on the wide plate made from bamboo skin.

Stewed lotus seeds. It tasted like stewed peanuts

About an hour and a half later, we reached the borders of Vietnam. We stopped at the nearest restaurant to have lunch first. While we were eating, the driver and staff of the travel agent helped fill in the forms needed to exit Cambodia and enter Vietnam. To enter Vietnam, nothing was charged on us, Vietnam and Indonesia are both members of ASEAN. On the other hand, though Cambodia is also member of ASEAN, we had to pay Visa on Arrival to enter it. This is because one of the main incomes of Cambodia comes from tourism.


Since the first time we entered Vietnam until approaching Ho Chi Minh City which was known as Saigon, the streets environment were neat and clean. Unlike in Cambodia, where all letter written in Sanskrit inscriptions, in Vietnam all is written in Latin inscriptions with diacritic marks over some vowels .

A monument in the city hall of HCMC

There were a lot of parks in the city and the pedestrians were quite large. It reminded me of Singapore’s Orchard Road.

We stayed at Thanh Long T@n Hotel. 19-21-23 Truong Dnh St. It was strategically located near the shopping center Bien Tanh, touristic spots and food market. After taking a rest for a while in the hotel, we went down to eat.We ate at Pong restaurant, where Bill Clinton had had his lunch a few years ago on his visit to HCMC. In the afternoon, we bought souvenirs at Bien Tanh. Here you can shop using USD. Local currency is called Dong. 1 USD = 16000 Dong.

On the next day, 16 April 2008, everyone got on the city tour. It costed $10 per person. Our first destination was the War Remnant museum, where there is a historical collection from the Vietnam war. On a half way to the museum we stopped by to take picture at the city hall. The city hall was surrounded by St. Mary Catholic church, the oldest church in HCMC, the Central Post Office and the Jamiul Muslimin mosque. At the main office we saw the collection of telecommunication devices from the first world war era. Here we could buy souvenirs which is much cheaper than the price on souvenir shops we visited last night. This had caused everyone madly spent more time to choose and buy some more souvenirs until being screamed by the tour guide to get back on the bus.

St. Mary Catedral

The central post office

Jamiul Muslimin mosque

It took about 20 minutes from the city hall to reach the War Remnant Museum.

Naya and Ben (my nephews)

In the main room of the museum there are collection of pictures of war victims and disabled persons as an impact of dioxin war spreaded by Agent Orange on the Vietnam War. Besides pictures, there are also collection of rifles, revolvers, mortars and handguns used during Vietnam War.

At the right side of the museum were prisons. They were dark rooms no more than 1 x 1.5 m2 with steel doors and a small divan made of cement.

Marida (my youngest sister) in front of the prison

One of the rooms that made me shiver was where the guillotine was kept. The guillotine was used to cut the heads of the prisoners. I’d always imagined the sharp side of the guillotine was horizontal. In fact, it was diagonal, 45 degrees. Under the place where the head to be cut is placed, was a container. My mood was mixed up with anger, fear and sadness imagining what the container was put for.

The guillotine

Most of the war victims who suffer from disability work in craft houses making crafts / unique souvenirs of Vietnam out of egg shell and sea shell.

War victims (mostly disabled) are making carved crafts

Some of the craft works

Afterwards, we headed for the palace of the President of Vietnam. The building is quite old, but has a contemporary style. Entrance fee is USD6 per person. Children under 5 are free of charge.

The President's palace

One of the palace's guest rooms

Last the tour guide took us to the basement. There were a lot of old communication devices there. Some of the rooms were divided by long and narrow corridors. It was said that they were used for hiding from enemies.

Then we went to visit the oldest pagoda in the HCMC.

The main entrance gate of the pagoda

L-R : Erna, Naya, Marida, Elly

The last place we visited was the central market. At the first level of the market most vendor sells Vietnamese traditional woven and imitation branded goods such as leather bags, belts and purses. I did not go to the second level to see what people was selling there but I guessed they were selling the same kind of goods.

Erna and Pricilla in front of the main door of the central market

The central market

In the evening we went to Saigon Square, a shopping center in HCMC. It was only 2 km away from the hotel where we stayed. But because we weren’t aware of it, we took a taxi there and had to pay 25000 Dong.

We went back to Phnom Penh on the 17th April 2008.

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A Visit to Choeung Ek Genocidal Center

The Choeung Ek Genocidal Center which is also known as The Killing Field historical museum was the place we visited in the 14 April 2008. It took about 6 hours drive from Siem Reap to get there.

During in Siem Reap we stayed at Auberge Mont Royal d’Angkor at 497 Taphul, Siem Reap, Cambodia, adjacent to a famous Jasmine d’Angkor Restaurant. Here any kind of food is available, variously from local traditional food, Asian food and Western food. All we can eat for US$9 per person, children under 6 is free of charge. At 8 pm the dancers performed Cambodian traditional dance, which I thought is quite similar to Thailand traditional dance.

In the morning, we left the hotel. Knowing Cambodia as one of the countries in South Asian where people eat rice, I’d expected rice to be served at the hotel for breakfast. To my surprise, the menu for breakfast was French bread. We had the choice of omelet, jam or honey to be served with it. There was no rice, no noodle, even cereal was nowhere to be seen. Another thing I’d come to notice was that in Cambodia, people drive on the right side, opposite of Indonesia where people drive on the left side of the road. Besides the local language, people here (especially the aged ones) speak French.

After breakfast, we continued our journey. This time we headed for Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, where our cousin lived. The trip was quite long, it took 6 hours drive from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh. There was nothing special along the way. It felt almost as if we were on a trip from Medan to Tebing Tinggi. In the middle of the way to Phnom Pen we stopped over to take a picture if front of monument Indonesian-Cambodian Friendship.

Indonesian-Cambodian Friendship monument

Since it was time for lunch and the trip was for another hour before reaching Phnom Penh, we decided to stop for lunch. This time we had lunch at Rumchong restaurant. There were various choices of seafood, steam boat, fried chicken, etc. We chose a seat in the backyard, overlooking the Mekhong river. The restaurant was crowded. Besides the main course, we ordered Cambodian pizza which is totally different from Italian pizza. Cambodian pizza is a piece of round thin crepe, filled with salad and minced meat.

L-R : Priscilla, Laura & Katrin, Risma, Erna, Marida & Naya, Esther, Winda, k’Line, the driver, b’Gindo

The moment we entered Phnom Penh, there weren’t many people, because it was still Khmer holiday. The atmosphere along the way to the apartment is not as different as that in Medan.
Afterwards we went to The Killing Field historical museum, Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. More than twenty years ago I watched the “The Killing Field” movie at one of the cinemas in Bandung. And now I had the chance to see directly the effects of the Pol Pot regime violence.

The place of the victims of Pol Pot’s violence’s skulls

( standing in front of the building is Laura - my niece)

Unfortunately the building was a modern building, it did not support the tragic atmosphere. However to see that many skulls interacting my humanity. I hope such human tragedy will never happen again.

Marida in front of the place where 450 people were executed.

Pol Pot’s killing methods were believed to be more violent than Hitler’s. Pol Pot’s regime liked to do psychic torture to their victims before executing them by scaring them. At the rightside of the front yard, there is an open corridor where we could see many documented pictures of the former leaders of Cambodia killed by Pol Pot's regime. There are 7 other separate locations around the park which were used to execute groups of people in different ways.

The photos during disinterment at Choeung Ek at the end of 1980

From the Genocidal museum, we stopped by at the souvenir shops. I bought the book When Broken Glass Float and the DVD of The Killing Field so the kids too can watch this tragedy of humanity that happened in Cambodia.

L-R : Tuk-tuk driver, Erna, Marida, Esther, Elly

Heading for my cousin's place. Took a short rest. At first, we wanted to go to the saloon to massage our feet which have gone sore. But there were no saloon open that day, due to Khmer New Year’s day. So we went to Phsar Russie, the central market in Phnom Penh. Here we found the original features of Cambodian art (wood, sandstone, marble, silver and bronze statues), pottery, carved wood, silver work, Cambodian hand-woven silk etc. Finally we took a city tour by tuk-tuk, a cart pulled by motorcycle.

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Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is one of the ten wonders of the world. This is the largest palace complex within the area of Angkor Archaeological Parks, surrounded by moats. It expressed climax of a great empire and it was only be able to be built because of vast resources of money and manpower. The monarch of that empire when it was built was Suryavarman II.

The entrance gateway

This is the last plcae I visited in Siem Reap on the 13 April 2008. The weather was cloudy, and when we arrived there, it rained. Thus, some of us decided not to continue the tour and stayed at the car, while the rest went to the main gate to take shelter from the rain.

The scene at the righthand side of the frontyard

People praying at one of the palace entrance.

After waiting for a moment, the rain stopped, and we carry on get into the palace area. As we started from the main gate, we still have to walk some hundreds meters in order to reach the main building. The mildewed walls describe that these temples were built hundred years ago. I was so amazed to see how great this building. The monuments are tremendous. I can’t imaginehow the people of centuries ago with their technology was able to built such a strong building, and how those craftsmen and builders transported and lifted up such big stones while climbing up the hill.

Wide causeways

We could enter the complex through either the west or the east entrance to get to the entry tower. After walking through the widecauseways, we climbed the steps to reach the second level.

The towering temples

To get the third level where the central courtyard within we need to climb the steps oriented towards either of the four central points. We could not reach the highest monument or so-called gopura, the main building where Suryavarman II used to stay and governed the nation from, because the steps were being restored and were closed to public. Even if we are allowed to climb the steps, it seems we were not brave enough to climb up this last steps as a climax. The stone steps are tarnished by the age, sharply sloping and the foot path is so blunt and narrow. Moreover, the rain makes them slippery.

The stairs to reach one of the 5 towering temples

Relief describing the battle of Kurusetra

To get out of the complex we passed through the west exit way . The walls along the corridor are crafted with the relief represent a concluding episode of Mahabharata, a renowned Indian epic tale.

Miniatur of Angkor Wat at the Royal Palace - Phnom Penh

The whole complex of Angkor Wat is very large but lack of direction signs and explanation at each crossways as well as at each crosscorridors. It takes a full day if we want to visit each part of the complex. When we were there, unfortunately some of the passageways were closed to public due to restoration works. We had just visited about half of the complex area, limited by that restoration works being hold and of course by rain. However, the main part we have visited was sufficient to represent the whole complex.

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Kung Fu Panda

I actually was busy with a bunch of tasks on writing articles when my son and daughters asked me to accompany them watching movie Kung Fu Panda. I was on the middle of writing when all ideas to write has just been flowing smoothly into the order of sentences that it felt like hard to interrupt. I prefer to complete all the stuff before going for Kung Fu Panda movie because I didn’t want my mind to be hassled by uncompleted work while I was supposed to enjoy the movie.
However, it has been two weeks since my daughters arrived in Medan to spend their holidays, and I haven’t had enough time to spend on outings with them. They will be going back to Bandung in three weeks. So I decided to leave that uncompleted writings for a while.

The movie title doesn’t sound interesting to me, and I imagined this movie as cartoon movie about Panda with its common Kung Fu story, something to do with a warrior and the like. I did not expect too much other than amazing Dreamworks animation movie, bright colors and off course a few laughs and smile. I was thinking about watching the audio technology, scene art and animation techniques developed in this Dreamworks animation movie rather than paying attention to the story; while my daughter was in the line to buy tickets when it was announced that the tickets were all sold out, so we have to buy for the next scheduled show tickets and have to wait for another 2 hours. The theaters were full.

The story is about a big and fat panda called Po, whose father is a noodle maker who wants Po to take over his business one day. In another place the Valley of Peace, the tortoise warrior called master Oogway has a feeling that a former student of his own protégé Shi Fu, who is an evil leopard Tai Lung will escape from prison and return to attack the Valley of Peace. Oogway needs to choose the mighty Dragon Warrior who can defeat Tai Lung. Everyone in the Valley assumes that the Dragon Warrior chosen will be one of the Furious Five : Tigress, Monkey, Mantis, Viper, or Crane, a skilled martial artists trained by Shi Fu. No one expected that the Dragon Warrior chosen is Po, a fat panda with no Kung Fu skills at all. The way how Po was chosen is interesting; and this is when the main part of the story begins.

The tale of how Po was eventually chosen as a Dragon Warrior, humiliated by the Furious Five, trained by Shi Fu until finally defeated Tai Lung is full of fights and lessons. A lot of moral message is put in during the process of humiliate Po to become an honored Po. The film also had an authentic Chinese and Kung Fu feel, enriched with parody and comedy and, adorned with wise words from traditional Chinese philosophy. At last I did not pay too much attention on the audio, scene art and animation techniques, but more on the tale and the wise words appear in an appropriate moment of the course to becoming a factual warrior. I was impressed with the nice quotes in the story which are presented in a pleasant way, so memorable and also inspires lessons in life. The meaning behind the story is so great. A good message for kids in believing oneself; and a reminder that even one might not be the best among one’s peer, as long as he or she wants to learn, he or she can achieve to be the best. My favorite quote in that movie is “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mistery, today is a gift. That is why it is called the present”.

Very nice story, great animation techniques and scenery. I really enjoyed the movie after all.

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Bear in Mind on My Daddy's Birthday

“Daddy, you know how much I love you ……….. “
That song of Ricardo, besides a song entitled “Ayah” by Koes Bersaudara, and the song of the same title “Ayah” by Ebiet GAD have always been turned on whenever I think about my dad, especially today on my dad’s birthday. These songs always remind me of my childhood when my dad took an important role in making me self reliant. All those moments flashed back in my mind, the way my dad had always taken care each of his child.

When I was about 4 years old, daddy took me to Kinder Garten at Jl. Kartini – Bandung. He took and picked me up everyday by himself. The next year he wanted to send me to private school SD Paulus I/II Jl. Dr. Rajiman following my brother who had already studied there for a year. I was not accepted by the school because I was too young to attend the Primary School. So my dad sent me to public school at SDN Pasirkaliki. After I successfully passed my first year, I was accepted to attend the second year at SD Paulus I/II which daddy viewed as the best private primary school in Bandung at that time.

Every morning after breakfast, daddy gave each of us vitamin C, vitamin B Complex and Calcium tablets, while every night after dinner each child was given a soft gel of cod fish liver oil. Sometimes on Saturday night, my parents would take us outing for dinner at noodle restaurant at Jl. Kejaksaan. On Sunday morning before going to Sunday school, daddy used to train us riding bicycle around Jl. Ganesha. He wants his children to love reading, so we subscribed a popular children magazine at that time : Si Kuncung. He took us to either Panti Budaya or Panti Karya theatre to watch a series of movie entitled Heintje. Even once when we were going to the theatre and my dad’s old car was down, we did not postpone going to the theatre but kept going to the theatre by becak. Daddy also used to take us to Bandung Fair at the town hall, to watch circus show at Gelora – Jl. Banda, and to go swimming at Karang Setra.

Finished from Primary School, daddy applied me and my brother to SMP Taruna Dharma (Yayasan Taruna Bakti) – Jl. Riau. That was the first time for me to follow admission tests. After completing Junior High School, I went to SMA Negeri III – Jl. Belitung Bandung. Our house is located in Jl. Lombok, which is not far from the school, so we could get to school by foot. We all attended the schools at Jl. Belitung, five of us went to SMA Negeri III, one of my younger sister went to SMA Negeri V, and my older brother went to SMA Negeri IX. All is located in the same building at Jl. Belitung that we spent nothing for transportation to get to school.

My daddy used to be very strict and self discipline. Early in the every morning he always drink a glass of plain water followed by praying and then doing light exercise. Although we had a house helper, each child had a turn to do part of the house works such as washing dishes, watering plants, washing the car, sweeping the house floor, cleaning the front yard etc. Daddy typed the time table of each job and the name of child who has a turn, on a piece of paper and attached it on the wall.

Daddy himself also trained each of us to ride motorcycle and to drive car when he thought we are mature enough to be trained for. Early in the morning he would wake us up and trained us driving car and riding motorcycle surround Jl. Bangka, Jl. Menado, Jl. Aceh and Jl. Belitung. I remember how at the first time I was not brave enough to drive his big old sedan Opel Capitan as well as to ride his big old motorcycle Vespa, but daddy was brave enough in encouraging me to drive a car when there is traffic jam. He even trusted my brother at his 18 years old to drive a car to Jogyakarta when we all went there on vacation.

Although to me he sometimes overprotected us, but in general he is successful in raising up each his child to become self reliant. Sometimes I ask myself whether in return I have done enough to make him content in his elderly. Now, although his sons and daughters live spread apart in Jakarta, Cilacap, Medan, Kuala Lumpur, Tuban and Surabaya, daddy is always be the first person who rings up to greet happy birthday on each one’s birthday, very early in the morning. He sends us email and sometimes chatting through internet. In every opportunity he reminds us to always be humble and be grateful.

My daddy now is not as strong as he used to be, but he is still eager to do his daily activities as usual. This morning I heard him cheerfully answered our birthday greeting on the phone, unlike his weaker voice I'd used to hear when he talked on the phone lately. I am so glad to hear him talked cheerfully, and I kept turning on the song “I love you daddy” along the day.

“ Daddy.......
sometimes I might do wrong
but I never stop trying
to be your number one
…………………………………….
I love you daddy,
You are my hero...............
..............................................
You are my superstar……….”

Happy 81st Birthday, my dear daddy. I wish you all the best.

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Live in Harmony - Let's Learn from Nature

Today the word violence reminds images of mugging, random shooting and terror on city streets and country lanes; abuse of women, men and children; senseless brutality depicted in movies, TV shows and video games. Many people - due to race, belief, language, economic class, gender, or sexual orientation - have not received the protection and justice necessary for human well-being. Disintegrating social structures and values have occasioned turbulence that affects people of every class, color and locality.
Over the years, scientists and researchers have been striving to find the connection between triggers of violence and societal violence. The argument between researchers, who say that human behaviour is acquired from our social environment is not about the facts of how humans do behave. Aggressive behaviour, greediness and anarchism are features of life today. The question is not whether they exist or not but what causes them.

In developing country, particularly a country with many citizens lacking of education and knowledge, violence appear very often as a solution to their problem. Violence is frequently used in expressing their unsatisfactory feelings over problems they might have. Not only poverty and economic burden, but diversity, has been one of the triggers that could make people attack others of different believe, color or gender. Anarchism, violence and rumors of violence continue to spread - feared yet also expected in daily life. With all the chaos in our societies, have we never took a step back and wonder why we, humans, have the tendency to attack each other and make others suffer? Isn’t it an irony how the creatures in nature are able to maintain balance and harmony while we humans – civilized creatures –, seem to always have difficulty living in harmony?

In the face of this, what are we as educated people called to be and do? What resources of our knowledge can we bring to bear on this apparently intractable predicament? What shall we do as we seek together to build understanding in our communities? There are many that we can do. One of them is to aware people about diversity as one of nature’s facts that God creates. We can start with our family, neighborhood and our communities at any opportunity of sharing or discussion.

There are many that we can learn from nature characteristics and behavior. Some of them are the facts that : Everything in the community is connected, all things work together ; All the parts work together to make a balanced system. If one part is removed, then the system will lose its balance ; A healthy system has lots of species diversity. The more the merrier. By maintaining diversity, we help keep our community a healthy relationship, live in harmony ; The world has lots of different living organisms that interact with each other. Each person has a position or activity that particularly suits somebody's talents and personality or that somebody can make his or her -own. Each of us have the role we play in the community ; Environments support a diversity of living organisms that all share limited resources.

Let’s view diversity as positive values. Each of us work together to make a balanced community!

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