CAMBODIA

Hi, I want to speak about a strange, exotic and remote country

namedCambodiaorKingdomofCambodia.
GEOGRAPHY
SituatedinthereginformerlyknownasIndochinaintheSoutheast
of Asia, the Kingdom of Cambodia is located at the south of China
and near India. Both cultures, Indian and Chinese having the most
influenceinthedevelopmentandhistoryofthiscountry.Cambodia
isadjoinedThailand,Laos,andVietnamandhavealongcoastinthe
GulfofThailand.MostsouthisneartoMalaysiaandSingapur.The
countryiscrossedbytheMekongRiverthat'ssharedwithVietnam.
POPULATION
The Kingdom of Cambodia, current name of the country has a
population of 15 million people, composed with 93% of regional
people,4%ofethnicsand3%offoreigners.Theofficiallanguageis
theCambodianorJemerbutsomepeoplespeakEnglishprincipally
teenagers. The capital and one of the most important cities in the
countryisPhnomPenorNomPenascalledbylocals.
CLIMATE
The climate is principally tropical near the equatorial line and
providedoftypicalsystemofrainsknownasmonsoonwhentherain
don't stop by many days and nights. Vegetation is tropical with a
great variety of large trees, rainforest and wild species as tigers,
elephants, tapirs, monkeys, crocodiles, serpents and many more.
Most of the country is plane, caused by monsoon many places are
floodzones,thereforemostofthehabitantsliveinstilthousesset
highwithtreetrunks.
GOVERNMENT
Government is a Constitutional Monarchy presided by a King who
appoints a Prime Minister who is the real governor. The official
currencyistheRielbutisfrequentlytheuseoftheAmericandollar.
CambodiaachieveditsIndependencein1953afteralonghistoryof
interventions Chinese, Indian and French and a fusin of cultures
thatgaverisetothenameofFrenchIndochina.
RELIGION
TheinfluenceofChinaandIndiaitisveryimportantbythecountry.
Some time the religin was hinduist or brahamanist and was
alternatedwiththebudismthecurrentreligin.Itisverynotorious
in the architecture that is now the major scientific and tourist
attraction.
ARCHITECTURE
Cambodiahasareginwithoneofthemostextraordinarygroupof
templesintheworld;thefamousAngkorWat,whichisanhouroffly
fromPhonmPhen.
Angkor Wat its a place where could fit the ancient city of Rome
completely,saidanhistorian.With acomplexnetworkofchannels
and lakes, totally rounded by a Wall, the city and the temple were
dedicatedtotallytoreligin.
The temples has platforms, columns, towers, esplanades, stairs,
combined with sculptures of Hindu dancers, serpents, warriors,
battle scenes, trees, roots and flowers mixed with Buda heads,
sculpturesandgodsrepresentations,allinaperimeterof5km.The
city have and artificial exterior lake that's a beautiful hydraulic
engineeringwork,whohaveanextensinof8kmoflengthand2km
ofwidetocollectwterforagricultureandconsumption.
TheexotictempleAngkorWatwasbuiltinXIIcentury,originallywas
dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu and then changed to Buddha,
influencedbyChina.
ECONOMY
Tourismisthemaineconomicactivityofthecountryfollowedbytax
collection. The agriculture is based on rice plantations for local
consumptionandexportation.
CURRENTSITUATION
CambodiaisapoorcountrycomparedtoitsneighborsChina,India,
Singapore,MalaysiaandVietnam.Theirsituationit'smorelikethat
itsnorthernneighbor,BurmaorBirmania.
One of its principal resources, the temples, were looted in many
epochs. The decapitation of Buddha sculptures is continuous, the
theft of the ruins and archeological treasures has produced many
damages.Somecitiesand ruinsweredestroyedalmostcompletely
in some vandalic invasions. However the greatest disasters have
been caused by local climate, vegetation and mostly, mostly by
neglect.
Still,theKingdomofCambodianeverlosttheirgreatestvalues,their
spirituality, its cosmic vision of life and their fantastic religious
experienceintheworld.ThisisthemostvaluablethingCambodia
hasuntiltoday.
ANECDOTE
Theknownwriterandphilosopher,AndreMalraux,Frenchminister
ofculturewithCharlesdeGaulle,in1923,thefttwostonesculptures
ofseminudedancersandwasarrestedinPhonmPenandforcedto
returnthem.Fortunatelyforhimwithoutpunishment.
THANKYOUFORYOURPATIENTANDATTENTION.