Cambodia 2011 Peace Project Event (Part1 The Story)

PREVI HEAR JOURNAL 2011 ! The Peace Project
PREVI HEAR JOURNAL 2011 ! The Peace Project
gun metal curtain. It is a
grim plastic louver. Greasy.
The grubby window pane
looks onto a bland corridor.
Then comes the daily ritual
of black coffee served by
Sopet the girl waitress
who acts as a drunken
mistress to the soldiers
in the evening.Coffee for
breakfast and sex with the
clients in the evening. I can
hear coughs and footsteps
ion the corridor. The boys
are awaking. By 8.15 am we
are driving by motorcycle
in convoy to the carpenter’s
house that sits next to
Go-gos to pick up planks
of wood at a cost of ten
dollars to build the picture
stretcher.
On the way before we
mount the pick-up truck
Sre Pich I smiles a wide
watermelon smile and then
hands us the printed pay
slip which says, ticket for
the mountain. With white
shining teeth and jet- black
hair, her name in Khmer
means diamond and today
she is sparkling like one.
I look at her twice and
observe. She has a blue
T shirt which says Play
Boy in gold diamente. It
should be 24 carat! Her
hair is unbrushed ands
she blinks with bright
brown molasses eyes. I
think,
”She’s cute but its
always money, money,
money. And it all adds
up, trust me. The bookkeepers
will have a field
day with this project when
I get back home.”
She waves a wan flick
of her wrist and the next
moment I have turned
and I can see the boys
with their khaki hats
waiting ion the back of the
van. On the drive up on
the pick-up truck we pick
up (no pun intended) Sre
Pick I who is standing by
the side of the road in her
straw hat and then as she
climbs into the front cabin
the boys film Dominic and
Sophert the art assistant
in the rear of the truck
talking, with the wind in
the hair....while the red
dust is thrown up in our
faces. We can’t speak to
each other in the same
language, so its always a
case of sign language and
awkward embarrassed
smiles. The Cambodia
government is building
a large by-pass road for
both military and tourist
access up the mountain. It
weaves circuitously like a
snake. Now its red dust and
workmen in torn denim
shirts and sunny bandanas
that make the workers
appear as terrorists wave
as we take a big sinuous
corner as the road climbs
the mountain before it
hits jungle. I think the the
building of road was one of
the reasons why the war
started but I am not sure.
In the distance across
the plain the shadows give
way to the clear lines of a
mountain range with the
wind in my hair and Su
Pert riding shotgun as the
truck changes gears. The
range looms high above
all the other mountains
until only it is in our
vision.. As we reach the last
rise this Hindu-inspired
11th century temple,
perched atop a mountain
escarpment, hugs the
border between Cambodia
and Thailand. According
to Sanskrit inscriptions,
the temple was once called
Sri Sikharisvara, meaning
“Glorious Lord of the
Mountain”, a dedication to
the Hindu god Shiva. As we
travel higher we see behind
us small artillery, broken
and onion colored sandbags
and grey tank turrets and
artillery shapes which
have been mobilized only a
couple of kilometers away.
A Thai flag flutters silently
in the middle-distance. It
is quiet. Deathly still. Only
cicadas and a rustle from
some leaves.
At the base of the summit,
we carry the wooden slats
and the Canon 5D Mark II
camera gear in knapsacks,
with soldiers helping us up
the mountain.
By 10-26 am we have
begun our climb up. Halfway
we pass a disheveled
soldier without military
insignia but just dirty green
khaki carrying a PKM
machine gun. The oil on the
gun metal barrel sparkles.
We are still distributing
cartouches of Cambodian
cigarettes. By the last
twenty meters it is just one
single cigarette at a time to
rather than a packet. At last,
exhausted and carrying
umbrellas, picnic hampers
and camera equipment
the ten of us reach the
temple site. I look around.
The temple complex runs
800 m (2,600 ft) along a
north-south axis facing the
plains to the north, from
which it is now cut off by
the international border.
It consists essentially of a
causeway and steps rising
up the hill towards the
sanctuary, which sits on the
cliff top at the southern end
of the complex (120 m or
390 ft above the northern
end of the complex, 525
m or 1,722 ft above the
Cambodian plain and
625 m or 2,051 ft above
sea level). Although
this structure is very
different from the
temple mountains
found at Angkor,
it serves the same
purpose as a stylized
representation of
Mount Meru, the
home of the gods.
The approach to the
sanctuary is punctuated
by five gopuras (these
are conventionally
numbered from the
sanctuary outwards, so
gopura five is the first to
be reached by visitors).
Each of the gopuras
before the courtyards
is reached by a set of
steps, and so marks a
change in height which
increases their impact.
The gopuras also block a
visitor’s view of the next