Smiling Angkor Guide

Ratanakiri province is located on the northeast part of Cambodia. It borders with Mondulkiri province to the south, Steung Treng province to the west, Lao to the north, and Vietnam to the east. Ratanakiri means “Precious Gems Mountain” and its provincial town is Ban Lung.

At the west side of the lake there is a cultural and environmental center. At this side, we can get to know the culture of the people in the province especially the culture of tribal ethnics. You can also try tribal ethnics’ costume or swimming with safety jacket in the lake.

However, their two-week stays (most of them) may force them to leave Cambodia without visiting some other natural attractive places and Eco-tourism sites. Here, we would like to introduce you to a special Eco-tourism site in Mondulkiri province in the east of Cambodia.

Mondulkiri means a range (or a center) of mountains.  It borders to Ratanakiri and Steung Treng provinces at the north, Kratie province at the west, and Vietnam at the southeast. The city of Mondulkiri is Sen Monorom , which means ‘Very Delightful’. It bases on the peak of a hill. The main tourism sites here are: cultural shrine resorts, waterfalls, protected forest, wildlife sanctuaries, and tribal ethnic minority.

The cultural shrine resorts or Phnom Dos Kramom resort

Beside the long view from the peak of the mountain, Phnom Dos Kramom attracts the local tourists with its name. Its name means “the mountain of virgin girl’s breasts”. There are two shrines on the both peaks of this breast-like hill. We can get to one of the shrines by driving directly to the peak of the hill. But the other one on the opposite side it can only reached on foot.

Around the shrine yard, we should take a break in the shade of trees and look at the lush plants slope and spectacular green view. The fresh cool air blows slightly passing the trees and get to your body. On the sky, you will see cotton wool-like cloud flying just above your height.

Phnom Kraol Cultural Resort

Phnom Kroal means “Mountain of Animals Stable”. Nowadays, it is the main tourist attraction all sorts of tourists. It is located 111 kilometers from Sen Morom town.

It is surrounded by forest. It provides plenty of opportunities for picnicking and hiking. The main point of interest here is perhaps is the place for worship on the mountaintop where residents and tourists always visit and pray for happiness and prosperity.

Waterfalls

Every waterfall is uniquely attractive. In Mondulkiri there are plenty of waterfalls such as Bousra waterfall, Monorom, Romanea, Leng Khin, Or Chhveng, Chrey Thom, Chrey Yos, Leng Tao, and Or Teung Leung waterfall. The popular to most tourists are Buosra waterfall, Monorom, and Romnea waterfalls. They are popular for its natural freshness. The drops of waterfall are shiny clear like crystal flowing down the cliff. At sunshine you will see rainbow formed by flying drops of water.

Mondulkiri has also a pine plantation farm that is managed by the Cambodian government. The main points of interest here are extensive ranges of pine trees, dramatic mountainous forest, and fresh air. One should experience life in the forest.

Wildlife Sanctuaries

There are three wildlife sanctuaries in Mondulkiri: Lum Phat, Phnom Prich, and Phnom Nam Lear. In these wildlife sanctuaries there are diverse species of animals such as elephants, bantengs, gaurs, tigers, and wildlife buffaloes, as well as bears, bovids and other smaller carnivores and primates. There are around a hundred species here, including waterfowl. However, some of them are rarely seen. The areas, wildlife and species will be in great danger if poaching is continuing and the government does not take these problems in to account. The government should also review land concession in these areas if they want to conserve the reputation of this animal rich province. The sanctuaries should be the sanctuaries.

Tribal ethnic minority

According to eco-tourism center in Mondulkiri, the population of  Mondulkiri is 60,811 which include 14 ethnicities: Khmer 20% and ethnic minorities 80%. These ethnic groups are composed of Phnorng, Stieng, Kuoy, Tompuon, Charay, Kraol, Kroeng, Ra Ong, Thmon, Cham, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Lao. Khmer (Cambodian), Chinese, Vietnamese, Cham, and Lao live in or around the city. For ethnic minorities like Phnorng, Stieng, Kuoy, Tompuon, Charay, Kraol, Kroeng, Ra Ong, Thmon live a bit far from the city. They love living with nature in the forest. They have different life styles according to their subcultures. Although their traditional clothing has adapted to the normal way of most Cambodian, there is still some features that differ them from normal Cambodians lifestyle. Now they wear a distinctive outfit only for special occasions (wedding, religious celebration etc.).

It is recommended to go beyond the real lifestyles by experiencing the community home stay, to visit to traditional houses, wineries and to view tribal art and folk dance of those ethnicities. The stay in community home will give you a unique experience in the largest part of dry forest in South- East Asia. Elephant trekking is also really commended.

Cambodia is a country with high power distance culture: People accept the inequality of power, not only in workplace, but also in everyday life. It is where people accept orders almost without dispute, the culture where it is hard to say “NO”. 

Power Distance, according to Hofstede, describes the characteristics and attitudes  in workplace where people accept and expect that power is distribute to them unequally. Put it simply, people in lower position accept the inequality in everyday communication. This leads to high social status and prestige, wealth and power. High power distance is seen in many Arab countries, where democracy applications are limited.

Social Norm: In Khmer culture, young people have to respect the older. Young people have to lower down when walking near the older(even though it is disappearing). This attitude is to show respect. In addition, showing respect appears not only in terms of age. It also happens in everyday communication between people and public authority. Most of the people who work in governmental institutions regard themselves as those who has the highest social status and privilege. Because of this perception, it is a huge challenge when ordinary people go to get public services such as at hospital and other institutions. In public hospital, for example, doctors and resurgent regards patients as low as beggars.  They speaks to them with harsh languages. The situation is even worse when young people go to get public service, for example to get document signed.

Home and School: At home, parents are living gods to whom we have to show respects, not only for showing gratefulness, but also for other decision-making. This can be seen in arranged marriage. At school we regard teachers as second parents. So when talking about  parents, it means we have to show respect with less discussion or no question. However, high level of respect, either at school or at home, can affect the creativeness and braveness of children.

At work: At workplace, people under subordinate have to respect order from their superiors.  They expect to be told what to do by their superiors. However, this characteristic is limited at NGOs. This is because in NGOs environment, there are normally participation from international staff or consultants. So working environment seems to adapt to intentional standard which every voice should be heard.  Moreover, NGOs work to improve society, so only people whit open minded are suitable for this place.

Political: At political level, high power distance can affect decision-making process. In Cambodia centralization is practiced, even though decentralization has been introduced in recent years. So, there is less discussion on social issues  at national level. High power distance at political level can lead the country to oligarchy, only a few families govern the country and they are struggling for power. At this level, we can also see that there are a lot of titles in Cambodia ranging from Samdech, His Excellency,  Her Excellency and so on. This titles clearly distinguish the big gap of social status that lead high social hierarchy.

Conclusion: 

Cambodia has a good culture of respect. Young people respect the older, children respect parents, students respect teachers. However, children should be given the opportunity to resist and to show their creativeness. Public service and government officials should be more open-minded and treat people equally, they should lower themselves and their social status practically.

Author: Chheng Niem