Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE CHAM
Originating from the kingdom of Champa, which formerly extended from Hue to Phan Thiet
on the coast of present-day Vietnam, the
Cham
are the largest minority ethnic group in
Cambodia, numbering in the region of 250,000 (estimates vary) and accounting for about a
third of the country's non-Khmer population. They also represent Cambodia's largest
minority religion, being Sunni Muslims who converted from Hinduism some time after the
fourteenth century.
Historically, the Cham were frequently at war both with the Khmer, who bordered their
kingdom to the west and south, and the Vietnamese, who occupied the territory to the north.
In 1177, the Cham successfully raided Angkor, only to be defeated by the intervention of
Jayavarman VII in a ferocious battle on the Tonle Sap - an event depicted in the bas-reliefs at
the Bayon temple (see p.171). By the end of the seventeenth century, however, the gradual
whittling away of its territory by the Vietnamese meant that Champa had effectively ceased to
exist, and many Cham fled to Cambodia. The
traditional Cham
- who retain many of the old
beliefs and rituals, but acknowledge non-Islamic gods - make up about two-thirds of
Cambodia's Cham population. They settled around the Tonle Sap, along the central rivers, and
in what is now Kompong Cham province. The
orthodox Cham
, who are more similar to
Muslims in other Islamic countries, settled around Oudong, Kampot and Takeo. Establishing
their own villages, they took up fishing, breeding water buffalo, silver-working and weaving,
activities that the vast majority still practise today. Their villages can easily be identified by the
presence of a mosque and Islamic school, and by the absence of pigs.
The Cham have generally coexisted peacefully alongside the Khmer throughout their
history, despite speaking their own language (Cham) and maintaining separate traditions.
Only under the Khmer Rouge did they suffer significant persecution: easily picked out
thanks to their Islamic dress and distinctive features (they seldom marry outsiders), many
Cham were either massacred or persecuted - often by being forced to eat pork - and their
mosques destroyed.
4
season it can be reached via a remarkable
bamboo bridge
($1), rebuilt from scratch
every year as the river waters subside. Come the rains you'll need to take the small
ferry
($2), just big enough for a couple of motos and a few passengers.
The island itself is around 10km long, crisscrossed by tiny tracks and fringed with
sand bars during the dry season - Kompong Cham's nearest equivalent to a beach. The
primary crop here is tobacco - the tall, thin, mud-walled buildings are drying-houses
where the leaves are hung for several days before being packed into bamboo crates. The
island also has a number of
Cham villages
. The men work mainly as fishermen, while in
the dry season the women weave
hol
silk and cotton
kramas
, using looms set up under
the stilt houses.
Wat Nokor
2km west of Kompong Cham • $2; ticket also valid for Phnom Bpros Phnom Srei (see p.216) • Moto from Kompong Cham around $3 return,
tuk-tuk $5; if you're travelling independently, head out of Kompong Cham on NR7 until you reach the roundabout with four entwined
golden cobras - the temple is down the small road on the left
Located in the grounds of a modern temple on the edge of Kompong Cham, the
eleventh-century
Wat Nokor
(known locally as Nokor Bachey) is one of the few
significant surviving ancient temples in Cambodia's east, built towards the end of the
reign of the legendary Angkorian king
Jayavarman VII
(see p.286). The original shrine
is enclosed within a laterite wall (painted black during the Khmer Rouge occupation)
and decorated with finely executed and well-preserved carving of apsaras, elaborate
lintels and intricate panels covered in floral swirls.
The temple's main surprise is the central
sanctuary
, on top of whose eleventh-century
remains a multicoloured vihara was rudely superimposed in the 1990s, complete with
gaudy modern murals and fancy pillars. Notwithstanding the flagrant cultural
