Banan Hill (Phnom Banan)

           
 It’s a good idea for a trip in January when the weather is getting cold and fresh during the dry season in Cambodia. For me, if I can to choose which place I wanna visit, I’ll choose my favorite historic and natural place, Banan hill or Banan temple.

One of the many attractive places in Battambong province of Cambodia, Banan temple is far from the provincial town about 15 kilometers. The temple is located on the top of the hill which height about 100 meters.

 I love that Banan hill has about 358 stone steps that surly make everyone sweats and have fun to climb up.

 I remember when I got on the top of the hill I could see the first tower of the temple standing right in front of me and I felt like succeed because I was finally on the top.

 Banan temple has five towers just similar to layout of Angkor Wat temple but each tower standing single without any connection to one another.

 Inside of each tower is like the dark cave so if you wanna go there be ready to find the light to see what's inside. Sometime there have some bats. Talking about the history of this temple, It was started to build at the mid of 11 century left unfinished until the beginning of 13 century, finished  by the king Jayavarman VII. 

Banan hill has beautiful the nature surrounded around the temple. We can look down to the ground from the top of hill just behind the temple to see the rice field sprawling just like the green sky upside down because it's often so green.

 Even though it was afternoon with the high heat of sunlight it’s still okay for people on the top of the hill because there are so many trees around there with the fresh air and the silent of joy.

 People can watch the sun set and taking photo then get down from the hill and counting the stone steps before the sky getting dark.

 I can say that I’m really into that place since I was there for the first time. I love the natural around there, the architecture of the temple and the view around it.  I really impress Banan, not because of the building of the temple but I impress those ancient people who carried all every single heavy stones to the top of the high hill and built a temple that can standing there for hundreds of years. 

                            It’s the place that always on my willing to go.

source: +google's picture
        +my own experience there :) 
vandara

a country side

                                                                                                               

IT was a sunny day of April 2013. :) 

Komphong Cham province, Cambodia.

               All corns had been collected so what that we can see in this photo is just the tree of it...

                                   
                                         It is another kind of plant that I didn't recognize it's name...

                                          RED ants' way .. (it was dangerous to walk around there ...) :)

                                                            everything was so green!!!

                                                                           (smoke)

                                                                                                              picture by Vandara

The challenge I’ve faced

Nowadays I’m studying in grade 12 of Bak Touk High School. Through these many years in school, I have faced many challenges such as examinations and talent competitions. Of all these challenges, there’s one that was always a biggest challenge I have ever faced. It was the exam of grade 9 because the rush time and the level of that exam was higher than my knowledge.    

I remember it was the years of 2010-2011. I was just the student in the grade 8 but I needed to have a certificate of grade 9 in order to skip a class and go to the grade 10 next year after that. So I had to take the exam of grade 9 in the same year while I was just studying grade 8. It was hard time for me because I needed to try harder and harder for all the lessons in those two grades in the same time and having exam in the same year. I decided to take the grade 9’s examination when there was only two weeks left. So the time wasn’t quite enough for me to prepare and get ready with ten subjects in two weeks for that examination.

I could handle every subject in grade 8 easily but self-study with those subjects in grade 9 wasn’t easy at all. The problem were all about Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry because I needed to understand, remember and practice every single point but there were many points that I had never learnt and seen before. Anyway for the History, Geography, and other social subjects, I just spent time to read, remember and understand, so it wasn’t bad for me. I can say there were some points that I didn’t understand which appeared on the exam. When I was taking that exam I did wish and pray for it, not about the high score but just to pass it.

Finally I did that job and succeeded. I passed that exam but the score result was not good at all. So after that I got the certificate and went to 10^th grade the next year. Until now I still remember every moment of the days of that exam and the moment when I had tried for it. One more thing is I usually don’t want to answer the questions which ask me about my score of that exam. This is how I have today.

                                                                                                             by vandara sin

 

The national flower of Cambodia.

In Cambodia, we have so many kinds of flowers that very common in many places like Rumdul flower is the example. Rumdul flower or its scientific name, the Mitrella mesnyi is the flower of the Rumdul tree that has height between 8-12 meters and a stem diameter of 20-30 centimeters. The flower has yellowish-white color with a single alternate leaf. In 2005 this flower was proclaimed as the national flower of Cambodia by king Sihamoni because of its very attractive distinctive fragrance, edible fruit and can be produced some kinds of materials.

The Rumdul flower is small yellowish-white which is well known for its fragrance that can be smelled from a long distance, especially in the late afternoon and in the evening during and after sunset. Due to fragrance of Rumdul flower, Cambodia people like to grow it to decorate their houses or public parks. Anyway Khmer people like to compare the women to the Rumdul flower, therefore, some women is named Rumdul and it is one of the popular names for ladies. Moreover Rumdul has become a part of Khmer literature. It has been written in the poems, novels, and songs in order to compare Rumdul flower to the ladies.

It’s not just the flower of Rumdul but its fruit is also the edible one. The fruits are cluster  dark-red color like the grape when it ripens. Some people collect its fruits to sell to make a living. Cambodian people use Rumdul as material to produce some kinds of the productions. In fact, in the ancient time, people liked to use the Rumdul flower to produce lips waxes for women. Until today they use it as material for the better quality perfume too. The stem of Rumdul is another kind supplement construction materials and firewood. So according to this information, we can say that a part of Cambodian people are making their living with the Rumdul tree and flower.

For today Rumdul usually has been seen in country sides and in the forests. Its fruit’s become rare fruit for Phnom Pen city. It might be either considered as rare or wild fruit for some people; however Rumdul is still a well known plant and famous flower of all Cambodian people. In addition, I think that due to the usages and popularity of Rumdul in Cambodia, that’s a reasonable for choosing it as a national symbol or national flower of Cambodia.

                                                                                                                              by vandara sin

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