Alex’s farewell party

First, we would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to Alex Torpey. Alex spent two months here helping the CBT members improve their English, temple tour management skills as well as providing the librarians with some needed mentoring, guidance and teaching tips. We will all miss Alex a lot, but he has promised to come back in two years. So, we cannot wait to see him again!:)

Also, this month, the Ministry of Culture & Fine Arts began a conservation project on the south causeway. The project’s goals are the strengthen the causeway since it serves as a dam for the commune’s water supply. Additionally, there are plans to replace the remnants, as best as possible, of the statues of the demons and gods that stood along the causeway. These statues tell the famous Hindu myth of the Churning the Ocean of Milk. Unfortunately, these statues were heavily looted in the 1990s, and almost all the heads were stolen (see background in photo below).

South causeway conservation project at Banteay Chhmar