After half a year of tensions at the border, Thailand will reopen the entrance to Preah Vihear (or, in you prefer in Thai Phra Viharn) today, the government citing that the situation has normalised. The cliff-top temple is situated in Cambodian soil, but the entrance to the temple is much easier from Thailand.
Preah Vihear set to reopen
The Nation, 09 Feb 2009
The 11th-century Preah Vihear Temple will reopen tomorrow after being closed for months.
Seni Jitkasem, governor of Si Sa Ket province, where the entrance to the hill-top Hindu temple is situated, said the decision to reopen was taken because the Thai-Cambodian border situation had returned to normal.
Cambodia last year unilaterally got the temple listed as as a Unesco World Heritage Site, even though access to the ancient site is on Thai soil.
Seni said Lt-General Wibulsak Neepanm the commander-in-chief of the second region army, had endorsed the reopening of Thailand’s Phra Viharn national park.
My understanding was that access to the temple itself is not open from Thailand, just the national park around the temple site. Even if Cambodia were to open the gate from the Thai side they would need several days to clear out the amazing amount of razor wire they had up when I was there a few months ago!
This article is a little bit more clear:
http://ki-media.blogspot.com/2009/02/national-park-on-cambodian-border.html
Here’s a follow up link via the PP Post- looks like the Cambodian government is considering opening up the border gate- good news!
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009021024120/National-news/Govt-prepared-to-reopen-border-gate.html
Ah… thanks for the update Alison!