Friday, March 06, 2009

SIEM REAP | Masjid Neakmah

Masjid Neakmah, or Neakmah Mosque, is the main mosque in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Before coming to Cambodia, I have made a research of the whereabout of the mosque, and my first day out in town, I have asked the tuk-tuk driver to bring me to the mosque, and even the driver himself was not sure of the place, and never heard of the mosque.

But I persuaded him just to drive ahead, and Alhamdulillah, after all those winding and bumpy ride we managed to get to the place.


Masjid Neakmah, also written in arabic, and their local alphabets.

The residents of this kampung or village, are mostly of Melayu-Champa or Cham Malay.


Located in one of the Malay Villages in Siem Reap, the road connecting it from the town area is quite a bumpy, non-asphalt dusty road, hence without determination, one might be hindered in detouring away from the town area.


When I arrived at the mosue, the doors were closed, so I only manage to capture the photo of the outside.


There is a Champ-Malay Halal restaurant next to the mosque, (the one with the red roofing).

I still remember vaguely, during my high school's History lesson, mentioning about the Cham Malay, whereby living in ASEAN, most of the nations were having more or less the same language, which predominantly is Malay.

There are many similarity in the Malay Languages, be it in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Phillipine, Singapore, not to forget the major Malay speaking country of Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam.

Example of the words in Cambodia that I can relate to the standard Malay is Psar (Pasar) meaning market, Kampung = village just to name a few.


Also next to the mosque is a Madrasah, or a religious school, the green signboard stated "Madrasah Qamaruddin Al-Islamiah, Kampung Stenmai, Siem Reap" , and it also stated the building as a Gift of Excellency Sieng Nam, 23.04.2002.


With that, I leave you with the overall view of the mosque.

4 comments:

Out Of Focus said...

That must've been quite an experience for you..

G-`FerRo said...

hehe .. yea ... but interesting one indeed...

Anonymous said...

what is the name of this village

G-`FerRo said...

Can't quite recall the name of the village, but it is not that far from the town centre, there is a label from the vicinity of the old market or thereabout