This post is coming from Cambodia –Siem Reap to be precise. This is the town that serves the needs of tourists visiting the great temples around Angkor Wat, the ancient capital of Cambodia. This is our last stop on a trip that started out in Borneo (Malaysia) with a visit to Father Peter Abas to help celebrate his 25th year of ordination.

Father Peter has a rather challenging assignment on the outskirts of the city of Kota Kinabalu, in the state of Sabah, being responsible for three churches. One is actually a ‘chapel’ —St. Peter’s Chapel— in a tribal village a few miles from his ‘home’ church of The Holy Nativity. The third church is St. Simeon’s. It is a fairly large building as is Holy Nativity. Holy Nativity is a new building.

St. Peter’s Chapel is a basic, functional, structure made of concrete walls and a tin roof. It’s located in an area surrounded by followers of Islam which I mention only because relations between the two faiths have been tense lately in all of Borneo.

The tribal people and, indeed, all the people in Borneo we met were friendly and welcoming. Their hospitality is truly remarkable considering their material poverty. Admirable, too, is their Catholic faith which is vibrant, pious, and enthusiastic.

I have some observations –and photographs– I’ll share when we get back home. I’ve been mulling over two general aspects of our trip to Borneo and, then, to Cambodia: first, comparison between the way the Liturgy is celebrated in Malaysia and Cambodia–at least as we have experienced it; and, second, observations on the religious art and architecture of the ancient Hindu/Buddhist temples around Angkor Wat.

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