This Blog will unravel the mystery that makes Cambodia distinct from the other places you have visited. Discover Cambodia will take you to other places worth exploring in this country with updated information on living in cambodia, its food and lifestyle.

A term project of Journalism students of Pannasastra University of Cambodia.

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Friday, November 12, 2010

Lose sight after drinking too much water


Water is what we cannot live without for all the living things on the earth. However, many people misunderstand that the more water you drink the better it would be. Alert to this case, have a look to this.
As we have awarded that it is believed to be a healthy if we drink much water per day such as lose weight, natural remedy for headache, look younger with healthier skin, better productive at work, better exercise, helps in digestion and constipation, less likely to be sick and feel healthy, relieves fatigue, and reduce the risk of cancer yet be informed that all those benefits mention above come from only if you drink with a proper amount of water which fit to every single body. 
It is recommended that 1.5 liters to 2.5 liters per day should be drink for a normal human being but drinking daily more than recommendation is a big mistake since most of the people wish to benefit of it. However, this causes a serious problem to eye lose sight. Since you drink too much water you would keep running to the toilet. After that it would led to water intoxication. When there is too much water consumed, it may cause hyponatremia. Hypontremia is a condition where there is insufficient sodium in the blood. Because water needs to be absorbed to every cells of our body but when there is too much water; the cells of our brain would swell and causes a pressure in the brain which would make the bleeding in the occipital lobe which is an important brain lobe connected to eyes’ cells. Then your sight would be lost.
Therefore, if you wish to drink more than recommendation, be sure that you are practicing well to lose water in your body by doing exercise and other ways you prefer but make sure that the water is constantly losing through sweat, urination, defecation or exhaled breath, and among others.
Finally, if you found yourself with headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, frequent urination and mental disorientation, you may need to consult with the doctor as soon as possible because those are the symptom of water intoxication.

Tuk Kroeung Khmer



What is Tuk Kroeung? Tuk Kroeung is a popular Khmer dip, made by cooked fish and Prahok and served with some fresh and cooked vegetables. It is not difficult to make the delicious Tuk Kroeung and you can make by your self at home. The ingredients are:
·        1 cooked fish
·        7 to 10 garlic cloves
·        5 hot chili peppers (optional)
·        1 to 3 tablespoons peanuts (optional)
·        1 or 2 tablespoons sugar 
   upon preference
·        2/3 tablespoons salt
·        5 to 10 tablespoons Prahok upon preference
·        1 or more lime upon preference
How to make Prahok sauce? Prahok sauce is made by adding Prahok to boiling water, reducing the heat and then simmer gently for 5 minutes or until the fish has broken down and the water is cloudy.


What are kind of vegetables? There are just some of the vegetables which we use to accompany our spicy and delicious fish dip. There are watercress, English cucumber, Japanese eggplant, cabbage, broccoli florets, grape tomatoes, Thai eggplants and so on.
To make the tip, start by browning the garlic and chili in a little bit of oil. One brown, remove and set aside. Next, remove cooked fish meat from bones and set aside.
In a mortar and postal, add the garlic and chili peppers. Then, pound a paste and add the fish and continue to pound until you reach your prefer consistency. Remove it to a bowl and use a spoon to gather and mix it together. Finally, add sugar, salt, lime juice, and Prahok sauce. Boiling water should be added slowly. Some like it watery other it a bit damp or dry.
It’s totally up to your preference. Taste and adjust to your taste bud. Add peanuts and garnish with chopped spring onions. Then, prepare your vegetables before saving (fresh, steamed, slice, fry etc...)

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Blessing Dance


Cambodian Blessing Dance (or Robam Choun Por in Khmer language) is a Khmer traditional dance from the repertoire of Cambodian classical ballet to mark special holidays in cambodia . This dance is performed by a group of young Khmer girls to wish good health, happiness, prosperity and success. The blessing dance was first performed in Cambodia to rid the royal palace of evil spirits and bless the royal kingdom.  Today it is performed to bless events and welcome guests.  

The dance features graceful and elegant movements, holding golden goblets. Inside the goblets are flower blossoms. The blossoms are symbolic representations of blessings from the gods. As the dancers pluck the blossoms from the goblets and gently toss them forward toward the audience, the gesture symbolizes the blessings of the gods falling upon the audience.

Eight year old Shrey Noy says she loves dancing because she has been wished to be a dancer when she was 5 years old.  She added, “One day I watched TV show and saw beautiful girls performed classical dance. They all so beauty and the movement of their dancing performance are graceful and made me fascinated in it.”  I told my mum that I would like to learn how to dance so that when I was 6 years old my mum sent me to both school dancing school and Literature school.
Vandy, 10 years old tells her experience. "I felt a bit nervous during my first performance since i never get a lot of exposure before."  She added that her parents appreciate with what she has been doing and so proud of her.
Shrey Noch, 12 years old also said that as a Khmer native, it’s her duty to keep the great traditions if classical Khmer dance.  


Ms. Samourn, 40 years old had 6 children, Three of them are performers of the said classical dance.Two daughters are classical dancer and a son is traditional dancer.  She added, “I encourage not only my children but also other young people should be learn how to dance and let’s keep our Khmer tradition culture.”

Mr. Vothy, 42 years old added, that his wife is classical dancer.  He first met her after her dancing performance show. 

Num Bonh-Chok


Num Bonh-Chok’s dish is the mixture of noodles, the vegetables and Khmer green soup (fish soup) which called Samlor Proha or curry (red and a little bit spicy soup which can be made out of meat or chicken) called Samlor Namya. 
Num Bonh-Chok is available almost everywhere in Cambodia; especially you can find it at a good place in Phnom Penh is Wat Botum that you can see a lot of shops along the sidewalk around that pagoda. Or you can see people sale it in different images, such as:  in markets, restaurants, or they carry and sale on the roads. Some Khmer foods, we use spoons and forks to eat but for Num Bonh-Chok, we use chopsticks instead. 
Num Bonh-Chok is cheap and taste good that you can spend only about 1500-3000riels to get one of a delicious dish of it like in the picture. Please come and try it and enjoy your new meal.
  
‘Num Bonh-Chok’ refers to ‘Khmer noodles’ which is one of the most popular foods in Cambodia that regarded as one of the Cambodian national foods. We don’t know the exactly time it was made but Num Bonh-Chok is only to be found in Cambodia.

  Num Bonh-Chok is made out of rice and to be eaten with so many kinds of vegetable. Those are: water mimosa, water lily, plove kangkep, string beans, cucumber, cabbage, basil…etc.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Samla Kako


Samla Kako is the most popular and famous soup of Cambodian  Samla kako means “stirring soup” . The soup has been popular among cambodian adults and up to now Khmer still make this as part of their dinner menu . Aside from various kinds of vegetables, the soup can also be added with meat like fish, chicken, dove or pork. If one has to opt fish, Chhlang fish or Andeng fish is recommended.

There are many ingredients that we need to use for cooking this soup. If we choose fish, chop it into chunks. For vegetable, we have many kinds such as green papaya, green banana and young palm fruit, sliced it thinly, purple egg plant cut into triangles, long beans cut into three pieces. Other ingredients include lemon grass leaves, rhizome, and turmeric, galangal cut into small pieces, five garlic cloves, and half cup of rice roasted, salt, palm sugar and fish sauce. Another ingredient is stem of Angkeadei leaf and stems of Marum leaf.


         Here's the secret in cooking the soup. First, fry  Prahok in vegetable oil in large pot over a medium low heat, when oil turns green,  add fish, salt, sugar, and water, while stirring. Next, put fish and cook it for 15 minutes, then add the vegetables stirring it constantly. Add the roasted rice powder, sand put some water. Stir well. Increase the heat to medium high and let it boil. When boiled, add Ankeadei and Marum leaf. Samla Kako can already be served.     



Bokor National Park

Bokor Mountain is situated about 180km from Phnom Penh. From Kampot, take the road towards route 4 about 8 kilometers. 
The Bokor National Park is originally a small resort town; it is now an abandoned ghost town. It was built by the French in the 20's and then expanded much later (evidenced by some sleek and modern architecture). More over, it was abandoned due to the civil war in the 70's and was used as a hold out for the Khmer Rouge for a while. There are several other buildings including a

catholic church, a casino, some homes, buildings for the former king, and either a view of fog or a  view of Southern Cambodia and Vietnam's island Phu Quoc.   At around 1000 meters and an hour drive up the mountain road; you can see there are some sights to see on the way up, such as the waterfalls, wild banana trees and other trees as well. Monkeys are everywhere along the way up to the peak, and the old King's "staff" accommodations, so you might want to take a few rest breaks along the way. The route is so nice and wide after 2 years reconstruction by Sokha Resort and Hotel. The road is not as slippery as you could imagine. You can also bring something to eat and drink since there is no restaurants or somewhere you can eat on the top of the mountain. The old ruined palace was abandoned, like the rest of the site, at the beginning of the Second World War. The old Casino occupies a commanding position on the mountain. With shattered windows pock-marked with bullet holes; it bears the scars of recent battles. It was the scene of a ferocious fight between the Khmer Rouge and the Vietnamese in the early 1980s after liberation of Kampuchea by the Vietnamese Army.

However, you will pay 10$ for the entrance fee during holiday in Cambodia. You can also get a ride in a pickup truck (either inside or in the back) for a day trip, including lunch for $12 to $25. Most tours leave from downtown Kampot, or sometime you can take a dirt bike (or a 100cc small bike, not recommended) up to the top.  Drive slow, especially coming back down. If you don't have your own bike, big dirt bikes can be rented in Kampot for less than $12/day. You may want to bring some warm clothes as the temperatures, especially at night are much cooler, and there often fog or rain at the top. There are some simple rooms for rent on the mountain, it is just about 10$ to 15$ per night, and will double the price during the holiday. Or u can rent a cheaper room within Kampot city for only 5$/night. Kampot Province is famous of fresh seafood, so if you are interested in delicious seafood, nice beach and scenery, you can not miss out for any reasons to visit kampot what so ever.

For the safe ride, for the nice scenery, for the cool mountain air, for the adventure, for relaxation all are good reasons to travel the the top of Bokor Mountain.
 There is currently construction, both the road going up the mountain, and on top, to turn this area into a new, modern and glamorous resort.



Korea's influence to khmer teens

by Lim Chanmoniroth

Cambodian youth start to change their style when the incoming of Korean film in Cambodia. These are among the many influences on Cambodian teens to change their style.
·         
Youth always want to try. This age period is the period of the mental development of the human brain and the period that human can develop their knowledge quickly. This is also one of the causes which push the adult to test with the all new things.
·        Korean films are played in all channel in Cambodia, most of the youth idolizes its star and tried to imitate them. Therefore, they want to wear whatever the star is wearing or has endorsed.
·         
      Korean song is very popular in Cambodia, especially the singer group like the Big Bang group, Girl generation, Kara, etc. Not only youth take the Korean singer style, but also Khmer singers imitate those styles. It is the most effective factor that stimulates the youth to change their clothes style.

They change their hair style, necklace, ring, shoes, watch, clothes, and makeup style. In my writing, I choose only the clothes style to talk about. Both adult girl and boy start to wear the jean with bright color such as yellow, red, blue, white, pink, etc. In addition, they change from wear long jean to short jean, from short jean to long jean up to the film and Korean singer’s fashion. Especially the girl, she usually wear jacket with the t- shirt and the short jean. Some of them use the long trousers with the short skirt jean. These are the style of the Korean singer, mostly from the Girl’s Generation Group, Super Junior, and many other Korean singers. Look at this picture you will understand how the Cambodian Youth follow up the Korean Fashion.

In conclusion, youth or adult is an age period that their minds always change. They are easily influenced by the outside environment. However, the change is not wrong but some time too much change will effect to their life and the social culture.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

How to Dry Your Hair Properly


Cambodian people are sensitive about their hair beauty. About 90% of the ages of 18-30 go to hair salon very often. They take care of their hair from root to the top because it’s one of the most important part of their body that can be shown off. They have beautiful thick and flawless hair. There is a secret behind this. It’s about how to dry your hair. After having shower, wet hair can make you feel uncomfortable. The fastest way to dry your hair is blow drying, but blow drying can damage your hair. However, if you know how to dry your hair correctly, you will have healthy and beautiful hair. The tips below will guide you how to dry your hair properly.
First of all, use towel to wipe your hair gently, but do not rub it heavily because it can damage your hair and make it fall. Next, comb your hair by using a big tooth comb, and comb it carefully. Do not comb your hair strongly. And then, you can apply some gel on your hair, but it should be in small amount. Finally, you should let your hair dry naturally, or you can dry it by air drying. In case you are in hurry, you can choose to blow dry, but make sure you set the blow dryer at the lowest level. While you are drying, do not dry sticking to one place. Also, you should stop drying before your hair totally dry. It is good to leave it a little bit wet, so your hair will not be burnt.
As Cambodian people have healthy and good looking hair, and they know how to take care of their hair, why not try to follow the tips above?