This weekend, someone told me about a British boy (found out that the boy is 17 years old) who received an offer from the BBC for his website. He refused it.
Can you imagine how many schools you can build, how many hospitals you can modernize with that amount of money? In Cambodia of course!
Read about the story here… The website referred to can be found here…
I have found some old movies on YouTube, 7 in total. They were rolled in Cambodia in 1965. I took a few screenshots from the first, which rolls in Phnom Penh. Have a look and leave a comment if you want.
Back in these days, Phnom Penh was called the jewel of Indochina.
The movies can be found here …
The photo album of our trip to Siem Riep for a visit to the Angkor site is online. For most of the family, this was the second one, the first dating back to July 2002. Each time, our trip started in Kampong Chhnang. We had to drive 60 km back in the direction of Phnom Penh (Highway 5) to the Prek Kdam Ferry point in Oudong. On the other side of the Tonle Sap River, the road (Highway 6) goes to Kampong Cham, then Kampong Thom and finaly Siem Riep.
The album is here:
and on the ‘Photo Albums’ page…
The next photo was taken on the ferry, when traversing the Tonle Sap River. In the background you can see the Royal Tombs on the hills in Oudong.
I added another link to my blogroll. Phnom Tom is a weblog of another Belgian who is currently living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He linked to my weblog and noblesse oblige…
Phnom is the Khmer word for mountain, but don’t expect to find many mountains in Cambodia. The word is mostly used for hill’s. The Tom part of the weblog’s name refers to the writer’s first name. Do not confuse it with the word thom, which is the Khmer adjective for ‘big’.
It seems that one of Tom’s favorit actors, directors, producers, writers is Takeshi Kitano. I would add this Japanese actor’s movie Zatôichi movie to the ‘must see’ list. I’ve watched that movie twice in one day!
Keep us informed Tom, and don’t think to much of Belgium or Brussels: it was snowing this morning!
Hi Groom-to-be. Marriage is a very important institution for Cambodians. It all starts with the asking of the girl’s hand. Read the story of a Chinese boy who took the challenge here. The story is commented in the Tales section.
Two more tales (one story and one more general article) have been added to the section Tales.
I started a new set of pages under the new section Tales. Folktales and legends form the origin of Cambodian traditions (and of any other culture). They are passed from generation to generation by storytellers and some are written down on paper or on a webpage. Folklore can contain religious or mythic elements, and it equally concerns itself with the traditions of everyday life. Telling stories appears to be universal, common to societies alike.
Some links are still under construction. Please check the page regulary for updates.
Two more photo albums are added. These are from a trip to Battambang. We left early in the morning from Kampong Chhnang. For this 200 km trip, we hired a car (Camry of course) for the 4 hour drive. Three people in the front, three others in the back.
Battambang is the second largest city in Cambodia (about 125,000 people; Phnom Penh has over two million inhabitants). The railroad from Phnom Penh to Poipet on the Thai border passes here in Battambang.
Phnom Sampeu is a mountain that has te form of a boat (the name means Boat Mountain). It is located about 60 km west of Battambang.
You can find them here
and on the ‘Photo Albums’ page…
I just found out that somebody else already found my starting website/weblog. And it is only because I linked mine to his (see here). He made the remark that I am a Belgian, maybe because he checked the position of the moon (see my previous post), maybe because he felt my vibes about Cambodia when I take a walk in Antwerp, or was it something else ?! And indeed, he got it right.
But I am not going to tell him and you much more about myself for the moment. You have to visit my weblog regulary if you want to find out who is on this side of the website. As a starter, I updated the ‘About’ page here.
For this moment, I can only say ’see you later’ -or- ‘chhoum reap lie’…
Saturday evening, yesterday, the 3rd of March, at 22:30 hours, the moon started to disappear. At 23:30, there was a total eclipse of the moon.
On the photographs, you can see the earth’s shadow slowly darken the moon from the down left corner.