Kampuchea Crossings

Bump to baby on the beaten expat track

Cambodia

Pchum Ben- remember the ancestors

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This is such a great photo, shared by Metro Cafe.

It is Pchum Ben in Cambodia, one of the biggest Buddhist holidays in which people visit the pagodas and bring offerings in remembrance of their ancestors. Once again there is a mass exodus from the city as the Khmer go to their provinces to visit their families, and foreigners take advantage of the many days off to flee the country.

Pchum Ben is similar to the Christians’ All Saints’ Day. This ritual used to be an ancient Celtic celebration called Samhain. Attempting to suppress these pagan traditions the Catholic Church created All Saints’ Day (All Hallows Day) in the 7th century to christianise the event.

Other cultures have rituals for remembering their dead around this same time of year too:

  • the Pasola Festival in Sumba, an island east of Bali
  • Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico
  • Dia de los ñatitas (Day of the Skulls) in Bolivia
  • Brazil celebrates Finados (Day of the Dead)
  • Araw ng mga Patay (Day of the Dead) in the Philippines
  • O-bon (お盆) or only Bon (盆), a Buddhist holiday in Japan
  • Hankawi (한가위,中秋节) is Korea’s traditional day of remembrance of their dead
  • Ghost month (鬼月) in China
Safe travels on this holiday everyone!

our resident tukei gecko

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Isn’t Fred the cutest tukei gecko ever?? Except he’s a SHE! LOL! Just saw her little ones yesterday, they’re feisty like mommy!

Fred is about 6inches around her tummy, 10inches long to the end of her tail. She’s been a regular at our place for years. Or should I say, WE’ve been regulars at HER place for years LOL!
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Celestial dance of 22 July 2009

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A dismal overcast day spawns in the Kingdom. The mighty Mekong bucks and swells with all the world’s rage. Celestial beings roar.

Across the land village radios quiver with the news: the Eye of God cometh. Today a dark day falls. None shall be spared.

Humans and fortune tellers and witches scurry about their paltry rituals and offerings to stave the impending doom. But the cauldron of the heavens boils and bubbles. In just moments the essence of wrath will descend upon earth to end this corrupt age of Kali. Lesser clouds sent by a kindly small (unknown) Hindu god for Cambodia’s meager comfort cower as the lunar transit arcs straight into the solar spectrum.

om shanti….. Om Shanti…. OM NAMAHO SHIVA!!

[looks to see if you, reader, are still watching….]

Well. Thunderclouds rage also in my thoughts. There goes my view of the solar eclipse. Would be nice to see the arc of the cosmos hurtling us towards our destruction, at least.

[sulks. chucks a used tissue over the balcony… and the used tissue chucked over the rail blows into my downstairs neighbor’s balcony.]

[a small smile escapes.] This day may yet improve. :-)

—- update at 12:05pm, after the eclipse:

Our six and a half minutes of solar eclipse was watched by many of my friends, thanks to my news flashes on Facebook. Here below is a picture taken by Dave Coolio, since for part of those six minutes I was called into someone’s office for a minor query. :-(

Also why Dave felt the need to point out the obvious in the photo is beyond me.
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Traffic rules? What traffic rules?

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Only four traffic laws broken in this pic LOL (unless you count all the helmet-less heads on two wheels);
2. going the wrong way, which I suppose is subjective in this country;
3. mobile stuck to the head while driving a moto (although I guess this isn’t a law in Cambodia);
4. same guy who doesn’t have a helmet while yakking on his mobile is also missing his mirrors.
Did I miss any others?

I love the very specific methods for plowing straight into oncoming traffic: make eye contact and you lose the right of way. LOL!

No helmet, talking on the mobile, and obviously the point of rearview mirrors is lost on this fellow.
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Opposition views not allowed

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In celebration of Cambodia’s thorough crackdown on opposition views, I’d love to take up Maggie Lamb’s challenge on Facebook for all of us to violate Articles 62 and 63 in the Cambodian criminal code at the same time.

Robert Carmichael in the Asia Media Forum lists some recent actions against opposition officials and members of the press, which does not include the defamation case against the Cambodia Daily:

One editor of a newspaper affiliated with the opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) is now serving a one-year jail term for publishing a story the government objected to. The publisher of another newspaper, ‘Moneaksekar Khmer’, was told this week he would be sued and could go to jail after publishing a series of articles allegedly designed to incite conflict between government ministers.

On the political front, two opposition MPs are being sued by senior officials of the ruling party for defamation after having their immunity stripped by the lower house. Their lawyer recently quit their cases and the SRP and crossed over to the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) after being told he would be sued.

Two other opposition MPs have been told they could have their immunity taken away too. Two non-government organisations have also received legal threats.

That the government beelines for the courts rather than counter criticisms via more palatable channels such as rebuttal pieces, propaganda speeches and using more of the widely popular comedy skits as they did a few weeks ago, is truly curious. See one of the videos here: Khmer Media Watch.

Oh and WWF joins the ranks of Unfavored NGO Status in Cambodia for releasing scientific data on the state of the Mekong River dolphins (the species is all but functionally extinct). To further add to the comic relief, Global Witness recently urged the UK to revoke PM Hun Sen’s visa ahead of a planned visit to the country to see his son graduate.

Wonder how the crackdown will be managed on the internet, as it will inevitably do. There are a growing number of critical voices across the various social networks…
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how tourists should NOT treat the natives

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D and I were sitting in a restaurant nowhere near the tourist track when some kids were dropped off by a tuk tuk outside. As they wandered a few feet, gawking about with lonely planets and maps in their hands– very comically lost– a rude blog post title popped to mind: “You too can look …..”. We stepped out to snag some quick shots, when these guys turned the tables on us. They waved and smiled really big, the kind you save for retarded people, probably thinking we were natives taking photos of foreigners. We took off before they could start talking really loud English at us.

I have never been looked at by a white person like this. My immersion in Cambodia is complete.
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