Cambodian (Khmer) Culture & Language

Language
Khmer is the official language, but especially in larger cities many Cambodians
have at least a basic knowledge of English. French is spoken by some older
Khmers.

Khmer phrases I'm trying to learn
Hello - jum ree-up soo-a
Goodbye - jum ree-up leah[formal] / lee-hai [informal]
Yes - baat
No - a-dtay
Please - soam-un-jern
Thank You - arkun

Sampeah - Cambodian Greeting
The sampah is used as a greeting, show of respect, way to say thank you or
apologize. While performing the sampeah, the person places his palms together in
a prayer-like fashion while bowing slightly and, if it is a greeting, saying
Chum Reap Suor (Hello). One should address Cambodians by Lok (Mr.) or Lok Srey
(Mrs.) along with their name.

It is also important when one sampeahs to elders as a sign of respect and
politeness. The higher the hands and the lower the bow, the more respect is
shown. When praying to the Buddha, the person places his palms together close to
his or her face and brings his or her hands toward the ground three times.

Cash conversion
Cambodia's official currency is reil. However, the US dollars is also widely
used in this country. One can actually buy stuffs, pay for rents and fares using
US currency. Right now the US dollar to riel is a little over 1:4200, but from
my understanding the merchants will use a 1:4000 conversion. Since ATMs are not
very common, and places like hotels can exchange the money, I plan on taking a
the money I think I’ll need in USD and having around 40,000 reil (about $10) at
a time for smaller purchases.

Cell phone use in Cambodia
This is assuming your phone and your plan work in Cambodia:

Dial locally within Cambodia - If you are dialing a place in Cambodia with the
same city code as which you are calling, just dial the number. If the number has
a different city code, dial "0," plus the city code, plus the phone number.

Calling the United States from Cambodia - First dial "001" (this is the
international prefix to dial outside of Cambodia). Then dial "1" (this is the
international code used to dial to the U.S.). Follow that by the city code and
phone number.

Cultural mores
• Showing someone the bottom of your foot expresses the same insult as flipping
them your middle finger.
• Ask Before taking someone's photograph
• Bring a gift when visiting someone's home
• Don't engage in public displays of affection
• Don't touch people on the head. This is considered rude in Buddhist countries
(the head is the crucial and sacred as it where the intelligence and spiritual
substance reside)
• Remove your shoes before entering a home of religious building
• Don't use your left hand for eating or shaking hands. In many Asian countries,
the left hand is used for toilet business.
• One should follow the basic manners in Cambodia wherein a native is supposed
to wake up before sunrise or else he is considered lazy.
• Make sure to sit with your legs straightened down and not crossed else it is
considered impolite.
• One should close their doors gently else one is known for its bad temper.
• Elders are highly respected as per their seniority.

Angelina Jolie Cambodian Tattoo
On her left sholder blade is a Buddhist Pali incantation written in Khmer script
to protect her and her adopted Cambodian son Maddox from bad luck. Here's the
translation:

May your enemies run far away from you.
If you acquire riches, may they remain yours always.
Your beauty will be that of Apsara.
Wherever you may go, many will attend, serve and protect you, surrounding you on
all sides.

2009 Portland Baconfest

It was a crisp early afternoon on the first weekend in October when I made my way to one of my favorite drinking establishments the EastBurn. They're supposed to have good food too, but I'm always too distracted by the large whiskey selection and constantly rotating beer taps. However, today I was there for the "Baconfest" block party. They blocked off 18th between Burnside and Ankeny and set up a series of booths along each of the sidewalks.

After dropping off my cans of pork and beans for the Oregon Food Bank at the entrance, I made my way to the back because that is where Laurelwood Brewing Co. was serving there special for-this-event-only Bacon Beer. It was a full-bodied and smoky porter that was just a little too heavy to have too much of. As the name implied there was plenty of bacon flavor.

With plastic beer mug in hand, I turned around to checkout the halfpipe that the guys from Bacon Skateboards were playing on. However, I was quickly board by the lack-luster skills on display and was way more entertained by the t-shirt they were selling with Bacon written in bacon over a head shot of Kevin Bacon.

I then sampled a "Bacon Pop". This was half a slice of very thick cut bacon, cooked in maple syrup and fried till it was just firm enough to be put on a stick. It was delicious but I started to have images of my self at the county fair and had to sit down, giving me a chance to do some people watching. It was a fairly standard mix of 20-30 something Portlanders which meant there were some event appropriate humorous t-shirts. My favorite was the "Meat is murder. Tasty, tasty murder." Although the "Everything tastes better wrapped in bacon" t-shirt with circles of bacon provocatively placed over her bust did make me laugh and also thing of the Bacon Bra.

Getting up to checkout what else there was lead me to the Bacon Salt booth for some free samples of their various salts. They are also the makers of Baconnaise, a product that I have yet to be able to bring my self to try. Fortunately, before I could think to much about what a bacon and mayonnaise combination might taste like, The J&D mascot showed up (a guy in a gigantic slice of bacon costume) and distracted me.

Going down the line, I found a booth for Inagadda Glass where Davida Fernandez made some realistic looking glass bacon and egg ornaments. Then it was over to the Red Cross booth to spun the wheel and find out what category about emergency preparedness I would answer a question about. It was Tsunamis, appropriate since there was a tsunami warning off the Oregon coast that morning due to an underwater earthquake near Samoa. Turns out I grossly underestimated the speed of a tsunami wave. Turns out it goes between 400 and 600 miles per hour.

I deiced to drown my sorrows from getting the question wrong by trying the Bakon Vodka bloody marry. I couldn't taste any bacon due to all the tomato juice which was disappointing. Had I known what he was going to serve me, I would have tried to talk him into a strait shot of the stuff. Then it was off to the Parkers

Parkers Waffles & Coffee booth for one of their soft, moist waffles, smothered in bourbon butter, wrapped into a funnel then filled with bits of bacon. It was a long wait but it was delicious. However, I had reached my limit; my taste buds had reached bacon overload. Fortunately, Rouge Brewing was there with their Sesquicentennial Ale and while my sense of taste was being rejuvenated I was able to get a front and center position for the bacon eating contest.

It wasn't really so much of a contest as it was a line of people eating things covered in bacon. It started off all right with round 1 just being a BLT. One guy was really into it and had his plate on the ground and got on his knees to better shovel the food into his mouth. One lady decided she wasn't going to have any of it and didn't take more than a bite of her sandwich before leaving the contest. Next came the Voodoo Doughnut maple bacon bars. Those looked good. Next it got little weird with it just being a pealed banana with a strip of bacon wrapped around it. The penultimate task was to down several peeps covered in Bacon Salt. This one just about got a few of the contestants to loose it. Finally, it was the bacon ice cream sundaes. This round actually did have a goal of seeing who could finish first. Emily Gibson of The Meat Show won, but the prize was given to the guy who competed on his knees since she was the organizer of the event.

I left at this point, but there was more on the schedule and I thought it was entertaining enough to hope that they would do it again next year and see what sort of meat mayhem gets caused as the sun goes down.

Theravada Buddhism

In the last post I mentioned that Theravada Buddhism was the dominate religion in Cambodia in 1296, however I didn't go on to point out that it is still the dominant religion today with 96.4% of the population clamming to be Buddhist.

Buddhism is primarily based on the teaching of Siddhartha Gautama who lived and taught in Nepal and India around 400 BCE and is regarded as the Buddha (The Awakened One). The central premise of his philosophy was to find a path to salvation by attaining insight into the ultimate nature of reality. There are two major branches of Buddhism. The first, and older, is Theravada ("The School of the Elders"). The second is Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle"). Both schools believe in the teachings of the Buddha, but there is disagreement on the expression and implementation. Unlike the Catholics and Protestants of Northern Ireland however, there is no animosity born out of this disagreement. Since Theravada is dominant in Cambodia and Southeast Asia, I'm focusing on that one.

Legend has it that King Asohka of India sent out a couple of monks to SE Asia in the 3rd century BCE where it spread, mingled and coexisted with Brahmanic religions that were introduced through trade with India. Sanskrit inscriptions and Chines reconds show that Buddhism was prominent in the Funan and Chenla Kingdoms, but around 600 CE the tide started shifting towards Hindu. While Hindu was the state religion of the Angkor Kingdom (except during Jayavarman VII), Mahahana Buddhist practices, strongly influenced with Tantric tendencies, were widely accepted.

Cambodia transitioned to Theravada Buddhism in the 13th Century after Tamilinda (Jayavarman VII's son) returned from Sri Lanka as an ordained Buddhist monk. This form of Buddhism was much more disciplined and orthodox being based only on the earliest teachings of the Buddha. One reason Theravada became so popular so fast was that it was inclusive of all members of society and not just the elites. This relatively sudden ground swell of ideological change may also have had a hand in overthrowing the "god-king" and bringing the Angkor Kingdom to an end.