Touring with Andrew family in Angkor Archeological Park

After met and touring in Siem Reap with Andrew and his family for 4 days with highlighting of the attraction site in Angkor Archeological park and round Siem Reap we have visited Angkor Wat that is one of wonders in world and the national symbol of Cambodia, Angkor Thom with Bayon temple the richest Khmer heritage of great smiling faces from every towers , Ta Prohm temple is famous temple in the jungle that was filmed by Hollywood in year 2000 the Tomb Raiders film and watched sunset at Pre Rup temple , it is beautiful place for sunset in Angkor Archeological park and beside the temples we visited the largest lake Tonle Sap with floating village and the fresh water mangrove surrounding the lake all of these to know about the daily life of Cambodian . On behalf of Cambodia I would like to say thank you to Andrew and his family for choosing Cambodia for their holiday destination and I wish them to have wonderful time in the next holiday destination with the full of happiness, good healthy, successful, prosperity and longevity and hope to see them again one in the world.
All best wishes
Sokmeng tour guide
sokmengguide@gmail.com

Experiences with Cambodian street foods

The Khmer food of Cambodia can be a real treat. As tourists travel through the countryside or in cities, far away from Western restaurants with Pizza and Burgers. Instead we had the fortune to try the local food. The base of Khmer food is rice. Usually a pot of rice and a can of hot or cold tea with a glass full of ice cubes come with the food. Drinking water is rather expensive, that’s why most people boil the water from the tap (if there is no tab water they use the river water) and add tea leaves for the taste. The ice cubes are sold per piece and the salesmen drive from house to house and cut the sold parts off with a saw. These giant ice cubes are chopped into smaller pieces and stored together with canned drinks in big cooling boxes. Every time the shop owner needs some small ice cubes he chops some pieces off the big block with a small axe.
Some food will be freshly prepared, but in some of the street side restaurants it is prepared in the early morning and reheated once sold. Customers can either ask for their favorite dish or open the pots with the food and choose the dish that looks and smells best. That is what we did, because we did not understand any Khmer. The food for curios people: dog meat and bugs we ate plenty of rice with side dishes as grilled or boiled chicken. These dishes are simple, cheap and come with a spicy sauce and a bowl of chicken broth. The Khmer eat with fork and spoon. They push the food with the fork on the spoon. You will not find a knife on the table since the pieces are usually small enough to eat them in one piece or soft enough to chop them with the spoon. Some people also eat with the hands or with chopsticks. Meat usually comes with all bones and small animals sometimes even come with guts.

Since we travel along the Mekong River and around the Tonle Sap Lake, we found fish to be present in most dishes. Many families own a rice field that they harvest once, few families twice a year. They fish their own river food , hunt small animals as frogs, bats, squirrels, mice, rats and sometimes even deer or wild pigs in the forest and either buy or hold chicken. Bugs and spiders are local specialties as well. There are many cows in Cambodia, but they are used for transportation and plowing of the fields rather than for their milk. In different regions we found pot-bellied pigs, goats and goose running through the streets. In the local restaurants you will find fish sauce, soy sauce, fish paste (the smell is something I needed to get used to) a sweet and spicy sauce and sometimes vinegar on the table. In local houses the families often eat sitting on the floor. It is mostly the women who prepare the food. Restaurants will provide tables and chairs.
In Cambodia you have two options. accept that the local cleanliness standards are not as high as you may be used to it in other countries. Even though the saleswomen on the markets try their best to keep the flies away from their meat, there are just too many. I do not think that the water is always perfectly purified and I never knew how long the meat has been laying in the sun before I came and bought it. But the food tastes great and neither Roberto nor I had any stomach problems to fight with. In Cambodia anthelminthics (medicine against worms and parasites) are sold for a dollar. We took some just to be on the safe side. So don’t worry for food standards and dip into the exotic Khmer cuisine!
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Buddhist Monk Blessing Ceremony

Cambodia is largely a Buddhist country. It is practiced by around 95% of the population. The Buddhism is based around the more than 5,000 monastery temples in the country. Known locally as Pagodas sometime Vihear or Wat, they are administered by monks. You will frequently see them around town, wearing their distinctive orange robes, with their shaven heads and eyebrows.The monks are basically teachers or students themselves. One service they will offer is a “blessing and religious ceremony”. This is a beautiful ceremony, designed to impart good luck, long life and happiness and prosperity. I went along to receive one at the monastery. We will have a future article on what this center offers, but for now, this is about the blessing. After the ceremony, there was a chance to ask questions. These were asked randomly by the participants in the ceremony, hence the slightly unstructured nature of the questions that follow. The monks were seated in front of an altar. On it was a statue of Buddha, some fruits, candles and flowers. The room is wooden in the Khmer style and very simple in its decoration. There were mats for us to sit on. We were told to sit cross legged (or actually in the classic Yoga pose if we could manage it). We were also told it is impolite to stand in the presence of the monks as we should remain lower than them. It consisted of a continuous chant, lasting around 20 minutes. Using the religious language, Pali, (which is related to Sanskrit) the monks started intoning the words. The head monk started and the others joined in. At the times, they would break off, but always at least one monk continued. Near the end of the ceremony, the head monk picked up jasmine flowers or a whisk of leaves and threw water from a bowl over us with the whisk or jasmine flowers. Right near the end, the monks picked up bowls of jasmine buds and threw them over us. Finally it was over. After the questions, the head monk tied a piece of red cotton around our wrists. We were instructed to move forward and pick up a small tray with an offering on it, as the monks can’t take anything unless it is given to them. Contact us by : sokmengguide@gmail.com 

Travel To Kampong Cham

Travel to kampong Cham there are two deference way to go there by road and by waterway because the province located along the Mekong river, kampong Cham is one of tourist’s destination in Cambodia between Siem Reap and capital City Phnom Penh, the provincial city is beautiful and peaceful , there are not so many tourists come to this province but in this province there are many tourists attractions especially the Phnom Bros and Phnom Srey hill ( the boy and the girl hill ) this place are related to Cambodian culture of wedding ceremony and another places are Phnom Hanchey is historical site with ancient temple pre Angkor period and another one is Wat Norkor Batchey temple it is the twelve century temple of Angkor period . Contact us by : sokmengguide@gmail.com

Kampong Cham tourist's attraction

This is the north entrance pediment of Wat Norkor Batchey temple and it was constructed at end of twelfth century by king Jayavaraman seventh in Boyan style , this temple is one of tourist's attraction around city Kampong Cham that it located about 4 km from the Mekong River of provincial city and if you travel from capital Phnom Penh to provincial city kampong Cham by national road number 7 this temple located on the right site and opposite the Naga roundabout before you reach to city and you will see the entrance of temple. This temple is very nice and peaceful place to see and the temple surrounds by Buddhist monastery with many stupas  .  sokmengguide@gmail.com