SOBAY CHHNUM THMIE!!!!!. HAPPY KHMER NEW YEAR!!!!!

Cambodian New Year (Khmer: បុណ្យចូលឆ្នាំថ្មី) or Chaul Chnam Thmey in the Khmer language, literally "Enter Year New". The holiday lasts for three days beginning on New Year's day, which usually falls on April 13th or 14th, which is the end of the harvesting season, when farmers enjoy the fruits of their labor before the rainy season begins.. The Khmer New Year coincides with the traditional solar new year in several parts of India, Myanmar and Thailand.

Cambodians also use the Buddhist calendar. For 2011, it is 2555 BE (Buddhist Era)^.\

The three days of the new year

Maha Songkran (មហាសង្រ្កាន្ត)

Maha Songkran, derived from Sanskrit Maha Sankranti, is the name of the first day of the new year celebration. It is the ending of the year and the beginning of a new one. People dress up and light candles and burn incense sticks at shrines, where the members of each family pay homage to offer thanks for the Buddha's teachings by bowing, kneeling and prostrating themselves three times before his image. For good luck people wash their face with holy water in the morning, their chests at noon, and their feet in the evening before they go to bed.

Virak Wanabat (វ័នបត)

Virak Wanabat is the name of the second day of the new year celebration. People contribute charity to the less fortunate by helping the poor, servants, homeless, and low-income families. Families attend a dedication ceremony to their ancestors at the pagoda.

 Tngay Leang Saka (ថ្ងៃឡើងស័ក)

Tngay Leang Saka is the name of the third day of the new year celebration. Buddhists cleanse the Buddha statues and their elders with perfumed water. Bathing the Buddha images is the symbol that water will be needed for all kinds of plants and lives. It is also thought to be a kind deed that will bring longevity, good luck, happiness and prosperity in life. By bathing their grandparents and parents, children can obtain from them best wishes and good advice for the future.

New Year's customs

In temples, people erect a sand hillock on temple grounds. They mound up a big pointed hill of sand or dome in the center which represents sakyamuni satya, the stupa at Tavatimsa, where the Buddha's hair and diadem are buried. The big stupa is surrounded by four small ones, which represent the stupas of the Buddha's favorite disciples: Sariputta, Moggallana, Ananda, and Maha Kassapa. There is another tradition called Sraung Preah (ស្រង់ព្រះ) : pouring water or liquid plaster (a mixture of water with some chalk powder) on elder relative, or people (mostly the younger generation is responsible for pouring the water).

The Khmer New Year is also a time to prepare special dishes. One of these is a "kralan": a cake made from steamed rice mixed with beans or peas, grated coconut and coconut milk. The mixture is stuffed inside a bamboo stick and slowly roasted.

Khmer games (ល្បែង⁣ប្រជាប្រិយ⁣)

Cambodia is home to a variety of games played to transform the dull days into memorable occasions. These games are similar to those played at Manipur, a north-eastern state in India. Throughout the Khmer New Year, street corners often are crowded with friends and families enjoying a break from routine, filling their free time with dancing and games. Typically, Khmer games help maintain one's mental and physical dexterity. The body's blood pressure, muscle system and brain are challenged and strengthened for fun.

• "Tres"

A game played by throwing and catching a ball with one hand while trying to catch an increasing number of sticks with the other hand. Usually, pens or chopsticks are used as the sticks to be caught.

• "Chol Chhoung (ចោល⁣ឈូង⁣) "

A game played especially on the first nightfall of the Khmer New Year by two groups of boys and girls. Ten or 20 people comprise each group, standing in two rows opposite each other. One group throws the "chhoung" to the other group. When it is caught, it will be rapidly thrown back to the first group. If someone is hit by the "chhoung," the whole group must dance to get the "chhoung" back while the other group sings.

• "Chab Kon Kleng (ចាប់⁣កូនខ្លែង)⁣ "

A game played by imitating a hen as she protects her chicks from a crow. Adults typically play this game on the night of the first New Year's Day. Participants usually appoint a strong player to play the hen who protects "her" chicks, while another person is picked to be the "crow". While both sides sing a song of bargaining, the crow tries to catch as many chicks as possible as they hide behind the hen.

• "Bos Angkunh (បោះអង្គុញ⁣)"

A game played by two groups of boys and girls. Each group throws their own "angkunh" to hit the master "angkunhs," which belong to the other group and are placed on the ground. The winners must knock the knees of the losers with the "angkunh." "Angkunh" is also the name of an inedible fruit seed, which looks like a knee bone.

• "Leak Kanseng (លាក់⁣កន្សែង)⁣ "

A game played by a group of children sitting in a circle. Someone holding a "kanseng" (Cambodian towel) that is twisted into a round shape walks around the circle while singing a song. The person walking secretly tries to place the "kanseng" behind one of the children. If that chosen child realizes what is happening, he or she must pick up the "kanseng" and beat the person sitting next to him or her.

• "Bay Khom(បាយខុម)"

A game played by two children in rural or urban areas during their leisure time. Ten holes are dug in the shape of an oval into a board in the ground. The game is played with 42 small beads, stones or fruit seeds. Before starting the game, five beads are put into each of the two holes located at the tip of the board. Four beads are placed in each of the remaining eight holes. The first player takes all the beads from any hole and drops them one by one in the other holes. He or she must repeat this process until they have dropped the last bead into a hole that lies besides any empty one. Then they must take all the beads in the hole that follows the empty one. At this point, the second player may have his turn. The game ends when all the holes are empty. The player with the greatest number of beads wins the game. It is possibly similar to congkak.

• "Klah Klok (ខ្លា ឃ្លោក) "

A game played by Cambodians of all ages. It is a gambling game that is fun for all ages involving a mat and some dice. You put money on the object that you believe the person rolling the dice (which is usually shaken in a type of bowl) and you wait. If the objects face up on the dice are the same as the objects you put money on, you double it. If there are two of yours, you triple, and so on.

Source: Wikipedia

THE SMILING SKY BOOKSHOP. TRULY A NICHE MARKET IN BATTAMBANG

The Smiling Sky Bookshop in an initiative of local mother of three children, Chan. This little gem is tucked into a small niche near the Chhaya Hotel on Rue 3.

I like it because:............

 of the  array of books in French, German and English that cover a comprehensive range of subjects including history, biography, geography, romance, mystery and humour.

Prices are reasonable and you can either buy, exchange or sell books.

DVD's are on sale. 

You can buy small mementos and I use the word deliberately as they are far too exquisite to call souvenirs!

Speaking of souvenirs, the tee shirts are great. My favourites have the Battambang Man and the old Elecrticite du Battambang logos on them.

The coffee is great and at thirty-seven cents a mug, I venture to say that it is the best value for money coffee in the world!!  

What is special about the Smiling Sky Bookshop?

They sell postcards and stamps and will even post your cards for you!

The business is locally owned and operated and a great example of what enterprising women in Cambodia can achieve.

116 Rue 3   012 29 80 05 or 092 57 62 02 http://www.smilingskybookshop.com/

SUPPORT LOCAL BUSINESS IN BATTAMBANG

BATTAMBANG "MIGHTY GIRLS" FINISH SECOND IN NATIONAL FOOTBALL FINAL

The thrilling conclusion to the 2011 National High School Girls Football Championship saw the Pursat team emerge victorious over Battambang’s Mighty Girls team with a hard fought but scrappy 1-0 win yesterday in Kampong Thom.

Both teams started nervously, finding difficulty in playing the passing game on a very dusty and bumpy field. Battambang launched some sustained attacks through right winger Bun Chivey, but to no avail.

After just seven minutes, a catastrophic defensive error allowed Pursat’s Chem Chenda space in front of the sticks to slot in the opener and leave the Mighty Girls shell-shocked.

From there on out, it was all Battambang but the stoic backline of Pursat reduced the chances to just a few pot-shots from distance.

Careless handling of a back pass by the Pursat keeper at the 19 minute mark  almost granted the equaliser from the ensuing free kick, and a further handball that went unseen by the match officials only served to infuriate the Mighty Girls.

After the restart, it became clear that Battambang did not want to go home without a fight, but the Pursat defence matched their moves.

An excellent opportunity for Battambang’s Dep Panida off a set piece was not converted and it started looking like it was not to be their day. A handful of advances up the field for Pursat yielded little, as they appeared content to sit on their lead and keep bodies behind the ball.

Battambang’s national team striker Srey Teav had a shot headed clear off the line and a host of further near chances still couldn’t see the Mighty Girls grab the vital leveller as the sands of time disappeared into the sandy turf.

At the final whistle, Pursat were in ecstasy while Battambang were in tears. The Mighty Girls had yet again lost in the final after failing to find a way through a physically strong defence.

Pursat deservedly take home the trophy after conceding just a single goal from six tough games in Kampong Thom, with discipline and team spirit overcoming limited skill and tactics.

Pursat coach Ouk Sothy was delighted with his team’s triumph, revealing that training at their substandard home ground had helped them cope with the dusty imperfections of the pitch during the past week’s competition.

Despite the underdog tags, Pursat boasted some talented individuals amongst their squad. Right winger and captain Sorn Sreyteav and left winger Tan Linda had featured in the U16 sides that travelled to Singapore last November, achieving success in a 7-a-side tournament.

Mighty Girls keeper Keng Chanue expressed her team’s heartache at their in inability to claim the title over unfavoured rivals. “Normally the Pursat team is not that strong or play that good to beat us, but I guess [the loss was] because we had difficulty adapting to such a poor playing surface,” said the 17-year-old stopper who has been playing for three years.

“I will train more and work harder to win next time.”

Teammate Cheung Lipa echoed the sentiments about the playing conditions. “I am really, really sad because we could not control the ball in the second half. It was out of my control. I cannot believe that we lost.”

Battambang coach Sam Scweingruber was left ruing their sudden loss of quality in the final, but gave praise to their conquerors.

“Four of our key players never got into the game for the entire match,” he told the Post yesterday. “That is not just because of us, but also [because] Pursat really worked super hard and closed the gaps and destroyed any sort of constructive game.”

The Swiss born tactician also opined that the organising committee had opted for the worst of Kampong Thom’s fields to play the final on. 

SOURCE http://www.phnompenhpost.com/ Image: Soluy Hansen

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES IN BATTAMBANG

EMERGENCY SURGICAL CENTRE

National Road 5

Rumcheck 4 Village

Rattanak Commune

Phone: 053 952 822, 053 730 379, 012 866 202.

BATTAMBANG REFERRAL HOSPITAL

Prek Mohatep Village

Svay Por Commune

Phone: 012 619 113

The following, excellent health facilities are located in Siem Reap:

ROYAL ANGKOR INTERNATIONAL HOSPITAL

No 593 Road 6 (Airport Road)

Phone:  063 761 888, 092 532 662

www.royalangkorhospital.com

JAYAVARMAN 7 CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

Road of Temple,  Siem Reap

Phone: 063 964 803

RECENTLY RELEASED DVD'S AVAILABLE AT KHMER DELIGHT

Khmer Delight Restaurant has a range of quality DVD's for sale and they include:

The King's Speech - Burlesque - 127 Hours - Little Fockers - Morning Glory - Tron - Love and Other Drugs - Clockwork Orange - On the Waterfront

 $2.25 each or 3 for $6       

BATTAMBANG GOES NUCLEAR!!

The following story is from the Phnom Penh Post http://www.phnompenhpost.com/

It may be decades before nuclear power becomes a realistic option in Cambodia, but for students in Battambang, there is now a course to teach nuclear engineering as a major after three years at the University of Battambang.

The idea is to build up human resources in nuclear engineering and eventually to produce energy to make electricity from a nuclear power plant.

Japan is still facing serious problems after an earthquake and tsunami, which caused four reactors at Japanese nuclear plants to spew or leak radioactivity into the ocean and atmosphere. However, these accidents will not stop Cambodia from training people in nuclear engineering.

“I do not expect this level of accident in Cambodia and these accidents might not be considered in the design stage,” said Hah Chang Joo, an advisor to the rector and adjunct professor at UBB. He is a nuclear researcher and designer from the Seoul University in South Korea.

Joo said that if Cambodia can build nuclear plants like Japan, geologists will play a major role in determining the location. Anywhere there are earthquakes is not suitable.

Joo said he and his university in Seoul have cooperated with the rector of UBB, Touch Visalsok, to start the nuclear engineering major at the university. His university in South Korea sponsored a nuclear core simulator machine, which costs about US$50,000, for UBB. It is used to train students about nuclear engineering.

“I came here because I think that in the next 10 or 20 years, Cambodia will be able to generate nuclear power from a nuclear power plant energy reactor and I want to create nuclear engineering human resources,” he said.

He said that the nuclear engineering major is a bit hard for Cambodian students because it is new and requires students to have the basics of mathematics, physics and chemistry.

“However, I have found a few smart students in year 2, who are good human resources for Cambodia,” he said.

Joo said he now teaches his student both theories from books and practice with the nuclear core simulator machine.

“Students can use this machine to test nuclear design data,” he said. “If that data is different, it means the test was not successful.”

Touch Visalsok, 40, the rector of UBB, has been trying to promote nuclear engineering major via workshops, scholarships and flyers.

Visalsok said that since his university was built, he had tried to put nuclear engineering into the curriculum by asking the ministry of education to cooperate with the South Korean university in Seoul.

“In the first year there were only eight students who applied to study this major, but now there are 22 studying this major,” he said.

The number of students electing to do nuclear engineering is increasing due to more understanding of the subject.

Visalsok said studying this major is not harmful to students for they study theory and practice only on computers or with the nuclear core simulator machine. However, the number of female students who study this subject is still low.

“We try to encourage female students to study this new major and give the first priority to them,” he said.

“This major provides students with many opportunities to work in the nuclear industry, construction industry and electric power supply industry as well as in government and abroad,” he said. “It also provides students with master and PhD scholarships to study in Korea or the United States.

“Students have to pay $260 for the foundation year, while scholarship students do not,” he said. “If students want scholarships, they have to apply via the state scholarship scheme.”

From year 2 to year 4 payment students have to pay $360 per year for the nuclear engineering majors, the same as other majors.

He said it is not easy for students who study nuclear engineering since they have to be good at English, mathematics, physics and chemistry.

Hean Vannak, 20, a second year student of nuclear engineering, said he is a scholarship student and he applied to study this subject after seeing it advertised by the Ministry of  Education, Youth, and Sports.

“At first I felt very afraid of this new subject because I thought that studying nuclear engineering was training students to produce nuclear bombs, but in fact now that I have studied it, it just trains students how to use nuclear engineering,” he said.

He added that this may give job opportunities to students who can work in electronics companies.

During a degree-giving ceremony at Norton University in Phnom Penh this year, Prime Minister Hun Sen said: “It is time for us to produce more human resources like UBB, which has a major to teach students to be nuclear engineers.”

Cheam Yeap, a lawmaker with the Cambodian People’s Party, said we have to start building up human resources for nuclear engineering so we do not need to employ others because if we hire staff from abroad, it is very expensive, but if we have our own human resources, we do not waste too much money.

“If we have our own human resources with nuclear engineering, we are sure to trust them rather than the others from abroad,” he said.