by khmerbird on January 27, 2010
Just learn that Travelfish has developed an Iphone application: Angkor. If you travel to Siem Reap and you got an Iphone, this could be an unique experience to go deep down the city of temples.
As we can see on the main screen of the application, it got 8 categories: Background, Sleep, Eat & meet, See & do, Transport, Walking tours, Photos and Maps.
For you information Travelfish provide very good travel guide around Asia: Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Check out their website for more information on how to get this application download directly to your Iphone.
The Travelfish iPhone app: Angkor
by khmerbird on January 24, 2010
Angkor Butterfly Centre (ABC) opened its net on October 1st allowing visitors to interact with hundreds of free-flying native butterflies. Located 25km north of Siem Reap, on the road to Banteay Srei temple, ABC is set within a netted tropical garden and will feature some of the world’s largest butterflies. Including, the Atlas Moth with a wing-span of 26cm (11in) and the exotic Birdwing butterfly – that resembles more of a delicate bird then an insect.
Interacting with more then 30 of Cambodia’s 400 species of butterflies, visitors can discover the miracle of insect life. Witnessing first-hand the complete lifecycle of the butterfly, from the tiny eggs to shocking caterpillars, mysterious pupae and finally the delicate adult butterfly.
However, underneath all of this fluttering beauty is a core community development project working with the local community to farm butterflies for the enclosure, helping to alleviate poverty. All of the butterflies within the ABC have been farmed within communities around Bantaey Srei and Phnom Kulen. Members of the community have been trained by professionals to farm the pupae sustainably without exploiting the natural population of butterflies – while earning a steady income from the preservation of these insects.
To visit the Angkor Butterfly Centre contact: info@asia-adventures.com
by khmerbird on January 23, 2010
In 2009, I have enjoyed the first Cambodia Opera Rock: Where elephants weep. It was a good performance of all times. I am not sure if you had chance to see the performance but in case you missed it. Now there are something quite similar that is coming soon.
“Winds of Angkor” (performed in English) was written by British composer Sarah O’Brien after reading fragments of prisoners’ letters dating from the Khmer Rouge regime, that were featured in a British newspaper in 1998.
The following years were spent researching and writing the musical, which combines a contemporary symphonic score with traditional Cambodian musical elements.
The story is guided by the spirits from that time, and is told for a modern audience through the eyes of a Western journalist who travels to Cambodia and falls in love with a survivor of the regime. Visits to Cambodia in 1998 and 2006 gave the composer the opportunity to meet with victims and survivors of Pol Pot’s barbaric takeover, which claimed the lives of an estimated one in four Cambodians during the late 1970s.
[click to continue…]
by khmerbird on September 22, 2009
Churning the sea of time cover
when i was young, my father got a boat.
we used to travel from Kratie to Phnom Penh, a long the river Mekong.
it took us two day and one night to reach Phnom Penh because we don’t continue, we stopped at night due to the strong wind and the darkness.
i enjoyed a lot while i was on the boat. i saw those beautiful landscapes and different people along the river, taking bath, fishing, selling … all kind of things. those are the good memories, the best moments of my life. then i read the book of Henry Mouhot, i dreamed one day i could make a boat trip to Angkor like him.
then i went to France. i watched for the very first time of my life, the master piece of all time Apocalypse Now. most part of the film was shot on the boat along the Magdapio River (it’s supposed to be Mekong River). the film influences to everyone, but i would say it remind me a lot about my childhood, especially when i am away from home. when i saw the boat travel around the river, you might imagine how i feel at that time.
i still wish today to travel along the Mekong river started from Laos, Cambodia, to Angkor and to Vietnam. i am not sure when this dream come true but it still remain in my heart.
someone has made a very nice video about this wonderful and unique experience boat trip: Churning the Sea of Time, A Journey Up the Mekong to Angkor.
it might not have been described as beautiful as Marguerite Duras in THE LOVER of Jean-Jacques Annaud or as sens of adventure as Captain Benjamin L. Willard in Apocalypse Now but this film is good to watch, you can see and learn many things along the Mekong river and Angkor temple.
you might need a good internet speed to watch the whole video on youtube.
Churning the Sea of Time: A Journey Up the Mekong to Angkor
by khmerbird on July 17, 2009
opposite to last night that i got a very bad experience with the food in a beer garden, tonight we eat a very nice dinner at a small and very nice restaurant. last night we meats were kept many days ago, due to this low season, not many costumers to the restaurant, some restaurant keep the meat for many days and as you can imagine how bad the food is…
tonight we go to a small restaurant called Phsa Chas restaurant, the food was great, and the price is reasonable if you compare to others restaurant near by and just opposite it. a small bottle of Angkor cost only 4000 Riels.
while enjoy the dinner, someone drop a paper which indicate the Event Movie at the Angkore Night Market Pol Pot: The history of Genocide. i know this move was diffuse at Mekong restaurant in Phnom Penh but i never get chance to go and watch it.
tonight i watched it, at the small movie room at Angkor night market, a lot emotion to see an empty Phnom Penh, no market, no money no bank … nothing, nobody in town. it’s a moving documentary i would say … i feel very sad after 41 minutes of the movie.
i walked back to the hotel and passed the street bar, where i found a nice concert on the street with a low price beer 0.5 for a small draft of beers. i stopped by for a drink, i need to chill me up after a Genocide movie. the band help me a lot to find normal spirit and enjoy back to life.
people dance down the street, a lot of pretty pretty girls with little dress on the body, nobody is gonna care nobody. you can do whatever you want, the band was playing my favorite song “Le vent nous portera” a pop song by French groun Noir Desirs.
voila this is the 2nd post from Siem Reap i guess, goodnight to everybody.
by khmerbird on June 25, 2009
National Geographic Magazine July 2009 featured great article about Angkor and don’t forget to check out the 3D animations from Angkor Interactive, it’s great to see how Khmer people lived in 13th Century.
ANSWERS FROM ANGKOR (Cover story), by Richard Stone, photographed by Robert Clark,
During the ninth to 15th centuries, the resplendent city of Angkor, capital of the Khmer kingdom and home to royalty and the largest religious monument on Earth, was the most extensive urban complex in the world.
Yet Angkor today is in ruins and populated mostly by peasant rice farmers. The reason behind the city’s downfall may be rooted in its ancient, vast and complex water system.
It was a marvel of engineering designed to control the flow of water into the sprawling city, but it required constant maintenance. When the water system faltered, so did Angkor’s power.
Writer Richard Stone brings to light the limits of human ingenuity, while veteran National Geographic photographer Robert Clark chronicles the sacred city, past and present. Stone is available for interviews.
Read the full article Answers from Angkor
