REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea : Night Market in Phnom Penh

Girls browse clothes at a night market in Phnom Penh September 10, 2010. The sign reads,"Women shorts one for $2 and three for only $5". REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

People browse clothes at a night market in Phnom Penh September 10, 2010. The sign reads,"Women shorts one for $2 and three for only $5". REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Girls perform in front of a big picture showing Cambodian singers during a concert at a night market in Phnom Penh September 10, 2010. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

A vendor waits for customers on the street at a night market in Phnom Penh September 10, 2010. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

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ASEAN: Cambodians working in foreign countries tops 39,000

Cambodian government said Friday that by the 1-Half of this year, about 40,000 Cambodian are working in foreign countries. At a round-table discussion with Club of Cambodian Journalists, Hou Vuthy, deputy director general of the General Directorate of Ministry of Labor and his colleagues told reporters that by June this year, there were 39,051 Cambodian workers working in Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and Japan. They said there were 19,588 Cambodians laborers working in Malaysia, 10,284 working in Thailand, 9,082 in South Korea and 97 in Japan. Through these workers, about US$150M was sent back to Cambodia every year, said Hou Vuthy. He said their salary, while working in Thailand and Malaysia is about US$200 per month, whereas in South Korea and Japan is between 800 and 1,000US $’s per month. Hou Vuthy said Cambodian laborers were first sent to work abroad in Y 1995. As of date, Cambodian workers are only sent to these four countries, but more targeted nations such as Kuwait, Qatar, Canada and Singapore are being negotiated, and hope those countries will accept Cambodian labors in the near future, according to Hou Vuthy.–Paul A. Ebeling, Jnr. http://www.livetradingnews.com/ More Detail

Unveiling Angkor Wat's silent dancers

Saturday Sep 11, 2010

The role of numerous carved women at the temple of Angkor Wat has experts puzzled. Photo / Supplied Amid the splendour of the 12th-century temple at Angkor Wat, they stand and stare like silent sentinels, sensuous rather than erotic, carved with elegance and care. But exactly who are these 1786 mysterious women and why, more than a century after Cambodia's famed Hindu temple was rediscovered by Western archaeologists, did it take the efforts of an amateur US researcher to push experts into trying to resolve the puzzle? Though Kent Davis had lived in Southeast Asia during the 1990s, he did not see Angkor Wat until 2005. Like most visitors to the huge complex, for many years cut off from the outside world because of the Khmer Rouge, he was mesmerised. But he also left with a flurry of questions. "I went to Angkor as a tourist and I was startled when I got there to notice these women," said Davis, 54, a publisher and writer who now lives near Tampa, Florida. "I was not prepared for it. The human element of them struck me and I wanted to know who they were. I asked one of the guides and he said they were there to serve the king after he went to heaven." Davis vowed he would return to the US and investigate. Yet when he got home he found there was essentially nothing written about these women, who appear throughout the temple complex in full body carvings. Indeed, the only study of the female carvings he could find had been made in the early 20th century by the daughter of Frenchman Henri Marchal, then the site's curator. Five years and several trips to Angkor later, Davis has slowly begun to get some answers. After turning to Michigan University computer experts for help, a team was able to conduct facial mapping experiments on digital photographs of the women, or devatas. The team, whose findings were presented last month at the International Conference on Pattern Recognition, an academic convocation in Istanbul, concluded there were at least eight different facial types, perhaps reflecting a variety of ethnicities in the Khmer kingdom. The results are to be examined further by archaeologists and more computer mapping is planned. But despite all the mapping, the results of which were published in DatAsia magazine, many questions about the women remain unanswered. "There are almost 1800 women's faces there," said Davis, who is now trying to use 65 separate characteristics to place the faces in a database. "It's a Facebook of the 12th century, but no one had ever heard of them. This was the biggest temple the Khmer people ever built and it must have been important to them because they threw everything into it. "They would have put important things in it; these women must have been important to the kingdom." Davis wrote to universities, pestered experts, and sought the opinions of people from around the globe who had worked at Angkor. Dr Peter Sharrock, an expert on Southeast Asia at London's School of African and Oriental Studies, has studied the temples around Angkor for years. "We understand [the female carvings] little but they play a major role in the architectural sculpture of these temples, which must imply a major role in the beliefs of the ancient Khmers and in the rituals in their temples," he said. "Khmer descent was primarily matrilineal, and Khmer women were literate and powerful. Many were queens, and most kings base their genealogies and claims to the throne on their female ancestors." Davis said analysing the images was like "being the first person to get a map to the British Museum and the keys to the front door". "Once we define facial types more thoroughly, [by] using facial pattern recognition on people living in this area ... we could actually find the descendants of some of the sacred women in the temple." ANGKOR WAT What: A sprawling temple complex. Where: Located amid dense jungle and close to the city of Siem Reap. History: It was built in the early 12th century and is one of a series of stunning palaces built over a 400-year period by the Khmer Kingdom. Angkor Wat, the most impressive and best-preserved of the complexes, was built for King Suryavarman II and is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. Khmer Rouge: For many years the remarkable buildings were unknown to the West, which only "rediscovered" them in the 19th century. During the 1970s and 1980s they were off-limits as a result of the presence of the Khmer Rouge, the Maoist-inspired rebels who ruled Cambodia from 1975-79 and who then engaged in a bitter civil war for the next two decades. Today: The temples attract up to a million tourists a year. Angkor Wat has become a symbol of Cambodia, even appearing on its national flag. More Detail

The Five Myths of Travel

Matt Kepnes nomadicmatt.com Posted: September 10, 2010 Whenever I tell people that I travel for a living, they usually fire a million questions at me about what it's like to do an around-the-world trip. Then, they usually finish by saying, "You're so lucky! I wish I could do what you do, but I have too many responsibilities." Or they might say, "A trip will be too expensive," or "I'm afraid I won't meet anybody." I hear these excuses all the time, and each time I hear them I sigh a bit. I know first hand how they can hold you back and how they aren't true. But I sympathize with people. I, too, had the same fears before I went away. Even when I got on the plane, I was still nervous. However, if 4 years of travel has taught me anything, it's this: Travel is NOT expensive. Despite what the ads, the travel agents, and the TV commercials may say, travel is not expensive. You don't need thousands upon thousands of dollars to take a trip. The reason why you see only costly trips in magazines is because those are the places that pay for the advertising. I spend less money traveling than when I am home. On the road, I figured out how to find cheap flights, get free accommodation, save money by using local transportation, and cooking some of my meals. Moreover, not having any monthly bills drastically reduces your expenses. Once you "live like a local," you'll find travel is cheap. RTW trips are easy. When I first went away, I planned and worried about every little detail of my trip. In the end, I realized I was worrying for nothing. Everything seemed to work out and travelers, hostels, and locals had much more up-to-date information than the guidebooks had. Moreover, I kept on changing all the plans I made as the situation changed. The lesson: Now, I book the first few nights and then go with the flow. Everything works out in the end. People speak English. English is a global language, so you shouldn't have too many problems taking to people. Even in places like rural Cambodia, people still understand a little bit of English. You'll be able to communicate on a basic level and get around. Moreover, hand signs work very well. A friend of mine communicated his desire for eggs by drawing a chicken and an egg on a piece of paper. My point is that with the widespread dissemination of Hollywood movies and English being the common language, you won't have a problem communicating. You will make friends. When I first backpacked around Europe, I was nervous about making new friends. So, what did I end up doing? I simply asked people if they wanted to hang out. And you know what? Everything worked out just fine. Life on the road is filled with other travelers in the same position. Making friends just happens. You sit down on a bus or enter your dorm and say hello. Or you join in a game of pool. Not really good at asking questions? Don't worry. People will ask you questions and include you. Everyone is in the same boat. Responsibilities are an illusion. The great fear people have about going away involves their responsibilities. People worry about their bills, their apartment, or all their earthly possessions. Yet, once you go away, all of these things disappear. It's easy. Cancel your phone and cable service, sell your car, give up your apartment, and go. It sounds so simple that it must be too good to be true. The truth is it really is that simple. Once you make the decision to go, you'll find that all those "responsibilities" that held you back are gone just like that. In the end, what really holds us back is ourselves. Our own fears and lack of confidence keep us from going overseas and taking that trip we dream of in our heads. That was my biggest challenge. I had to prepare myself to take the leap. But once I realized these fears were just in my head, it was much easier to take the leap. And that's the hardest part. After you take the leap you will realize that all your worries were for naught and you'll start having the time of your life. Follow Matt Kepnes on Twitter: www.twitter.com/nomadicmatt More Detail