With some beautiful pictures, an interesting profile of a Cambodian fisherman, who lives in Siem Reap, was recorded here by Jed and Bebe, on ‘Snapshot Aesthetics’.

Sin Mut is a 29-year old fisherman from Chong Khneas village in Siem Reap, Cambodia. He lives with his family of thirteen on the banks of the great Tonle Sap. His father has already retired from fishing and his mother takes care of his eight siblings and grandparents.

In one of the previous blog-posts, Cambopedia pointed out an interesting story about love or hate Cambodia. In this entry, you’ll find two things about religion in Cambodia; first, the nation’s most respected Buddhism, and last, Christianity.

Religion in Cambodia is predominantly Buddhism with 95% of the population being Theravada Buddhist. Most of the remaining population adheres to Islam, Christianity, Animism and Hinduism.

The gospel came late to Cambodia. The first Protestant missionary arrived in 1923, translated the New Testament in 1933 and published the whole Bible in 1953. Its message was not welcome and few believed or obeyed it.

This year’s PhotoPhnomPenh event will take place at Fine Arts University of Cambodia on November 28 – December 6, 2009. For more detail.

For the second PhotoPhnomPenh event, 22 exhibitions of international artists will be presented in the main cultural spaces of the city.In the spirit of discovery, festivity, and Asian-European encounters, PhnomPenhPhoto 2009 is offering 4 evenings of outdoor screenings in the courtyard of the beautiful Fine Arts University of Cambodia, followed by the dazzling “Night of the Year” in partnership with Les Rencontres d’Arles in France. A workshop will address the problematics of the publication of photographs and of their use in the press.

Leo Laksi’s Bangkok And Back blog has published a post of some of the most beautiful images of Cambodian rural landscape. Take a look at this for a set of picture of Cambodian farmers at work.

This weekend, I went to Phnom Penh’s Russian market (Tuol Tum Poung for locals) this afternoon to buy some apparel. The market has so much to offer to both locals and tourists.

Khmer teenagers and middle ages love to shop in Russian market for a few reasons. It’s understood that a number of apparel products were made in Cambodia for export purpose, but a small number of the to-be-exported products can be found in this market. The brand-name is also the most sought-after and deciding factor at the time that the price is quite reasonable. The two reasons mentioned above are probably the primary ones. Additionally, this Cambodian Russian market is easily accessible to most Phnom Penh residents.

As market vendors are not solely dependent on foreign tourists, asking price for each gift item is quite acceptable, if not reasonable to some. The Russian market, a few blocks away from the Chinese Embassy (located Mao Tse-Tung boulevard), is much known as a souvenir market for tourists; it’s a must-to-shop center for most budget and business travelers to the Cambodian capital city. I find that many vendors and sellers are quite friendly (happy selling, I think).

After buying some stuff (not all yet), I was passing by a Westerner who were dealing with a seller of statues and hand-made idols. I glanced at them while I was walking my way. It was interesting to see how the man try to convince the woman seller the price he offered was good to her. The money was out of his pocket already as he said that’s all he’s got for the gift, a wooden-made Bayon statue. The lady couldn’t help as trading took place already; and she was joyously talked to the tourist in her broken Khmer-English that you-happy-and-me-happy.