Cambopedia

Soma Serei Norodom on Khmer Rouge Toul Sleng prison

Soma Serei Norodom, a royal family member, has a nice personal weblog.

Holding a Master Degree in Mass Communication from California State University, Fresno, the blogger posted some photos of Toul Sleng with her experience visiting the infamous Khmer Rouge prison.

Photo: http://somanorodom.wordpress.com/

Soma Serei Norodom describes that:

As I write in my blog of my experiences in Cambodia, one landmark I visited has tugged at my heart. That place is the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum. Before the Khmer Rouge came into power in April 1975, Toul Sleng Svay Prey was a primary school and high school, where students learned Khmer and French, math and science, and had hope for a bright future. The classrooms were filled with teachers lecturing and kids laughing, and now, Toul Sleng is a museum, a memorial, dedicated to the victims of S-21 Prison during Pol Pot’s reign. Haunting photographs of prisoners, tortured tools and machines, human skulls, and 14 victim corpses are displayed at the museum, as Toul Sleng is a testament of the madness of the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge reign in Cambodia ranked as the most disastrous in modern history.

Coffee in Cambodia

Steven Sirski posted “Coffee and Coffee Shops in Asia”. The traveler wrote about a great place for coffee in Cambodia:

Hard to find a decent cup of coffee in PP [Phnom Penh] but, if you must, go to the Foreign Correspondent Club (FCC) along the Tonle Sap river. Found in a renovated villa from the French colonial era, the place is both a boutique hotel and a cafe. Get the double since a single is something like $2 whereas a double is $2.50 and is a generous serving of caffeine. Again, atmosphere is pretty cool and the service is great. The cafe is located on the second floor, overlooking the Mekong River, and out of reach of the hawkers working the street below. Lots of foreigners inside, lots of hawkers selling weed outside.

Angkor Wat: Huffington Post’s destination of the day

Ancient Angkor Wat photographs taken by Getty Image’s Ian Walton. [Link to photo slideshow below].

The Huffington Post says “Angkor Wat lies just outside of Siem Reap, Cambodia. The temple site was built by Suryavarman II and represents Khmer architecture, which was primarily religious in nature. Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, the ruins drew nearly 2 million visitors last year.”

Also, Siem Reap-based Peter Olszewski of the Phnom Penh Post has a news story about “Florida-based researcher, publisher and robot manufacturer Kent Davis is rapidly gaining an international reputation as the sleuth of Siem Reap, a new age detective delving into what he sees as one of the greatest mysteries of ancient Angkor Wat – the 1780 images of anonymous and mostly bare-breasted women depicted in carvings throughout the iconic structure.

Gloria Jeans opens its first coffeehouse in Phnom Penh

As American Starbucks hasn’t yet arrived in Cambodia, Australian-owned Gloria Jean’s Coffees established late last year its first cafe in Boeung Keng Kang I district, one of Phnom Penh’s peaceful areas.

The international coffee and coffeehouse chain with stores in over 30 countries is

…dedicated to providing a comfortable atmosphere for our Gloria Jean’s family. Whether it’s your morning coffee, after-work pick-me-up, or meeting friends in the evening we want you to come in, relax in our comfy chairs, and enjoy every sip of your Gloria Jean’s coffee!

Strikingly, on its internet site, you can get all the latest news about the cafe through both Twitter and Facebook Page.

Yoga in Cambodia

NataRaj Yoga opened its doors as Cambodia’s first yoga studio in August 2004, under the independent initiative of 25-year-old Canadian teacher, Isabelle Skaburskis.

And since then it has become an integral part of Phnom Penh life, offering a nurturing environment, responsible instruction, and strong community for Cambodians and expatriates alike, through public classes and partnerships with Non-Governmental Organizations.

More info about Yoga classes.

#52, Street 302
Boeng Keng Kang I
P.O. Box 401
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Cultural Village in Siem Reap: a world of weirdness?

The Phnom Penh Post says so: entering a world of weirdness at the Cambodian Cultural Village.

The big question hovering over Siem Reap’s most bizarre tourist attraction, the Cambodian Cultural Village, located along the Airport Road 6, is what ever happened to the remains of the unknown UNTAC soldier once depicted in the museum walking out of a local drinking den with a hot little bar girl in his arms?

Tonle Sap Lake: floating life

The Washington Post has more and more news stories about Cambodia, including lifestyle and travel.
Family vacation includes Vietnam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia:
VILLAGE LIFE: In a small village along Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia, an elderly woman called to us in French and invited us to taste the sweets she was making. Then another person invited us to her porch, where we watched a man with a fever being treated by cupping. (Hot cups are attached to the body, allowing the welts to heal the fever.) I also visited a school.