Cambodia Player : Lay Raksmey, Tieng Tiny (C), Chan Dara, Khoun La Boravy, Oum Kumpheak, Keo Kosal, Phoung Narong, Lorn Sotheara, Sou Yiti (GK), Prak Mony Udom, Touch Pancharong
Sok Rithy ,Tiny, San Narith ,Sotheara, Kouch Sokumpheak ,Udom, So Seila (Kosal), Eang Piseth ,Narong, Chan Chhaya ,Kumpheak.

Pheak Rady, Khim Borey, Keo Sokgnon, Chhun Sothearath, Sun Sovannrithy, Peng Bunchhay (GK), To Vann Thann.

BANGKOK, Nov 12 (IPS) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is known for his brash and earthy vocabulary even when, as he did in early April, he talks about himself. ”I am neither a gangster nor a gentleman, but a real man,” the politician who has led his country for 25 years said in a fit of rage.

The target of his ire at the time was Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, following comments the latter had made during a parliamentary debate in the Thai capital.

Hun Sen criticised Kasit for calling him a ”gangster” during that debate, but Kasit shot back, saying his description of Hun Sen in Thai had got lost in translation. The actual words were ”Nak Leng,” Kasit had explained, which in Thai means ”a person who is lion-hearted, a courageous and magnanimous gentleman.”

It was Kasit's second run-in with the Cambodian leader in under a year. In late 2008, when the former veteran Thai diplomat was in the political wilderness as a speaker for a conservative, right-wing protest movement, he had called Hun Sen a ”thug” during a speech at a public rally.

If the new Thai government, formed under a cloud of controversy last December, was hoping that Hun Sen would move on from such moments, then the current war of words between the two countries suggests otherwise.

”The Thais seem to have forgotten that Hun Sen has a very good memory. He does not forget easily,” a South-east Asian diplomat from a regional capital told IPS on the condition of anonymity. ”He unearths details and history he knows well to go after those who criticise him.”

But the current war of words between Cambodia and Thailand has degenerated into personal insults and a trading of charges about interfering into each country's judicial and domestic affairs.

Hun Sen raised the stakes this week in an increasingly volatile relationship between the two South-east Asian kingdoms by targeting his Thai counterpart, Abhisit Vejjajiva, in a verbal barrage.

”I would not be surprised if there was a link here with comments made by political allies of Abhisit,” the diplomat added. ”It is Hun Sen getting back.”

Besides words, Phnom Penh also rejected a request by Bangkok on Wednesday for the extradition of ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who arrived in Cambodia on Tuesday to begin his new role as Hun Sen's economic advisor.

Thaksin, whose popular elected government was turfed out of power in a 2006 military coup, has been living in exile to avoid a two-year jail term after a Thai court found him guilty in a conflict-of-interest case.

To goad the Abhisit administration, Hun Sen welcomed Thaksin with warm hugs and handshakes, and offered his own villa in Phnom Penh for the fugitive former Thai premier to stay in.

Bangkok has not fallen for Phnom Penh's bait, for now. Even though it bristles at such hospitality and the verbal salvos fired by Hun Sen, the Thai government is trying to stay above the fray, offering statements that appear calm and diplomatic.

”The government is stressing that the problem between both countries is still a bilateral issue,” Thani Thongphakdi, Thai foreign ministry's deputy spokesman, told IPS. ”We want to see a positive sign from Cambodia that gives precedence to bilateral ties over personal relationships.”

Yet at the same time, the Thai government is taking a tougher line towards the range of ties it maintains with its eastern neighbour. ”We are reviewing existing agreements, existing cooperation and future cooperation between the two countries,” Thani revealed. ”Everything is on the table.”

Bangkok's unilateral actions against Cambodia has already seen the Thai ambassador in Phnom Penh withdrawn and Thailand revoking a memorandum of understanding between the two countries to explore oil and gas reserves in the Gulf of Thailand.

It followed Hun Sen's tongue-lashing that targeted Abhisit. ”People should know that when I was starting my political career, the Thai prime minister (Abhisit) was still a child running around, playing,” Hun Sen told Cambodian journalists on Sunday, the transcripts of which IPS has seen.

”If Abhisit is so sure of himself, then he should call an election. ‘What are you afraid of? Is it that you are afraid you will not be the prime minister?'” Hun Sen continued, driving home his current achievement as South-east Asia's longest-standing premier, as opposed to Abhisit, who has been in office for less than a year.

”I am prime minister of Cambodia who has received two-thirds of the vote in the Cambodian parliament. How many votes does Abhisit have? ‘You have chosen somebody else's chair to seat yourself in',” goaded Hun Sen, referring to the question of legitimacy that has dogged the Abhisit government. ”You claim other people's property as your own. How can we respect that?”

The 57-year-old Hun Sen has been Cambodia's premier for 25 years, a period where he has not shied from revealing his authoritarian streak, using a mix of violence, intrigue and verbal attacks to cling to power. His journey to power began on the economic and social fringes of the poorer Cambodia, including a short stint when still a teenager as a soldier for the genocidal Khmer Rouge in the later 1970s.

The 45-year-old Abhisit hails from the opposite end, being born into wealth, enjoying a British education and feeling at home among Thailand's patricians. He formed a coalition government after a controversial court ruling last December saw the collapse of the elected government, paving the way through a combination of military influence and cash enticements to broker a deal to secure a parliamentary vote than a win at a general election.

Hun Sen's penchant for dipping into his country's history to take on the Abhisit administration is also threatening to expose a darker side of Thailand's relationship with its poorer and weaker eastern neighbour.

To counter Bangkok's current charges that Phnom Penh is interfering in Thailand's internal politics and judicial system by rolling out the welcome mat for Thaksin, Hun Sen retorts by reminding the Thais about the hospitality they offered to Khmer Rouge leaders like Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea, now about to face justice in a United Nations war crimes tribunal.

”The Thai judiciary has not much value to be respected,” Hun Sen said during his weekend encounter with Cambodian journalists. ”Khmer Rouge leaders Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea were living in Thailand for years. This was a violation of international law that Thailand had signed.”

”Hun Sen is absolutely correct,” said Tom Fawthrop, co-author of ‘Getting away with Genocide? Elusive Justice and the Khmer Rouge Tribunal'. ”In fact after 1979, when the Khmer Rouge were driven out of Cambodia by Vietnam, (Khmer Rouge leader) Pol Pot and other leaders all fled to Thailand.”

”The Khmer Rouge's fight to regain power was aided by logistics and weapons that flowed through Thailand, even tanks,” Fawthrop, a regional expert who spends time in Phnom Penh, told IPS. ”The Thais violated the international law after the 1991 Paris peace accord by letting the Khmer Rouge operate along its border, which was not the case along the Vietnamese and Laotian borders.”

Hun Sen's current anti-Abhisit rhetoric may not be the isolated views of Cambodia's leader but may find resonance among its people, added Fawthrop. ”The Thai-Cambodian relationship has to be looked at in a historical context. The Cambodians feel a huge sense of grievance.”

Thaksin needles the government and a fugitive financier is returned

The government of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his Democrat Party are being battered by a series of events including the visit to Phnom Penh this week by Thaksin Shinawatra, the leader ousted in a 2006 coup, and a wide-ranging interview that Thaksin gave in Dubai to the Times of London in which, among other things, he accused the Privy Council surrounding King Bhumibol Adulyadej of manipulating the monarch.

Also the extradition of disgraced financier Rakesh Saxena, 57, who had staged the longest battle in Canadian history to avoid being sent back to Thailand to face charges he had helped to embezzle tens of millions of dollars in phony bank loans in 1996, now injects a volatile new set of issues into Thailand's shaky political agenda.

How much damage the political contest has caused is uncertain. Nomura Global Economics reported in late October that: "The Thai economy contracted the most among Asean countries in 2Q09 in year-on-year terms, driven by a decline in exports (-21.8%) and gross fixed capital formation (-10.1%)" and that "political uncertainty has delayed a recovery in consumption and investment."

The Thaksin interview, a long series of self-justifications which can be found here, has outraged government officials at a time when Abhisit is scheduled to be at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Singapore and meet with US President Barack Obama. It can also be expected to drive the royalists in the People's Alliance for Democracy, which twice brought down governments aligned with Thaksin, into new demonstrations over Thaksin's supposed disloyalty and meddling by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in Thai affairs by offering Thaksin a position as his "economic adviser."

Saxena arrived last Friday, bundled in blankets in a wheelchair and said to be suffering from a stroke that had partly paralyzed him. He was immediately whisked away to Thailand's Crime Suppression Bureau. Prior to his flight from Thailand, he was said to be close to Newin Chidchob, the Northern Thailand politician whose defection along with those of 16 of his followers from the Thaksin delivered Abhisit Vejjajiva and the Democrat Party to power.

The supporters of the billionaire fugitive Thaksin have been clamoring for Saxena's extradition for months on the theory that bringing him back could put the Democrat-led majority coalition in danger. Along with Newin, several other politicians in his camp, including Suchart Tancharoen and Pairoj Suwanchawee, have been identified as making money from the fraud perpetrated by Saxena. Prior to his extradition from Vancouver, BC, Saxena said he feared for his life. He later said had a full list of the politicians, some now in the cabinet, who were involved in the scandal that sent him in flight. The Democrats have assured the press that he is under 24-hour guard in Bangkok.

For his part, Abhisit has pledged cooperation with the authorities, telling reporters that "Everyone is obliged to supply information even though such information may harm the cliques within the government because we have to uphold the national interest."

Although the Democrats were in opposition and led the censure debate over the Bank of Commerce scandal, the support of Newin's so-called Group of 16 was instrumental in delivering Abhisit and the Democrats to the shaky hold on power that they have enjoyed for the last several months. Many of Newin's allies are now scattered throughout the unwieldy 35-member Thai cabinet.

Over the last week, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen added to the uncertainty by offering to employ Thaksin Shinawatra as an "economics advisor," perhaps in retaliation for PAD anti-Cambodian activity at the Preah Vihear temple since 2008. Both countries have recalled their respective ambassadors over the affair. Despite the political setbacks, the absent Thaksin probably remains the second-most popular figure after the ailing king.

Saxena's return, given his role in the linchpin of the scandal, couldn't be more inconvenient for Abhisit. It was Saxena's role as treasurer advisor to the Bangkok Bank of Commerce, whose collapse with US$3 billion in debt in 1996 was one of the contributing factors to the devaluation of the Thai baht and ultimately the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-1998. He was charged with looting US$88 million through establishing a series of phony loans through the bank. According to media reports, he and his team identified moribund companies, pumped up their balance sheets while looting the assets and firing staff, then sold them to unsuspecting shareholders. Among the companies targeted as takeover objects were Morakot Industries, Jalaprathan Cement, Semiconductor Venture International and Phoenix Pulp and Paper.

In July of 1995, according to reports, he transferred more than US$80 million out of Thailand in defiance of banking regulations and, shortly after that, followed the money out to Canada.

The financier ultimately washed up in British Columbia, where his extradition hearing was the longest in Canadian history. Even after the presiding judge ruled there were grounds to extradite him, it took the federal justice minister more than three years to order his return to Thailand.

The return of Saxena -- who has been implicated in a series of dubious stock schemes and a counter-coup in Sierra Leone while under house arrest in Vancouver, comes at an extremely sensitive time for Thailand, with Bhumibol increasingly infirm. The 86-year-old monarch last week returned to the public eye after more than a month in hospital, more frail than ever and with the royal succession in doubt although the official line is that he will get the job. The king's son, Vajiralongkorn, is deeply unpopular and it appears that the royal family may be in the hands of a regency run by the queen, Sirikit.

Abhisit, in Singapore this week for the APEC conference, and his Democrats are beset on one side by the pro-Thaksin Red Shirts, who have now formed the Phieu Thai Party, and the anti-Thaksin Yellow Shirts, who are establishing a royalist party of their own, the New Politics Party which was formed in July.

There appears to be considerable behind-the-scenes agitation to pardon Thaksin, perhaps in exchange for his forsaking political activity in exchange for the restoration of his billion-dollar telecommunications fortune. Whatever happens, Saxena's return adds yet another explosive to the volatile mixture that is Thai politics.

BANGKOK - THAILAND'S fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's appointment earlier this week by Cambodia's mercurial Prime Minister Hun Sen has jangled nerves in the Thai capital and entangled both countries in a diplomatic brawl that prompted Thailand first and then Cambodia to recall their ambassadors on Thursday.

Analysts say Thaksin's latest move could be the launchpad for a political comeback.

'Thaksin is on a new offensive. This is a calculated campaign to undermine this government and to change governments,' said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science professor at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. 'He wants to retake what he sees as his legitimate right, which is to have another election that he believes he will win.'

For the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, Cambodia's action is a slap in the face it feels compelled to respond to. It called the appointment an 'interference in Thailand's domestic affairs.'

From cyberspace, Thaksin tweeted to his 40,000 Twitter followers that Abhisit's recall of the Thai ambassador was a 'childish overreaction', and tweeted in a seperate message: 'I'm asking permission from all Thai people to advise the Cambodian government ... until I have a chance to serve you again.'

Current Prime Minister Abhisit faces the challenge of how to calm the political maelstrom around Thaksin. 'Thailand is now in the international spotlight and its leader has been discredited,' said Sompop Manarungsan, a political economist at Chulalongkorn University. 'The strategy Thaksin is using, I call it 'crashing.' He is destroying everything in his path to reach his goal.'

Thaksin Shinawatra claimed it was "an honour" to be appointed Cambodia's economic adviser. As his motherland is staring at a major diplomatic row with a close neighbour and businessmen in both countries are bracing themselves for an unpredictable impact, there is a thin line between "honour" and "shame".
In his fight to clear his name, Thaksin has stopped at virtually nothing. And even after the Thai ambassador to Phnom Penh was recalled and Bangkok decided to cut assistance to Cambodia, he showed no signs of guilt, concern or remorse. Bangkok was being childish and overreacting, he tweeted.
Thaksin's blurring sense of patriotism is understandable. Having been ousted by a military coup, convicted for a crime he refuses to accept and seen his own political movement neutralised one after another, he can be forgiven for trying to embarrass his opponents who are holding the reins of power. But everything has its boundary - and Thaksin has crossed it.
Only he and Cambodian Premier Hun Sen know whether the controversial asylum offer and the economic-adviser appointment were out of the latter's own goodwill or the former Thai leader had a hand in it. But even if Thaksin had nothing to do with the Cambodian moves, the least he could have done is show he cared about his country.
A neighbourly row of this nature can easily encompass the fighting colours in Thai politics. It threatens the whole country, be it yellows or reds or neutral Thais. Disruption of trade, border blockades, troop redeployment and the subsequent mounting tension on the already-strained relations will not discriminate against anyone.
Thaksin could have said "No, but thank you" to the Cambodian offer, but he has chosen to inflame the situation by saying the Thai government was overreacting, like a child. This came from someone who should have known better, who witnessed first-hand as a Thai leader what misunderstandings between the countries could lead to and who was on the verge of sending commandos into Cambodia himself to rescue Thai diplomats and businessmen running for their lives from angry torch-wielding protesters.
The difference between now and then is the attack on the Thai Embassy may have been caused by an accident, but this time there are people who seemingly want it to happen. Thaksin stands out among them. Hun Sen cannot drag himself into the Thai fray without Thaksin showing the way. If Thaksin's opponents' hardline stand on the Preah Vihear conflict was what first strained bilateral relations, things took a major turn for the worse when Thaksin's representative, Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, visited Phnom Penh and kick-started the asylum-offer episode.
What is Thaksin prepared to do now? On one side is a country he once called home, where he is both loved and loathed, but on the other side is a place that is offering him comfort. A truly grateful man would do anything but pit both countries against each other.

Thailand recalls envoy from Cambodia, Phnom Penh retaliates in kind
Just as many had feared, the stormy relationship between Thailand and Cambodia was pushed to the edge yesterday when Bangkok responded to fugitive ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra's appointment as the neighbouring country's economic adviser by recalling its ambassador from Phnom Penh.
Cambodia's retaliation - the planned recall of its ambassador here, You Aye, who Deputy Cambodian Prime Minister Sok An said would not return until Bangkok sends its own envoy back - ensured bilateral ties were at their worst level in years.
If Thaksin's appointment was an unmistakable diplomatic provocation, recalling the Thai envoy was the strongest possible response yet - equivalent to a downgrade of relations between the countries.
Former foreign minister Tej Bunnag warned that the ambassadorial recalls meant a major channel of communications had been removed.
The Foreign Ministry recalled Prasas Prasasvinitchai, the ambassador to Phnom Penh, to Bangkok yesterday after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced on Wednesday that Thaksin had been royally appointed as economic adviser and would not be extradited to Thailand.
These new developments add more problems to the ongoing process of boundary demarcation, and border conflicts at the area near the Preah Vihear Temple will become more difficult to resolve.
Now it is up to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to calmly speak to Prime Minister Hun Sen when they meet in Tokyo today and tomorrow at the Japan-Mekong Summit, Tej said.
"Bilateral ties should not be damaged by a single individual," he added.
However, Chavanont Intarakomalyasut, secretary to the foreign minister, said there were no plans for Abhisit to meet Hun Sen during the Tokyo summit.
"We will not call him but if he calls us, we might talk," he said at a press conference. "So far we have nothing to say to him."
Reflecting Bangkok's "enough is enough" attitude, Chavanont said Thailand would not tolerate Hun Sen's behaviour any longer because the government had already explained Thaksin's legal status to him several times.
"Thaksin's appointment is seen as an interference in Thailand's domestic affairs and a failure to respect the Thai judicial system," he said.
Downgrading bilateral relations is always an option for Thailand when it comes to responding to Cambodia. The Kingdom had previously downgraded ties in 2003 after an arson attack at the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh - ironically while Thaksin was prime minister. But that was a brief estrangement because Thaksin was always on good terms with Hun Sen.
However, this Democrat-ruled government is different. It is not clear how long it will take to resume normal relations, because the Thai side is going to review all bilateral agreements and cooperation projects. Thailand has a number of ongoing projects with Cambodia in many areas, including transportation and energy.
Every time relations between the two nations get sour, Thai interests in Cambodia, notably in trade and investment, always get affected. The 2003 riots and the anti-Thai sentiment caused a lot of damage to Thai businesses in the country, and investors were only able to resume their businesses a few years ago.
Thailand currently has scores of investment projects worth billions of baht, but bilateral trade in the first half of this year showed a 25-per-cent contraction from the same period last year, though trade experts believed it would recover in the second half. Border trade was also expected to show signs of recovery if relations had not been jeopardised.
Besides, the situation could become worse if a party in Cambodia stoked anti-Thai sentiment, as happened in 2003.
The only way to maintain bilateral interests would be to mend relations as soon as possible. However, with Thaksin and Hun Sen now the best of friends, observers say things can go either way - better or worse.

The Thai government recalled its ambassador from Phnom Penh on Thursday, following a decision by the Cambodian government to appoint ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra as an adviser to the Prime Minister Hun Sen.
The withdrawal, ordered by Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, was another blow to worsening relations between the two countries, which both have troops amassed along an already contentious border.“We have recalled the ambassador as the first diplomatic retaliation measure to let the Cambodian government know the dissatisfaction of the Thai people,” Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was quoted saying in Bangkok.
“Last night’s announcement by the Cambodian government harmed the Thai justice system and really affected Thai public sentiment,” Agence France-Presse quoted Abhisit saying.
Officials announced on Wednesday that King Norodom Sihamoni had approved Thaksin as an economic adviser to Hun Sen, who has said he would welcome the fugitive official in spite of an extradition treaty with Thailand.

Bou Sra Waterfall is a waterfall in Mondulkiri Province in Cambodia. It is located in Pechr Chenda District 43 kilometres from the provincial town of Mondulkiri along a red soil road.

In its first stage the waterfall has 15m diameter and 15-20m height during the rainy season, and a 20m diameter and 18-25m height in dry season.

The second stage of waterfall lies 150 metres from the first stage. During the dry season it has a 23m diameter and a 15-20m height and during the rainy season has 20m diameter and 18-25m height. [1]

At the third stage, the waterfall is more powerful than at the second stage, but it cannot be reached by man due to geographical obstructions.

These mountains are located 30km northwards from Angkor Wat. There is a sacred hilltop site on top of the range and the area was declared a national park by the government of Cambodia.

Phnom Kulen is widely regarded as the birthplace of the ancient Khmer Empire and is located some 48km from Siem Reap. Of special religious meaning to Hindus and Buddhists, it was at Phnom Kulen that King Jayavarma II proclaimed independence from Java in 802 A.D.

The site is known for its carvings representing fertility and its waters which hold special significance to Hindus. Just 5cm under the water's surface over 1000 small carvings are etched into the sandstone riverbed. The waters are regarded as holy, given that Jayavarman II chose to bathe in the river, and had the river diverted so that the stone bed could be carved. Carvings include a stone representation of the Hindu god Vishnu laying on his serpent Ananta, with his wife Lakshmi at his feet. A lotus flower protrudes from his navel bearing the god Brahma. The river then ends with a waterfall and a pool.

The Khmer Rouge used the location as a final stronghold as their regime came to an end in 1979. Nearby is Preah Ang Thom, a 16th century Buddhist monastery notable for the giant reclining Buddha, the country's largest.

Norodom Sihamoni (Khmer: នរោត្តម សីហមុនី, born 14 May 1953) is the King of Cambodia. He is the eldest son of Norodom Sihanouk and Norodom Monineath Sihanouk. Previously Cambodia's ambassador to UNESCO, he was named by a nine-member throne council to become the next king after his father Norodom Sihanouk abdicated in 2004. Before ascending the throne, Sihamoni was best known for his work as a cultural ambassador in Europe and as a classical dance instructor.

Before he was crowned king, his royal title was: Sdech Krom Khun (ស្តេចក្រុមឃុន), equating him to the rank of 'great prince.' As king, his title is: Preah Karuna Preah Bat Sâmdech Preah Bâromneath Norodom Sihamoni Nai Preah Reacheanachakr Kampuchea (in romanized Khmer); roughly translating to: His Majesty, King Norodom Sihamoni of the Kingdom of Cambodia. His given name, Sihamoni, comprises two morphemes from his parent's given names, Sihanouk and Monineath.

Sihamoni was born in 1953. At the time of his birth and that of his younger brother, his mother, a Cambodian citizen of Italian and Khmer ancestry, had been one of King Norodom Sihanouk's constant companions since the day they met in 1951, when a young Monique Izzi won first prize in a beauty contest sponsored by UNESCO.[1] She soon become one of the most enduring and stable influences in Sihanouk's life, and is often referred to as a "tower of strength" by close members of the Cambodian Royal Family.[2] She was granted the title of Neak Moneang at the time of her marriage to King Norodom Sihanouk in 1952. (A step-granddaughter of the late Prince Norodom Duongchak of Cambodia, Queen Monineath is a daughter of Pomme Peang and her second husband, Jean-François Izzi, a French-Italian banker.) [3] The Royal Ark website entry about the genealogy of the Cambodian royal family states that Sihanouk and Monineath were married twice, once on 12 April 1952, when she was 15, and again ("more formally", according to the website) on 5 March 1955; she is described as Sihanouk's seventh wife.

King Norodom Sihamoni has 12 half-brothers and half-sisters by his father's various relationships; his only full sibling, a younger brother, HRH Samdech Norodom Narindrapong (born 1954) died in 2003.

He has spent most of his life outside Cambodia. As a child, Sihamoni was sent to Prague, Czechoslovakia, by his father in 1962, where he, while attending elementary school, high school and Academy of Music Arts, studied classical dance and music until 1975. He is fluent in French and Czech, as well as being a good speaker of English and Russian. During the 1970 coup d'état by Lon Nol, Sihamoni remained in Czechoslovakia. In 1975, he left Prague and began to study filmmaking in North Korea, and in 1977 returned to his native Cambodia. Immediately, the ruling Khmer Rouge government turned against the monarchy, and Sihamoni was put under house arrest by the Khmer Rouge with the rest of the royal family until the 1979 Vietnamese invasion. In 1981, he moved to France to teach ballet and was later president of the Khmer Dance Association. He lived in France for nearly 20 years, but even then he regularly visited Prague, where he spent his childhood and youth. He is the only ruling monarch who speaks Czech.

In 1993, the prince was appointed Cambodia's delegate to UNESCO, the UN cultural body based in Paris, where he became known for his hard work and his devotion to Cambodian culture. He previously refused an appointment as Cambodia's ambassador to France.

On October 14, 2004, he was selected by a special nine-member council, part of a selection process that was quickly put in place after the surprise abdication of King Norodom Sihanouk a week before. Sihamoni's selection was endorsed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and National Assembly Speaker Prince Norodom Ranariddh (the new king's brother), both members of the throne council. He was inaugurated and formally annointed as King on Friday, October 29, 2004. King Sihamoni and his parents, King Father Norodom Sihanouk and Queen Mother Norodom Monineath specifically requested that the ceremonies be kept low-key because they did not wish for the impoverished country to spend too much money on the event.

The original gold and diamond encrusted crown, a sacred symbol of Mount Meru, used in official coronation ceremonies in Cambodia for centuries dating back to the ancient Angkorian Empire, disappeared along with many other items of Royal Regalia during the Lon Nol regime in the early 1970s. As stated by Julio A. Jeldres, King Father Norodom Sihanouk's official biographer, "The King did not want a crown remade because of Cambodia's poverty."

Sihamoni remains a bachelor, and there have been persistent reports [7] that he is gay. Sihamoni has no children, but this does not pose a problem because the King in Cambodia is selected by the throne council even when such a successor exists.

Ingredients- 0.2 kg of smoke fish;- 0.1 kg of dry freshwater shrimp;- 0.5 kg of pig front leg meat;- 0.2 kg of Prahok;- 1 big ripe coconut fruit;- 0.05 kg of already sliced citronella trunks;- 0.1 kg of smoke spices; - 0.05 kg of garlic;- A bit of saffron, Amomum Galanga, citrus hystrix peels and leaves;- 0.2 kg of ripe tamarind;- 0.3 kg of Rumhorng egg plants (kind of egg plant that goes well with the dish);- 0.2 kg of sugar;- 1 coffee spoonful of MSG;- Fresh vegetables to be eaten raw: Long bean, egg plant, ginger, head cabbage, cucumber.
How to cook
Pound and mash the smoke fish after taking out the bones. Pound and mash the dry shrimps after cleaning them. Slice the pig meat into small bits. Slice and mash the fish paste completely. Cut open the coconut and get its milk: 300ml for Phase One, and 300 ml for Phase Two. Take out the seeds and the inside of the smoke spices, clean them and mash them. Slice the citronella trunks into tiny bits and then pound them together with saffron, Amomum Galanga and citrus hystrix leaves to make a mash mixture. Mix water with the ripe tamarind and make a small bowl of sour solution. Fry the egg plants until they look brown. Fry the spices until they turns red. Cook the Phase One 300 ml coconut milk until it turns a little brown color. Add the fried spice and then the mash mixture into it, and leave the combination to shiver using medium source of cooking power. Put the mashed pig meat and leave it to cook. Put the shrimps and smoke fish, mingle them in the solution, then add some prahok, sugar and some more coconut milk and leave it to moderately shiver foe 10 minutes. Then, put citrus hystrix leaves and the bowl of tamarind water, and leave the solution to cook another 5 minutes. Finally put the eggplant and stir the soup. Then, taste it, and that's it.

Mebon temple is about 500 meters northeast of Pre Rup temple. The temple was built in AD 952 by King Rajendravarman.
The temple is similar to Pre Rup in plan, construction and decoration. A major difference, however, is that the east Mebon once stood on a small island in the middle of Yasodharatataka (the East Baray).
The only access was by boat to one of the four landing platforms, situated at the mid-points on each of the four sides of the temple. The decoration on the lintels of the temple is superior in quality of workmanship and composition to that of Pre Rup.

The motifs on the false doors, with small mythical figures frolic king amongst foliage, are particularly fine.
WEST MEBON TEMPLE
West Mebon temple is located in the middle of West Baray on an island about 11 kilometers northwest of Siem Reap. The temple was built in the second half of the 11th century by King Suryavarman I, dedicating to Vishnu Brahmanism. It was originally surrounded by a square rampart with three square, sandstone gopuras and a sanctuary on one level crowned with a lotus.

Most towers have collapsed, but the three on the east side are reasonably intact. A sandstone platform at the center is linked to a causeway of laterite and sandstone that leads to the east dyke. The side of the towers are carved with lively animals set in small squares, a type of decoration found also at the Baphuon.


The temple is similar to Pre Rup in plan, construction and decoration. A major difference, however, is that the east Mebon once stood on a small island in the middle of Yasodharatataka (the East Baray).

The only access was by boat to one of the four landing platforms, situated at the mid-points on each of the four sides of the temple. The decoration on the lintels of the temple is superior in quality of workmanship and composition to that of Pre Rup.

The motifs on the false doors, with small mythical figures frolic king amongst foliage, are particularly fine.
WEST MEBON TEMPLE
West Mebon temple is located in the middle of West Baray on an island about 11 kilometers northwest of Siem Reap. The temple was built in the second half of the 11th century by King Suryavarman I, dedicating to Vishnu Brahmanism. It was originally surrounded by a square rampart with three square, sandstone gopuras and a sanctuary on one level crowned with a lotus.

Most towers have collapsed, but the three on the east side are reasonably intact. A sandstone platform at the center is linked to a causeway of laterite and sandstone that leads to the east dyke. The side of the towers are carved with lively animals set in small squares, a type of decoration found also at the Baphuon.


The temple is similar to Pre Rup in plan, construction and decoration. A major difference, however, is that the east Mebon once stood on a small island in the middle of Yasodharatataka (the East Baray).

The only access was by boat to one of the four landing platforms, situated at the mid-points on each of the four sides of the temple. The decoration on the lintels of the temple is superior in quality of workmanship and composition to that of Pre Rup.

The motifs on the false doors, with small mythical figures frolic king amongst foliage, are particularly fine.
WEST MEBON TEMPLE
West Mebon temple is located in the middle of West Baray on an island about 11 kilometers northwest of Siem Reap. The temple was built in the second half of the 11th century by King Suryavarman I, dedicating to Vishnu Brahmanism. It was originally surrounded by a square rampart with three square, sandstone gopuras and a sanctuary on one level crowned with a lotus.

Most towers have collapsed, but the three on the east side are reasonably intact. A sandstone platform at the center is linked to a causeway of laterite and sandstone that leads to the east dyke. The side of the towers are carved with lively animals set in small squares, a type of decoration found also at the Baphuon.


The temple is similar to Pre Rup in plan, construction and decoration. A major difference, however, is that the east Mebon once stood on a small island in the middle of Yasodharatataka (the East Baray).

The only access was by boat to one of the four landing platforms, situated at the mid-points on each of the four sides of the temple. The decoration on the lintels of the temple is superior in quality of workmanship and composition to that of Pre Rup.

The motifs on the false doors, with small mythical figures frolic king amongst foliage, are particularly fine.
WEST MEBON TEMPLE
West Mebon temple is located in the middle of West Baray on an island about 11 kilometers northwest of Siem Reap. The temple was built in the second half of the 11th century by King Suryavarman I, dedicating to Vishnu Brahmanism. It was originally surrounded by a square rampart with three square, sandstone gopuras and a sanctuary on one level crowned with a lotus.

Most towers have collapsed, but the three on the east side are reasonably intact. A sandstone platform at the center is linked to a causeway of laterite and sandstone that leads to the east dyke. The side of the towers are carved with lively animals set in small squares, a type of decoration found also at the Baphuon.


The temple is similar to Pre Rup in plan, construction and decoration. A major difference, however, is that the east Mebon once stood on a small island in the middle of Yasodharatataka (the East Baray).

The only access was by boat to one of the four landing platforms, situated at the mid-points on each of the four sides of the temple. The decoration on the lintels of the temple is superior in quality of workmanship and composition to that of Pre Rup.

The motifs on the false doors, with small mythical figures frolic king amongst foliage, are particularly fine.
WEST MEBON TEMPLE
West Mebon temple is located in the middle of West Baray on an island about 11 kilometers northwest of Siem Reap. The temple was built in the second half of the 11th century by King Suryavarman I, dedicating to Vishnu Brahmanism. It was originally surrounded by a square rampart with three square, sandstone gopuras and a sanctuary on one level crowned with a lotus.

Most towers have collapsed, but the three on the east side are reasonably intact. A sandstone platform at the center is linked to a causeway of laterite and sandstone that leads to the east dyke. The side of the towers are carved with lively animals set in small squares, a type of decoration found also at the Baphuon.


The temple is similar to Pre Rup in plan, construction and decoration. A major difference, however, is that the east Mebon once stood on a small island in the middle of Yasodharatataka (the East Baray).

The only access was by boat to one of the four landing platforms, situated at the mid-points on each of the four sides of the temple. The decoration on the lintels of the temple is superior in quality of workmanship and composition to that of Pre Rup.

The motifs on the false doors, with small mythical figures frolic king amongst foliage, are particularly fine.
WEST MEBON TEMPLE
West Mebon temple is located in the middle of West Baray on an island about 11 kilometers northwest of Siem Reap. The temple was built in the second half of the 11th century by King Suryavarman I, dedicating to Vishnu Brahmanism. It was originally surrounded by a square rampart with three square, sandstone gopuras and a sanctuary on one level crowned with a lotus.

Most towers have collapsed, but the three on the east side are reasonably intact. A sandstone platform at the center is linked to a causeway of laterite and sandstone that leads to the east dyke. The side of the towers are carved with lively animals set in small squares, a type of decoration found also at the Baphuon.

Locates at Sen Monorum District in five-kilometer distance from the provincial town by red soil trail, Along either sides of the trail, there are industrial plantations like rubber, coffee and cashew as well. The local people usually meet each other at Sen Monorum waterfall during the holidays and national festivals because it closed to the provincial town.

Sen Monorum waterfall has three stages:

-First stage: The waterfall has slow speed, one-meter height and 2-4 meter diameter.
-Second stage: During the rainy season, the waterfall has strong speed, 6-7 meter height and 8-meter diameter. During the dry season, the waterfall has 7-9 meter height and 4-5 meter diameter. At the waterfall, there is a large space of resting and enjoying.
-Third stage: Locates at one- kilometer distance from the second stage. The waterfall has 1.5-meter height only.

The road to the summit of Bokor Mountain is pock-marked and strewn with rocks; vehicles crawl up the winding road lined with faded kilometer markers. Through sun-lit gaps in the trees, a glimpse of the sea brightens the weary faces of travelers and when they reach the summit, buttons are pressed and car windows slide down to the smell of wild flowers and the bite of cold air.

Dilapidated buildings with missing doors and windows for eyes—their façades patched with rust-colored-lichen—watch the arrivals through empty frames. In the early twenties, these solemn quiet buildings were once the lively heart of the famed ‘Borei Bokor’ or ‘City of Bokor’. In 1922 King Sisowath agreed to the construction of this settlement. A settlement, with schools, a hospital, a pagoda and a Christian church, hotels, a post office, a power plant and a water-supplying plant. Bokor became a haven for French holiday-makers.

uring the Sangkum Reastr Nyum era (1955-1970), led by Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk, ‘Borei Bokor’ was famed for its windswept beauty and incomparable scenery. In 1961, King Norodom Sihanouk, ordered the renovation of all public buildings and the construction of additional buildings to beautify the area to entice more visitors.

The French having left, Bokor then became a week-end holiday resort for Cambodian civil servants from Phnom Penh.

Cambodia enjoyed a certain prosperity then, on a par with other Southeast Asian countries. But the civil war of the following two decades almost destroyed ‘Borei Bokor’ and its beauty was forgotten. But slowly, it is emerging from the rubble. The Cambodian government has honored the settlement, and the mountain’s, history. It is now a protected national park.

Director of Bokor National Park Chey Yuthearith says about 10,000 people lived in ‘Borei Bokor’ during the Sangkum Reastr Nyum era. They were civil servants, businessmen and farmers, who grew vegetables, fruit trees and tea. “But now only a group of 50 park rangers live atop Bokor,” Chey says.

“This area is colder than any other place in the whole kingdom. At certain times of the year, in the evenings, the temperature drops to as low as 10-16°C and rises to a mere 22°C during the day.”

“The Bokor summit is 1,079m above sea level. The national park is 42km from Kampot and it is 32km from the junction of National Road 3, at the foot of the mountain, to the peak.” According to a 1993 Royal Decree, Bokor National Park covered an area of 140,000ha including the former City, but Chea says the entire area of the park covers 150,000ha.

The director complains that as there are too few rangers for such a vast area it is difficult to patrol illegal loggers and poachers.

For sightseers, Chea says there is a 60m, three-tiered waterfall in the Park and 20km from the old ‘City of Bokor’, there is a large, flat area of rock with grasses growing between the cracks in lines, like dikes in a rice field. This place is called Veal Srae Muy Roy or Plain of a Hundred Rice Fields.

“There are also many kinds of wild animals in the forest, tigers, elephants, oxen, buffalo, deer all roam here and there are more than 230 species of birds.”

Prum Socheat is a staff member at the Khmer Women’s Voice Center and Sary Nitha works at an organization assisting women in crisis. They are visitors at Bokor

and they offer their impressions of the mountain-top.“I feel as if I were flying or walking in the sky like in my dreams. When I peer down from where I stand, I see clouds floating along the waist of the mountain far away,” Prum says.“Here, you feel the coldness reaching into your heart,” Sary says. “No waterfall is as cold as Bokor waterfall. I will never forget the scenery of the mountain. It is like a daydream in the sky.”

Phnom Bakheng at Angkor, Cambodia, is a Hindu temple in the form of a temple mountain. Dedicated to Shiva, it was built at the end of the 9th century, during the reign of King Yasovarman (889-910 A.D.). Located atop a hill, it is nowadays a popular tourist spot for sunset views of the much bigger temple Angkor Wat, which lies amid the jungle about 1.5 km to the southeast. The large number of visitors makes Phnom Bakheng one of the most threatened monuments of Angkor. Constructed more than two centuries before Angkor Wat, Phnom Bakheng was in its day the principal temple of the Angkor region, historians believe. It was the architectural centerpiece of a new capital, Yasodharapura, that Yasovarman built when he moved the court from the capital Hariharalaya in the Roluos area located to the southeast.
An inscription dated 1052 A.D. and found at the Sdok Kak Thom temple in present-day Thailand states in Sanskrit: "When Sri Yasovardhana became king under the name of Yasovarman, the able Vamasiva continued as his guru. By the king's order, he set up a linga on Sri Yasodharagiri, a mountain equal in beauty to the king of mountains. Scholars believe that this passage refers to the consecration of the Phnom Bakheng temple approximately a century and a half earlier.
Phnom Bakheng is one of three hilltop temples in the Angkor region that are attributed to Yasovarman's reign. The other two are Phnom Krom to the south near the Tonle Sap lake, and Phnom Bok, northeast of the East Baray reservoir.
Following Angkor's rediscovery by the outside world in the mid-19th Century, decades passed before archeologists grasped Phnom Bakheng's historical significance. For many years, scholars' consensus view was that the Bayon, the temple located at the center of Angkor Thom city, was the edifice to which the Sdok Kak Thom inscription referred. Later work identified the Bayon as a Buddhist site, built almost three centuries later than originally thought, in the late 12th Century, and Phnom Bakheng as King Yasovarman's state temple.

Angkor Thum, royal city and Buddhist temple complex at Angkor, the region that served from 802 until 1295 as the capital of the Khmer Empire of Cambodia. Khmer king Jayavarman VII, who reigned in the late 12th and early 13th centuries, began building the vast monument at Angkor Thum (Khmer for "Angkor-the-Great" or "Great City") after he had regained control of the Angkor region from the Cham army of northern Cambodia, which had seized it around 1177.