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Water buffalo races mark the end of Cambodia’s Death Festival

  VIHEAR SUOR, CAMBODIA - More than a thousand of Cambodians gather in a village, northeast of the capital Saturday for annual water buffalo races to end the country's festival for the dead.The buffalo races mark the last day of Pchum Ben, a three-day festival in which Cambodians believe their dead ancestors emerge to walk the earth.   Prayers at Buddhist pagodas and offerings are made to ease the suffering of the ancestors' spirits. Chhun Chheang has been joining the race since he was ...

I find this AFP article quite funny!!

'Ghost' dollars offered for Pol Pot's shoes: reportPHNOM PENH (AFP) — A Cambodian photographer's attempt to sell the sandals of late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot has yielded only one bid -- 790,000 fake dollars offered in protest at the sale, a report said.Nhem En, who photographed inmates at the regime's main torture centre and also snapped pictures at official regime ceremonies, announced last month he was selling the footwear along with two cameras.The shoes belonging to Pol Pot, who died in 19...

Royal oxen signal worry for Cambodian rice farmers

Do Cambodian farmers or farmers in other countries have to care about this? Maybe they do in their own world but in the real world, patience pays off.----------------------------PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodia's royal oxen performed an ancient ceremony to predict the country's agriculture fortunes -- and raised fears of a low rice harvest by refusing to eat any of the grain.King Norodom Sihamoni presided over the ceremony in a park outside the palace where thousands of people watched royal astrologe...

Phchum Ben this year

I remember last year I also wrote a post about Phchum Ben Festival in this blog and also published a lot of pictures I took from the pagoda. But this year, I could not make it. There are a few reasons I was unable to once again do this. The first and foremost reason is that I did not have a chance to hit the road to any pagoda. The second is I am working at the moment I'm typing. And the last (but not least) reason is that I know I can't since it's the way I've chosen to walk. I happened to see...