Kbal Spean

This is Kbal Spean otherwise known as the Valley of a Thousand Lingas. This video is of the bridgehead of the Stung Kbal Spean. The river is sacred to the Khmer peoples in the same way as the Ganges is sacred to the Hindu people of India. To arrive at this site, one must trek through a well worn path through the jungle for about 45 minutes. This was a bit of an arduous journey as much of it is uphill and the Cambodian summer was already upon us in late May. Average daily temp was around 90 degrees. If you go, don’t forget to grab a bottle of water or two for the trek. It will take something out of you trekking through that jungle. The water will save you.

Even with the heat, it was exhilarating to finally make it to Kbal Spean. I had tried to get out to see this site the last two times that I visited Angkor. For whatever reason, I could never quite make it. It was well worth the journey. I only wish I had a digital camcorder that could do the place justice.

After climbing through the jungle and hills, you come upon the site in this video. After that you follow the river down to a larger waterfall. In between the bridgehead and water fall there are thousands of linga and yoni carved into the river bed. There are also Hindu motifs of animals, humans and Gods. Because the Khmer consider the Kbal Spean sacred, it’s waters are believed to have healing properties. People were bathing in the waterfall or collecting water in bottles to take home or to loved ones to cure their ailments and injuries. One Khmer fellow was taking the water home with him to have his sick cow drink. One humorous note was the arrival to the scene of a British Doctor who was horrified by the fact that people were bathing in the water. He took great pains to warn everyone to NOT drink the water as it is supposed to be heavily contaminated with parasites. He would not step foot into the water. Of course, he arrived after I had already immersed myself in the waterfall.

Below are several pictures taken of the area.

These are the paths and hills through which you must trek to reach Kbal Spean. We came upon the butterfly nest at the beginning of the trail. The mushroom looking rock is sacred to the people of the area. Monks and locals come here to cast off evil spirits. Newlyweds will come here to enhance their fertility. The area is said to have great powers.

Above you see Shiva. He is the destroyer in Hindu mythology. The god who brings about the destruction of the Earth so that Vishnu can re-new it. Most of the Temples in Cambodia are consecrated to Vishnu. Many have been re-dedicated to Buddha or serve dually as Temples to Vishnu and Buddha. Jayvarman VII mixed Hindu mythology into the work in all of his Temples to Buddha. It was a way to get the people to buy into the new Buddhist theo-philosophy that he brought with his reign. Very similar to how Christian rulers adapted pagan symbolism as Europe was converted during the reign of Constantine. In the river, you can see the “linga” of the rivers name. Thousands of those linga are carved into the riverbed of the Kbal Spean. This was started by King Suryavarman I sometime in the 11th or 13th Century in order to ensure the fertility of the Khmer Kingdoms.

The little girl in this pic was standing on the side of the road on the way back to Siem Reap. I stopped to take pics of the water buffalo and she just stood there smiling that big smile at me. So I gave her some candy and took her pic as well. She was certainly a cute little thing.

Coming soon: Exploring Ta Prohm…

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Angkor Wat

This is a video I made of Angkor Wat and some of the surrounding Temples and Terraces while I was there in September. Angkor Wat has something like 1200 bas relief Apsara carved on it’s massive walls. The Apsara are angels in Hindu mythology. They entertain and in some cases protect and even marry Gods and Mortals. They are said to be as captivating and desirable as the Sirens of Greek Mythology.

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Reamker, part 1

Ream watch helplessly.

i was going to teaches the Khmer History first, but it seem like Khmerlife is over run by Monkeys. So therefore to show the monkey clan I come in peace I well teaches the monkey history first.

Ramayana or Reamker(in Khmer) Some say is just a legend and some say is a true story.

(Picture above: is Preah ream and Neang sita on craving of Angkor)

Im not gonna tell you the whole story because is more then 5 books long, Just only the Monkey part of the story.

The story took place on earth 10,000 years ago

Preah Ream and Neang Sita are two Gods, who came down earth, both are husband and wife. But one day while Neang Sita was walking in the forest she saw a Golden deer.

She wanted to capture the beautiful golden deer, But she didn't know that the golden deer was really a demon king in disguise, goes by name Krong Reap, a evil king ruler of a island empire call Lanka. As Neang Sita got closer to the golden deer. the golden deer transform into Krong Reap then capture Neang Sita and flew into the sky as Preah Ream watch helplessly.

(Picture above is a scene from the story craved by Ancient Khmer, is the part where Krong Reap capture Neang sita and flew off)

So now Preah Ream is on misson to save his wife. He had no army .... Long Story Short...... he found Hanuman The Monkey God. Hanuman heard the news of Preah Ream wife being capture and offer to help save him since Hanuman is Preah Ream devotee.

(Pic 1: Is Hanuman craved by Ancient Khmer. Pic 2: Is Hanuman drawing by Modern Khmer)

Now Preah Ream have a army (Hanuman Monkey Army) to fight Krong Reap for Neang Sita. But there was one problem, Krong Reap empire is on a island and no one have a boat. Since Hanuman is also a God, he have the power to fly. Preah Ream ask Lord Hanuman to fly over the sea to the island of Lanka and ask Krong Reap for a peace talk negotiation, to avoid a bloody war. Lord Hanuman meet with Krong reap but Hanuman tail touch the lamp and his tail was caught on fire, cause him to panic and run around the palace and end up buring 30% percent of Krong Reap palace, which piss him off and the peace talk was cut off.

(Pic above is a scene when Hanuman tail caught on fire and end buring Krong Reap palace and the peace talk was cut off)

...long story short....Hanuman took care of that.

Before Lord Hanuman return to Preah Ream to tell him the bad news about the peace talk, he sneak into Neang Sita room where she was held capture and tell her the news about her Husband is coming to save her. Lord Hanuman flew back to Preah Ream, telling him the deal is off and war is the only option to get Neang Sita back.

(pic above; is A Khmer play. A scene when Hanuman sneak into Neang Sita room, held capture by Krong reap)

Imma STOP RIGHT HERE FOR A MOMENT.....some of yall might think why didnt Hanuman would just grab Neang Sita and take her back to Preah Ream. You'll see back in ancient time real friend respect another friend wife, they would never touch or flirt with there friend wife/girlfriend. That why hanuman didnt wanna grab her and take her with him. Is disrepectful

back to the story....So now the war is on but how are they gonna get 100,000 of monkey to coss a vast ocean, Monkey cant swim and no one seem to have a boat....Long Story Short......Preah Ream figure out by writing his name on the stone/rock, it well float on water. (remember he's a God) So the monkey army use that idea to built a bridge from India to Lanka Island. Half way thru making the bridge. Hanuman realize some of the stone were missing. It turn out to be memaid was stealing them stone ....long story short....Hanuman took care of that.

(pic above; Hanuman and the Memaid Queen reach agreement not to steal no more stone from the bridge)

The brigde was done, Preah Ream, Lord Hanuman, and his monkey army march into the island of Lanka,....Long Story Short.....the war begin...Krong Reap & his demon army shot posion arrow at the monkey army. When Night fall the first day of the battle was over. The monkey army was losing and they have posion in their body. So Hanuman need to find a cure quick before the next battle at sun raise.

(pic above; a craving at Angkor Wat is scene when Lord Hanuman, best man is dying from the posion arrow shot by Krong Reap army)

Preah Ream tell Lord Hanuman to fly to the Himalaya mountains, to geta certian plants, it had the cure for the poision....long story short...Hanuman forgot which plants was the right one so he end up using his power to turn into a gaint and grab half of the Himalaya Moutian and flew back to the island.

(pic above; Hanuman grabing the whole mountian cause he forgot which plant was the right one)

(pic above; Hanuman grabing the whole mountian cause he forgot which plant was the right one)

(pic above; is two craving found on Angkor Wat, scene from the story. Hanuman army and Demon King Krong Reap battle for Neang Sita)

(pic above; is two craving found on Angkor Wat, scene from the story. Hanuman army and Demon King Krong Reap battle for Neang Sita) Video 1| Video 2| Video 3

King Sihamoni hopes to ward off aggression

Prime Minister Hun Sen vowed to strengthen Cambodia's armed forces Sunday as he joined King Norodom Sihamoni in celebrating the 55th anniversary of independence from France.

The prime minister's statement came amid a tense standoff between Cambodian and Thai troops near the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, which last month erupted into a clash that raised concerns of a border war.

Speaking at an independence day parade, Hun Sen made no mention of the border conflict but vowed to push ahead with reform of the armed forces to ensure highly effective defense of Cambodian territory.

Among those marching in Sunday's celebration parade were Cambodian mine clearers with their mine-sniffing dogs, reflecting continued efforts to clear rural areas of land mines after three decades of civil war, which ended 10 years ago.

Lawmakers are expected to approve a US$ 2 billion budget for 2009 later this month, of which about US$ 500 million will be allocated to the military. Cheam Yeap, a lawmaker, said the new military expenditure will be almost double that of 2008.

Cambodian and Thai troops fought a brief gunbattle last month, killing two Cambodian soldiers. A Thai soldier died later from wounds sustained during the clash.

The two countries both claim 1.8 square miles (4.6 square kilometers) of land near the temple, which the World Court awarded to Cambodia in 1962. Thai and Cambodian foreign ministers are scheduled to hold new talks Nov. 12 in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap.

King Norodom Sihamoni said he was confident that the "great national solidarity of Cambodians would ward off aggression on our priceless territorial integrity".

Sihamoni, who is a constitutional monarch, made no direct reference to the border conflict with Thailand. Cambodia and Thailand share a 500-mile (800-kilometer) land border, much of which has never been clearly demarcated because the countries refer to different maps

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किन्ग्दोम ऑफ़ कम्बोडिया

Born on Thursday 14 May 1953, in Phnom Penh, His Majesty King Norodom Sihamoni is the son of His Majesty Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia and of Her Majesty Queen Norodom Monineath Sihanouk of Cambodia.

Education Background 1959-1962: Primary schooling at the Norodom school and then at the Descartes high school in Phnom Penh (Cambodia) 1962-1967: Primary and Secondary schooling at Prague's high school (Czechoslovakia) 1967-1971: Dance, music and theatre courses at the National Conservatory of Prague 1970: High school certificate -Prague (with "very good" marks) 1971: First prize course of classical dance of the National Conservatory of Prague 1971-1975: Higher dance, music and theatre courses, Academy of Musical Art of Prague 1975: Graduated from the Academy of Musical Art of Prague 1975: Author of a thesis on the conception and administration of artistic schools in Cambodia 1975-1976: Higher studies of Cinematography in the D.P.R. of Korea 1976-1979: Prisoner of the Khmer Rouge along with his parents and his younger brother, H.R.H Prince Norodom NarinDrapong 1979-1980: Served his father in exile abroad as his Private Secretary 1981-2000: Professor of classical dance and artistic pedagogy at the Marius Petipa conservatory, the Gabriel Faure conservatory and the W.A. Mozart conservatory of the city of Paris 1984-1988: President of the Khmer dance association in France and director general and artistic director of the ballet group "Deva" 1988-1993: Director general and artistic director of the Khmer cinematographic corporation "Khemara Pictures". H.M. Norodom Sihamoni, then Prince, has produced two creations (Ballet-Films): Dream and the 4 Elements 1992-1993: Chosen unanimously by the members of the Supreme National Council of Cambodia to be permanent representative of Cambodia to the United Nations 1993-2004: Ambassador of the Kingdom of Cambodia to Unesco 2004: member of the High Council of French-Speaking Countries (Francophonie) 1st February 1994: Elevated by H.M. the King to the rank of Sdech Krom Khun (Great Prince) 17 October 2003: Appointed high privy Councillor to His Majesty the King 31 August 2004: Elevated by H.M the King to the Rank of SAMDECH PREAH BAROMNEATH 14 October 2004: Elected unanimously by the members of the throne council as King of Cambodia to succeed his august father who has decided to retire Languages: Khmer, fluent in French and Czech, good English and Russian Decorations: Grand cross of the Royal order of Cambodia Grand cross of the Royal order of Monisaraphon (Cambodia) Grand officer of the legion d'honneur (France) Silver medal of the city of Paris(France)

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Girls

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Yutesil Akthi Teap

“The Legend And The Hero I” or “Yutesil Akthi Teap I” is almost every Khmer’s favorite Chinese movie. Certainly is mine; learn alot at the same time about the war, the king, etc. Enjoy everyone, a great movie in Cambodian for Khmer people and listen to what other’s point of view:

“i watch like almost every Chinese movies dubbed in khmer but I do not remember this movie. Any how, it looks good .thank you”

“omg yes! i been looking for this forever i remember when i was younger my mom rented this one up to episode 10 only and she didn’t like it so she didn’t get the rest but i loved it ”

“these series is mixed with Taiwan actor and Hong Kong is crazy i watch it a long time ago but in Chinese version now i can see it in khmer version cool “

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अंगकोर

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Millitary Aircraft top 10 list

Military Aircraft Top 10 list This list of the Top 10 military aircraft of all time aired on the Military Channel in late October 2005 (note: It will re-air on Jan. 29 at 3 p.m.): P51 D mustang F-15 Eagle F-4 Phantom F-86 Sabre MIG-15 Spitfire ME 262 Sopwith Camel Harrier F-22 Contributors to the Garrison listserv had some criticisms of the list. I checked out the Military Channel web "top 10" lists. The 10 Tanks, 10 Bombers, and 10 Fighting Ships. Interesting. I was a little confused by some of the choices with the tanks, then again with the Bombers, but by the Ships I had it figured out. The Military Channel top 10 lists must be done with a close connection to British TV. Every list is 50 percent or more US stuff, then a bunch of questionable British stuff. They then put only the minimum number of German and Russian items possible on each list, and nothing else from any other nationality if possible. Top 10 Fighter Planes, 5 US planes, 3 British, 1 German, 1 Russian. Top 10 Fighting Ships, 6 US, 2 British, 2 German. Top 10 Bombers, 5 US, 3 British, 2 Russian, 1 German. Top 10 Tanks, 2 US, (US tanks sucked in WWII, so it was a stretch to get even 2 on this list) 3 British, 2 German, 2 Russian, 1 Israeli. I am not sure any additional commentary is necessary after looking at these list side by side. One would have to believe that the British consistently had better military equipment then the Russians and Germans combined! Not much chance of that. The US has had a huge advantage in technology and production, but consistently better military equipment then the whole rest of the world combined? I donât think so. -Kamikazi Assur-resal: I was surprised that there weren't more German fighters on the list. I also think the F-14 tomcat is better than the eagle, but it is a Navy plane and there may be some preference of Air Force to Navy on the show. Kamikazi: think the "Military Channel Top Fighter List" is a little suspect. Any list has to take into consideration how revolutionary a plane was at the time it was introduced, and what impact it had on all plane designs that followed it. Also it should be considered in light of the actual impact it had in battle. Without these considerations the most recent fighter will always be at the top of the list, because it can beat all the planes that came before it. I noticed there was only one WWI plane on the list. It seems to me that the Fokker Tri-plane would be a contender as it was so dominant and distinctive. Though, some of it's superiority was due to the Germans being first to come up with better group tactics. It is hard to imagine that the war that invented fighters, had only one "top 10" substantial breakthrough in fighter design worth mentioning. The Me 262 (#7) is on my top 10 planes list. It had four 30mm cannon in it's nose, which was more accurate then wing mounted guns, and just one shell could blow up a fighter or bomber. As the first operational jet it was an amazing accomplishment, and could have been completed a year earlier if Hitler had not been "anti-fighter". He just wanted "bombers, bombers, bombers!" (a translation of an actual Hitler quote), in order to punish England. When the Jet was completed secretly and then shown to him he loved it, and had it converted into a bomber!, crippling it's speed, and making it's already short fuel capacity a bigger weakness. When it finally took on US air raids, it scared the crap out of P51 pilots, but it was just too late, and too few to have a huge impact on the war. The favorite US strategy against them was to tail them till they were forced to land for fuel, and then safely strafe them on the ground. The Spitfire (#6) was a very good plane, but it was the fact that it saved England that made it so significant. I think that it's worth counting actual battle impact for a top 10 list, but I think there were other significant planes that were better. Personally, I think the FW 190 was better as a fighter, and the best "all-around" fighter of the war, but that includes the fighter-bomber and bomber-destroyer roles, which may not have been included on this program. For naval fighters of WWII, I am a fan of the Corsair, which had cool bent wings, and was very fast, maneuverable, and well armed. The TV show about the Black Sheep squadron could be a plus or minus depending on your opinion of the show. The Zero was a very good fighter plane at the start of the war, and often overlooked. One other thing about this list that I have a problem with is all these modern fighters on the list. Modern fighters are really just very fast "weapon targeting platforms", (though hats off to Art Harvey for his weapons systems), but it is not the same as real fighting. I guess I am just an old fart, talking about the "good old days", but it seems to me that modern fighter planes are "best" in a conceptual way, but they never really get to fight for real. -Assur-Resal In defense of modern Jet fighters there have been some good challenges in the the air recently. Vietnam provided an endless supply of air to air battles which kept the Hanoi hilton full of POWs like John McCain. The Phantom was the prime culprit here. It did NOT have cannon at first. It was supposed to be he next generation of fighter that would take us to the next level with Sparrows and Side-Winders. But if the NVA Migs closed quick enough they could splash it with a burst from its cannon. The Phatom was detested at first by U.S. Pilots until it was retro-fitted with cannon. Then after working out its missile guidance system problems it suddenly became the toughest affordable fighter in the world.. for 20-25 years... no other fighter has had such a long life-span as the dominant fighter, the Mustang was obscolete by the end of the WWII once the ME 262 took off. In its own way the F-4 was like those first German jets way ahead of its time. The Israeli's also added a simple but significant piece of hardware to it... rear-view mirrors. The Phantom was supposed to be completely radar guided but again if MIGs closed quickly it was vulnerable. The Iran-Iraq war. 8-years of war between well-equipped Iran v. well-supplied Iraq. The F-14s in Iran proved once again that even a no-frills version of the U.S. plane was tougher than Soviet, French and Italian air. Iran had to cannibalize for spare parts but their fleet maintained air-security without replacements for the whole war. I remember reading Aviation Week about it. U.S. experts were pleasantly surprised, especially Grumman who made the jet. The Gulf War, There was a short period where F-15s and F-16s dueled with Iraqi airforce before it fled to Iran to escape the Coalition and Saddam's wrath. the F-22 is probably as far aehad of its times as the ME-262 and the Phantom. The Arab Israeli Wars, I believe Israel was equipped with western jets in the 60s and 70s. Important because their enemies are so close they need immediate response time. They got F-16s in the 1970s (f-16s are sort of like the modern Zero, the most manueverable fighter jet in the world). The shot that destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor came from an F-16. It was a big deal when Saudi Arabia and Egypt purchased F-15s and F-16s in the late 1970s, Israel feared losing its air superiority and demanded assurances from the U.S. in case of attack. I donât know what Israel has now. Again I tend to agree that you can't compare the power of a modern fighter with older ones when making a list of the best within their respective eras. An interesting comparison is the British Battle ship "Dreadnaught." The day it rolled off the docks at Scappa flow it obscoleted very ship in the world, but It never saw a second of combat. You couldn't call it the best of an era. .........................

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