Despite setbacks in her life and limited access to education, Pich Oun, a mother of four,forged a successful career as a tuk-tuk driver. She works long hours transporting passengers and goods, but still finds the time to drop her children off at school and cook for her family. Upon learning about a hotel that was hiring a driver for their guests, Oun, now 46, successfully applied for the position. She rented a tuk-tuk for the first two months before decided to commit to her new career and finance a vehicle of her own. She initially worked alongside her husband, but…
Author: Raksmey Hong
Though he’s still a relatively young man, Chim Poly already holds a Bachelor’s degree in Banking, Finance and English from a Cambodian university, a Master’s degree in Business Administration from an Australian university and has worked as a manager at several large companies. Poly, 33, is the former managing director of TADA and a former division manager at Wing, Uber, Cellcard and Ezecom. Incredibly enough, all of those titles are former because Poly gave up thousands of dollars per month in salary to run a barber shop – a line of business in which he has no expertise at all.…
Pictures and video clips of the Angkor Wat temple, its spires seemingly coated in gold, have been shared tens of thousands of times on social media, prompting a sense of wonder among those who have seen them. Hong Sam Ath, who took the pictures and video and posted them to his Facebook account, is a tourist agent for the Apsara National Authority (ANA). He said the images, which have been widely published by online media outlets, were captured from behind the temple. “I shot them on August 12 at 6:03 in the morning,” he told The Post, adding that he…
Starting with the preservation of a century-old Khmer cooking pot, Moeung Phanny has been collecting and trading antique and vintage items for more than a decade. His first experience was buying a collection of vintage items from a family at a remote village in Prey Veng province’s Kampong Trabek district. Despite having a passion for vintage objects, it was only in 2010 that Phanny was able to really concentrate on collecting interesting older items. The items he has range from locally produced objects to foreign items that date back to the French colonial period. With everything from radios, teapots, hats,…
Bun Lim recalled a car accident he had a few years back. He crashed into a lamppost and tumbled into a canal late one night. Two online journalists from the same organisation appeared at the scene, demanding money to make up for the damage. He refused to pay, as he felt like they were suggesting that the payment would mean they would not report the accident, showing a clear lack of journalistic ethics. “Two online journalists came and tried to stop me from winching my car out of the canal. They demanded $1,200 for the damage to the lamppost, but…
Longan aren’t quite as glamorous as some fruits. They don’t have the star-power of mangos or generate the excitement of a pricey seasonal niche fruit like the pungent durian. Unlike bananas or oranges, which are known and loved everywhere, longan remains a decidedly regional fruit as the primary growers and consumers of it are all countries in Southeast Asia – along with China – which is the world’s largest market for the fruit. One thing that longan has going for it is versatility. It is used in a variety of different ways in Asian cuisines and now a young man…
Cambodian artist Kem Keosocheat has collaborated with German artist Lars Breuer to examine the typography of their two languages for their In Collaboration exhibition at Phnom Penh’s Meta House. Now running, the In Collaboration: Lars Breuer (Germany) and Koem Keosocheat (Cambodia) exhibition is set to close on August 28. Breuer typically works with large, text-based installations that draw on references to art history and literature, while aesthetically suggesting a dialogue between architecture, design and fine arts. For this, his first project in Southeast Asia, the artist will work with local typography in combination with phrases in German. Rendered in stark…
Minister of Environment Say Samal praised a Cambodian enterprise that makes straws from rice and vegetable matter rather than plastic, which he said is overused around the world. “We did it! We made water straws from rice flour. We can stop using plastic straws now,” he said in a recent social media post, along with some photos of the colourful straws. The straws are available in many different colours and are made from natural substances such as rice, corn, potatoes and pandan leaves, according to Tith Sokhom, the owner of the enterprise, TK&D Manufacturing. Sokhom, 40, told The Post: “I…
Among Sar San’s earliest memories is the sight of her mother sitting at a loom weaving silk and cotton skirts, and krama. Born without the use of one leg, she unknowingly inherited this knowledge. Although the number of practitioners is declining, the villagers of Koh Dach – known as silk island, Phnom Penh’s largest – have continued the traditions of Khmer weaving for decades, passing their knowledge from generation to generation right up until the present day. Koh Dach commune chief Pech Cham, who has just taken office for a fifth term, said that in the past, almost 70 per…
Surrounded by greenery in Siem Reap, the first impression one gets of HAVEN – a restaurant that serves as a job skills training centre for disadvantaged young adults – is a welcoming one. Patrons arriving there will immediately encounter a smiling hostess performing a respectful sampeah, Cambodia’s traditional gesture of greeting similar in appearance to that of a Christian prayer. This small social enterprise with a mission to impart life skills and job training to young adults is run by a Swiss couple, but the customs it follows are distinctly Khmer while also providing a quality of service that meets…