3376 CAMBODIA - Royal Ploughing Ceremony

The Royal Ploughing Ceremony is an ancient royal rite held in many Asian countries to mark the traditional beginning of the rice growing season. In the various versions of Ramayana, Sita, the heroine appears from the ploughed earth as a baby when Janaka, the king of Videha ploughs the field in the royal ceremony. This is the earliest historical account of this agricultural ritual Sita#Birth. Traditionally, the ceremony is performed in the month Pisak of the Khmer calendar (usually in May, after european calendar), but varies as it is determined by Hora, marking the beginning of the rainy season.

1160 CAMBODIA (Siem Reap) - Traditional Apsara dancer

Apsaras are female spirits of the clouds and waters in Hindu and Buddhist mythology, assimilated to some extent with nymphs from european mythology. They are youthful and elegant, and superb in the art of dancing, being associated with fertility rites. They are often the wives of the Gandharvas, the court musicians of Indra. They dance to the music made by the Gandharvas, usually in the palaces of the gods, entertain and sometimes seduce gods and men. They are said to be able to change their shape at will, and rule over the fortunes of gaming and gambling. Apsaras represent an important motif in the stone bas-reliefs of the Angkorian temples in Cambodia, about which I wrote here.

0723 CAMBODIA (Phnom Penh) - A fruit market

It is said that South East Asia’s markets are some of the most interesting of the world, and the Cambodia's ones aren't exceptions. Obviously that in such a traditional market (psah) the fruit and vegetables section isn't the most attractive from the point of view of smell, but has without doubt the most colorful stalls. Needless to say that Cambodia, as a tropical country, has a wealth of fresh fruits on daily offer. Moreover, fruits in this country are so popular, that they have their own royal court: the durian is considered the king, the mangosteen the queen, sapodilla the prince, and the milk fruit the princess.

0439 CAMBODIA - A Buddhist monk with its traditional kasava

Buddhism is one of the oldest religion still practiced, so the Buddhist Monasticism is also one of the earliest surviving forms of organized monasticism, the order of Buddhist monks and nuns being founded by Gautama Buddha himself, over 2500 years ago. The Buddhist monastic order is theoretically divided into two assemblies, the male Bhikkhu, and the female Bhikkhuni. Monks and nuns are expected to fulfill a variety of roles in the community, to preserve the doctrine and discipline, to provide a living example for the laity, to live an austere life focused on the study of Buddhist doctrine, the practice of meditation, and the observance of good moral character. Unlike Christian monastics, the Buddhist ones aren't required to be obedient to a superior, but it's expected that they will offer respect to senior members of the Sangha (community). In generally, the groups of monastics make decisions collectively, and individual relationships of teacher/student, senior/junior, and preceptor/trainee are no formal positions.

0382 CAMBODIA - Public transport, Cambodian style

Wikipedia say that "war and continuing fighting severely damaged Cambodia's transportation system - a system that had been inadequately developed in peacetime", and that "only about 50 percent of the roads and highways were covered with asphalt and were in good condition; about 50 percent of the roads were made of crushed stone, gravel, or improved earth; and the remaining approximately 30 percent were unimproved earth or were little more than tracks."