Tuesday, May 26, 2009

In pagoda


Waiting to be shoot....

My family -


Victory--hahaha

My nephew


My Family




Laugh-laugh and Laugh--


My nephews

New Year - on the cliff


















Having climbing nearly 400 steps of Sontuk mountain. Everyone wanted to take a rest...


-- I feel so exhausted. Relax and take picture.... lol..
In the picture: from left my 3 year old nephew- me-my 7 year-old nephew and my brother at the back... on right hand(in black shirt) my older brother...

New Year Time



Monday, May 18, 2009

My Second story at Phnom Penh Post

Reading: A Novel Obession among Cambodian Youth

On the second floor of the International Book Centre in Phnom Penh, 21-year-old Dy Vutheara is working out which book to buy from the hundreds of Khmer-language novels on offer. While she enjoys a variety of genres from detective stories to comics, she eventually settles on a romance."Most of them are good, so I have to weigh them up and decide which one would be best," said Dy Vutheara, an environmental science student at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP).Dy Vutheara has bought more than 100 novels in the last three years since her teacher suggested she read more. She is not alone. About 40 of her friends also like to read, and she says between them they keep track of newly published novels."We never miss any new releases even though we don't have much money to buy them," she said. "So we take it in turns to buy the books and read them."Kim Sophat, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Culture, says the growing market in Khmer novels is leading to an increase in the number of writers."A lot of young people from the provinces and from urban centres are starting to write more and more. They can now make a decent living out of it," Kim Sophat said.Steady increaseOne of the country's best-known novelists, Mao Samnang, who writes under the pen name Rabbit, has noticed that the number of books published in each print run has increased steadily over the past decade - reinforcing the notion that more people are reading. But she says print costs remain an obstacle to increasing readership. Mao Samnang earns about US$500 for each of her novels, which take one month on average to complete. She says that if readers knew how difficult it is to write a book, they would complain less about the price.Despite the relatively high cost of books, she says many fans keep up with her new works by renting them from bookstores.Keo Somaly is a bookworm who has decided to spend her two dollars of food money to buy her favourite book - Neang Macha, or Lady Fish. She says many youngsters share her taste, which helps to offset the cost."Today is my turn to buy the book, and this one costs 7,000 riels [US$1.69)," she said. "My friends and I take turns [buying books] since we don't have much money, but we love to read." Obstacles The emergence of soap operas and foreign movies has some local writers worried. But Mao Samnang says her main concern is piracy."Illegal copies can kill writers. Soon after a novel is printed, there are many photocopies available on the market," she said. "The copy is much cheaper, but it is really harmful for novelists and for the printing houses."The Culture Ministry's Kim Sophat said authors should sue those who produce illegal copies of their works. Seong Phos, a Royal University professor, agrees and says that counterfeiters should be treated as thieves under the law and should be punished - although he has never seen that happen. The future Dy Vutheara says that most themes currently explored in Khmer novels lack deep meaning. "Readers just scan the cover and the first few pages, and they can tell how the story will end," she said. Looking to the future, Mao Samnang said she wants to make some changes to her novels. She believes that with greater exposure to foreign books, and a desire to see greater liveliness and creativity in local books, young readers are ready for a new approach. "Even though we novelists can barely survive, we try to keep our literature alive and maintain the long-lasting tradition of the Khmer novel for the next generation," she said.

For more http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2009051825901/Life-Style/Reading-a-novel-obsession-among-Cambodian-youth.html

"My whole Sunday shooping with Amazing experience"

This Sunday I have spent my whole day out side home since 6 in the morning till 5 in the evening. My aunt and brother were very surprise that on this Sunday.
I woke up so early. I went to do exercise with the volunteer groups from OYG (www.oygcambodia.org). Around 30 people, those people did not only do the exercise but clean the river front, mainly in front of the Royal Palace. It has been the third time for them to clean and wake up in the very early morning. I do appreciate their effort and energy. They are paid nothing but they are delighted to help clean our city. However, most people living there are not so welcome with these group actions and they even mock at them.

A boy living there shouted:
“Hey, those cleaners come again! it is their Sunday again! ”
Another began:
“Why these cleaners are so young and beautiful like this?”

I am not happy at all when hearing such words. To me, cleaning or doing from your own willingness and effort mean more than any thing to me. And I value to those who are valuable. Despite of the fact that some people living there did not really welcome our action,; hence, there are runners, exercise doers who keep smiling when seeing such young and enthusiastic young people like us caring our environment and Cambodian reputation. Without any hesitation, our cleaning continued until 9. After saying goodbye to those volunteers, I did spend my Sunday happily with my friends, of course girl friends at DMC. It is said that girls like shopping” and for sure we went shopping all morning.

First we went to Russian market (Toul Tumpong). Lyda is one of the stylists among my classmates but it is not strange since we have known her for nearly three years already. Lyda is content with many new designs of clothes displaying in the market. She has bought jeans, T-shirts, and pants which cost her nearly $40. Not all, Kim Oan my little and cute friend also buy some T-shirt. Oan said that she did not know why she love shopping even the time that she is broke she just want to see the new clothes (window shopping) that’s it and she is satisfied. I’m lucky but today it is not my day. I could not find the real stuff that I like. But I just hope to find the “Necklaces” for Davy Chou filming. We have tried to find many necklace but we were not sure if that is the one that he needs so the best idea is to take the picture of each necklace that we thought are suitable for the film and then let him make his own decision.
It is another time to say goodbye for our shopping then we went to Lucky Burger to eat something. We were so joyful with the chatting not the chickens and cokes over there. Spending time with friends, talking what on our mind and relaxing in the air-con room are the things that I miss so much in the last few months since we were dead and bloody busy with school assignments and homework.

I was convinced by Lyda that the shoes at VNC are good, modern and durable. (Lyda is usig peer influenced strategy, one of the effective strategies to attract the users). After the hearing this from my friend again and again I start to have a feeling of buying shoes at that shop. I and Lyda went to VNC(it is pronounced V and C ) shoes shop. The shoes over here are so modern and durable, restated Lyda. First I did not believe her but my mind change dramatically when there were many customers: young, old, adult, housewives and even celebrities had joined. Those shoes are from Malaysia and it honestly so expensive to me and Lyda and I can say that we could not afford if it did not have sale discount from 20%-50% -70%... VNC is located near Mobitel main office and what surprised me the most is another shop in front of VNC is the “New Collection Shop”. NCS is peaceful and quiet. I can see from the mirror that there was no one there in the evening of 4-5 which is quite different from VNC. The customers keep coming even though it was raining like cat and dog out side. They have tried any pair of shoes freely and happily since the room equipped with air-con, fans and music. Within the romantic and relax music the customers enjoyed buying and trying shoes. Having this good strategy, VNC has a great sale because once customer come here they never go back without any shoes, but they left with a pair, two pair, three pair and many more of shoes. It would be better if NCS consider changing their market strategy. Discount is a good means since this time of economic down turn.