Kandal | Inside Cambodia

APAD 099: Nom pang

Posted by The Insider on Mar 11, 2013 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cambodia life, Cycle 2, Expat Life, food, sights, That's My World, What's On in Cambodia | 1 comment

I remembered taking this photo almost a month ago. My husband, younger brother and I left our house very early in the morning to drive out of Phnom Penh heading west.

It was a Sunday, and the whole country is celebrating the Chinese New Year. We were supposed to turn left at a junction where there is a small but bustling market. It’s called the Prek Phnov market. Anything and everything can be bought there.

Had the lady in colourful shirt not moved you would’ve seen some more nom pang (a local French bread) stacked neatly. My brother called it the “great wall of bread”.

To her right, which is not seen in the photo, are huge baskets of nom pang and another set of neatly stacked nom pang. Nom pang is really great with Khmer curry, or simply toasted over charcoal and dipped in condensed milk. A local sandwich known as nom pang pate is also a popular streetfood here. A pate is the Khmer version of the western meatloaf.

APAD 097: Mother and child

Posted by The Insider on Feb 27, 2013 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cycle 2, sights, That's My World, travel, What's On in Cambodia | 3 comments

This statue can be found inside the huge Prasat Vihear Sour complex.

APAD 093: Temple guardians

Posted by The Insider on Feb 20, 2013 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cycle 2, sights, That's My World, travel, What's On in Cambodia | 0 comments

Saw this at the pond inside Prasat Vihear Sour two weeks ago.

If I am not mistaken these are temple guardians called “dvarapalas” or the mythical monsters called “kala”.

Either a “dvarapala” or a “kala”, they are the guardians of the temple and are decorative elements in Khmer architectures and structures.

APAD 092: Prasat Vihear Sour

Posted by The Insider on Feb 19, 2013 in A Photo a Day, Addicted to Meme, All things Khmer, Cycle 2, sights, That's My World, travel, What's On in Cambodia | 1 comment

I don’t exactly know what it means in English but this particular wat attracts numerous local and foreign tourists because its architectural style is based on that of the Angkor Wat. It is constructed using a mix of cement and cement between 1996 to 1998 to a whopping amount of — wait for it – about one million dollars. WHEW!

Prasat Vihear Sour does look like Angkor Wat, isn’t it? Which is why it has earned the nickname “the new Angkor Wat”.

The money used is said to have been raised from local and foreign sources.

We went there during the Chinese New Year and it was located inside a sprawling compound with lots of trees and shade. There are also other new but smaller structures, still bearing the same architectural style. It has also an amazing archway decorated with giant-faces just like the faces that are found in the temples of Bayon.