#Cambodia - ANA to celebrate 25th anniversary

Religious ceremonies will be organised on the compound of Angkor Wat during the celebration of the anniversary. 

  The Apsara National Authority (ANA) will mark the 25th anniversary of its establishment by preparing information booths to showcase achievements to the public.

Students who want to ask about problems, challenges and future goals can also do so for a week from February 15-22 on the compounds of Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom city.

 ANA disseminated information on Wednesday saying that by February 19, it would be 25 years that ANA was established in compliance with one of the five conditions for listing the Angkor Wat Resort as world heritage.

“To remind as well as advertise the 25-year achievements and future work vision alike, ANA will prepare information booths to display achievements and answer general questions during the exhibition on working achievements, problems, challenges and job goals for a week,” ANA said.

This information showed that over the last 25 years, ANA had renovated temples, developed the tourist sector, restored and reused ancient irrigation systems of the Angkor era, repaired and constructed physical infrastructure systems, especially community work in the city and five districts of the Angkor resort.

All of these had contributed to raising of citizens’ living standards and considerably changed and flourished many areas.

“The event will allow the public and students to learn about the work of the institution directly from ANA’s headquarters. Museums will open to visitors free of charge under the management of ANA,” it said.

ANA said that during the celebration of the anniversary, religious ceremonies would be organised on the compound of Angkor Wat. A total of 225 monks would be offered food on February 19.

Source - ThePhnomPhenPost

Author - Voun Dara

#Cambodia - Unique LGBTQ hotpot debuts in Phnom Penh

Tucked away on the nondescript street 256, behind Preah Kossamak Hospital, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh is a small unsuspecting food outlet.

Its unusual sign – a picture of a woman closely resembling the late English singer and songwriter Amy Winehouse – smiles next to the outlet’s signature dish – ‘LGBTQ Hotpot’.

Owned by actress and model Som Sreyneat, the small outlet located inside a street-side gazebo has enticed people to this lesser trodden section of the capital with its unusual and colourfully named soup made from a family recipe.

She opened the business with her two brothers last month, with the name a celebration of the hotpot’s uniqueness from many other Cambodian hotpots.

“It’s a bit sour and a bit sweet. Its taste is unique, and that is why we wanted to give it a name that stood out,” Sreyneat said.

The hotpot set comes with a plate of free-range duck meat, beef meatballs, egg, shrimp, pig blood and white sesame. In addition, it has a basket of vegetables, including needle mushrooms, Chinese white cabbage, okra, water spinach, thyme, coriander and Khmer basil.

A full LGBTQ hotpot set is 25,000 riel ($6.28) and can feed 2 to 3 people. Because of its affordable price point, many of her customers are students.

Source - TheNation

A thousand #Cambodian labourers deported from Thailand

Some 1,000 Cambodian workers who failed to meet the deadline to legalize their work documents in Thailand have been deported since July 1, said officials at the Poipet border at Banteay Meanchey province.

Provincial Labour Department director Ros Sarom said officials had issued legal documents to most Cambodians working in Thailand before July.

“The word undocumented or illegal worker does not exist anymore. For example, those who remain illegally are workers brought into Thailand by agents, if they are arrested each worker could face a fine of up to 800,000 riel and they will be deported.

“Undocumented workers will face stern action from the Thai government and Thailand has clearly announced that all Khmer and Vietnamese workers must be documented in order to work in the country. If undocumented workers are arrested, we cannot help them,” he said.

Pi Somnok, deputy human trafficking officer of the Anti-Human Trafficking Office of the provincial police, said the number of Cambodian returnees fluctuates – ranging from 20 workers to 100 workers a day.

“Migrant workers return home to obtain legal documents so they can go back to Thailand to work. There are cases where (Cambodian) workers are arrested by Thai officials and deported, and sometimes they (Cambodians) approach Thai officials to send them home,” said Somnok.

Last year, the Thai government issued an order to all migrant workers to obtain legal documents by June 30, so that they can work legally in the Kingdom. This was part of the government’s effort to weed out illegal workers.

Source - TheNation