Saturday, April 23, 2011

Introduction To Cambodia Culture

Cambodia is one of the most wonderful part on the earth. With Cambodia you could find a mixture of cultures of the Orient. Although Khmer culture, like any other cultures in the world is already much inspired by Western ideals, the strong influence of Hinduism and Buddhism is very much evident. For instance, the visual art which is one of the essential signature of Khmer culture is still shows the strong influence of Buddhism. Frankly, many buildings in Cambodia still have statues and also images of the Buddha.

In order to understand about Cambodia culture, let us look into the different cultural expressions of the place.
Religion part of Cambodia culture

Cambodia couldn’t be complete without its religious practices and religions. The same as most parts of Asia, religion in one of the focal points of the lives of the Khmer (Cambodian). If you take a look at the statistics, about 92% of the Cambodian people are Theravada Buddhist. The rest of people are a composed of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Animism.

Since Cambodia culture rely upon the ideas of Buddhism, the government of Cambodia Prefer Khmer Theravada Buddhism. All the monks in this place therefore get some government benefits such as the use of some public substructure. Technically, there is nothing strong separation of the church and the state under the Cambodia culture.

Food

Food is one of the hallmarks of Cambodia culture. Depend upon food specialists, the Cambodia cuisine is a mix of four Basic taste namely, sweet, sour, spicy and salty. Most Khmer cooking mix all these four fundamental taste. Apart of combining all four fundamental tastes, Cambodian cooking is also known for its hot flavor. Of course their blend of hot flavor isn’t really as hot as the Thailand cooking version but if you are sensitive to chili something hot on your food, you should take precautions before sampling some kinds of Cambodia food.

Traditions

Khmer culture is filled with distinctive traditions and customs. The most well known Khmer Custom is the way of greeting or acknowledgment. This kind of gesture is similar to the Indian Namaste (a simple spoken greeting or salutation used in Nepal and India) body language, that is qualified by a prayer hand position and the bowing our head. Usually, this gesture is used when you wanna welcome guesses and friends so if you dream to go to this country, you need to be familiar with this kind of greeting. You don’t really want to feel out place you meet new people.

Traveling & Place

All visitors that travel to Cambodia will also visit Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap. Ankor Wat and the surrounding temples are so nice to be visited at sunrise and in the early morning and late in the afternoon time towards sunset. There are 2 reasons for this, the light makes a completely different atmosphere, and it is not very hot. Break up your day and avoid the heat of the sun. Your pass will be valid for as many visits as you wish – so get up early, and see the sites of Angkor Wat temple before it gets to hot. Then, from mid to the late morning morning, come back to your hotel in Siem Riep and unwind in the heat of the day. Next, when the weather become cool, go back to Angkor Wat for sunset.

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