Cloggersummit Award

Thats cool: We (ok, just the winners) can get some gadgets just for an answer.. wann point here to the cloggersummit-award

To apply for an award, please leave a comment in this blog post saying in 2-3 sentences what prize and how you​​ use it.

Thats my favorite:

I would like the audio recorder. I can use it to record my teacher’s voice while he is teaching beacasue his voice is too soft and his pronanciation is not clear esp the subject is difficult. Most importantly, whenever there is an interesting speech, discussion, or workshop like the workshop about Cambodian Bloggers Summit.

Problem ? There is no problem... Day 2 Cloggersummit2007

Got it: sometimes I just have to wait for blogger.com to get my posts published. Ok...

Day 2 of Cloggersummit2007: Again some presentations in khmer, but I can follow thanks to some english language slides and my "personal" translater Men Chivorn (reading this whle I am typing :-))

Summeray of yesterday: I was really impressed how concentrate they work here. We had a group session in afternoon, just 20 minutes to answer the question "what is team-blogging". We got it in time.
Team Blogging is when a team, which is two people or more, is using one blog, and they have a same interest. It's more easy to blog as a team, if one blogger doesn't have time, the other bloggers can still provide content. another reason for teamblogging is diversity.
An if you want to know how to team blog, please follow Beths five steps of web 2.0

Cloggersummit2007 second try

I am not quite sure whats going on here on blogspot.com, but I still got the posts in the feed, but not on the website (the posts are in the archive too..). Does anyone out there has a solution for this? (of course this is adressed to the feedreaders :-))

Cloggersummit2007

I am sitting in the conference hall of pannasastra university at norodom and listen to the speech of deedee in cloggersummit2007. It quite interesting, what impact blogging has to young people. Its about getting connected and learning english. Especially for a guy who was defending bogs in germany as useful, its interesting to see that bloggig is fully accepted here as a communcation tool and alternative media. Right now there is a videoconference with Kolja - she is currently in the US - wow, thats what I tried to teach people in Germany so many times: You don't need to spend a lot of money to get speakers from oversea - just an internet connection. Well done, Cloggers!!!!

My dogs are looking for friends

It's not that easy to fiend some friends for my two dogs here. Most other dogs around my home in BKK 1 are kind of watchdogs, mainly aggressive. Is there anybody out there in Phnom Penh who has the same problem? We are looking for somtehing like a sunday dog-owners-meeting...

Cambodian Wine

On our trip to Battambang and Siem Reap we visited a vinery (its on the way to the Banan Temple). As a German coming from one of the most popular vine regions Rheinhessen I was really curious about Cambodian Vine. Unfortunatly they did't have some red wine but the rosé one. We tried one - uncooled - and, hmm, it was different to our taste. It wasn't that bad as expected but the color was more brown then rosé. Much better was the whiskey - cause we were there at noon, we just tried some drops.
If you are around Battambang, you should make a stop there anyway. More bout the Wine from cambodia you can read in an article called " Amid emerald rice fields, Cambodia's first winery startles but pleases"

For everyone who comes to Cambodia: Behavior Code

Got it from the Cambodias UK-Embassy-Website (also a note for me as a rookie here in the Kingdom):

Personal Behavior

*

Polite behavior is welcome everywhere. What is considered polite in other countries is probably considered polite in Cambodia too. However, there are few customs, social and religious taboos.
*

Cambodians admire a calm and considered approach to all aspects of life. Open show of temper and anger should be avoided.
*

It is considered a grave insult to touch another person's head, even if is meant as a friendly gesture.
*

Use the right hand to accept things or shake hands.
*

It is considered rude to point your foot at a person or object.
*

Keep an open mind and do not demand much from your host. Loud voices and boisterous behavior are considered impolite. Smiling and nodding establishes good intent.
*

public displays of affection between men and women are frowned upon.
If you like someone to come over to you, motion with your whole hand, palm down. Do not signal with your finger.
*

When picking your teeth with a toothpick after a meal, it is considered polite to hold the toothpick with one hand and to cover your open mouth with the other.
*

In private homes, it is polite to remove your shoes when entering the house.
*

Be appreciative of people who appreciate

Bookselling for School?

I was a little bit wondered about my travelbook: The author says thats its helpful to buy some copied books frm the chidren on the streets, because they need the money for their school fees. I was confused because I thought there is not really a fee (which is), but also if the booksellers even go to school (what they do not).

On the streetfriends-website I just found this paragraph:

The cost of a public education (registration fees, uniforms, supplies, mandatory private lessons) prevents many families from sending their children to school. These children then spend extraordinary amounts of time unsupervised, either loitering or earning an income. An accurate census of the homeless or street population has yet to be carried out. Depending on the definition and according to the figures accepted by UNICEF, there are between 600 to 1,000 street children who have completely cut ties with their families and have made the streets their home and 10,000 street children who have kept ties with their family and return home either regularly or irregularly.

Voluntourism

Today was my first day in "the office". That means, I was assisting Nataly doing quotations at Exotissimo. Really interesting, how it works, how many details you have to keep in mind.

As we were talking about tourism, she told me about the next big thing in Cambodia, called voluntourism. That means, you spend some days in a NGO-Project, building up houses in the countryside or teaching children. And of course you can combine it with some nice days in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh.

Sounds really interesting, I will write an article about it in the next days. Tomorrow starts our trip to Battambang and Siem Reap. I have my video-equipment with me - so stay tuned for some great movies :-)

Java Cafe in the bookstore

Had a not so short stop in the new Java café as a part of the Monuments Books Store on Norodom Boulevard - as the name says, right by the Independence Monument.



Nice and quiet location. If you like to have a look on the books (we did it with a lot of literature about cooking - just sit down, take a sandwich (with baguette or bagel, made in the Java bakery) and a cup of coffee and relax.

The offer nearly the same selection as in Java, but no lunch, just the sandwiches. and I discovered no hotspot there, but will ask tomorrow, if there will one in the future.

No pigs from China and Vietnam

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifThe Kingdom of Cambodia stooped imports of living pigs from China and Vietnam, a German newswire reports. I have learned that the Cambodian government is scared about pig illness coming from outside in the country. In Hanoi some people died of a pigmeat caused bacterial infection.

Oil and corruption in Cambodia

Al Jazeera had this report on oil in Cambodia.


Listen to the man from the oil authority: "There is no need for an anti-corruption law, just the spirit of the people"."

Skype: The grid in darkness

The major outage of Skype shows, how addicted we are. So many peaople and companies do have a real problem now. No conference calls overseas, no "Hi Dad hi Mum, I just arrived, everything is ok". I was trying to call my wife in Phnom Penh, but I had to use a mobile connection (which is reall expensive from Germany to Cambodia). Skype seems to be a world-wide AT&T right now, and with the technical problems the lights had gone off in the world of voice over IP. Temporarly, of course. The guys are working hard, as you can read on heartbeat.skype.com.

Bets in Battambang

The Agence France Press submitted two days ago a story about betting on rain in Battambang. I will be on a short visit in Battambang next week - maybe we can bet there :-)


Thats part of the AFP-Story

Storm clouds gathering over this northwestern Cambodian city could make or break the fortunes of dozens of men gathering on rooftops or crowding into nearby guesthouses.

The sky-gazers above and the bookies and gamblers below frantically
swap information and wagers; the tension builds as hopes rise of
striking it rich with a little rain.

Normally quiet on cloudless days, Battambang city's Beung Chhouk
market is humming with excitement as the monsoon descends and the
ancient game of "Phnal Tuek Phleang", or rain betting, gets underway.

Angkor a much bigger community

In the news:

The famed Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia turns out to be the center of a much bigger community than had been known.

A new study led by Damian Evans of the University of Sydney, Australia, reports that the Angkor urban area extended to nearly 390 square miles.

Why to blog in the developing world

While western bloggers doing their stuff mostly because of fun (and some egocentric reasons :-), its seems to be totally different, why peaople oin the developing world are blogging (as lonng as they can do it). Just found this in an article about the cambodian bloggers aka cloggers.

Lux, 28, became interested in blogging soon after it took
off in Korea, Japan, and China and is a pioneer of "clogging" - as
Cambodian blogging is known. In fact, he coined the term.
"I wanted to explore the technology and see how it could be
used for the development of young people and the country," he said.
"It is very interesting how blogging can change the political
landscape. This technology gives some power to the people."

Books on Cambodia: Monument Books

Where to buy books in Phnom Penh? On the street, of course, the copied books the children are offering. But thats always about Angkor and the killing fields. If you like to get the new Harry Potter (the real one, not the "Harry Potter and the dragon" chinese version), or something about K.hmer Culture, then you need to go to Monument Books.

Monument Books offers a wide selection of books on Cambodia, Angkor and Khmer culture on the web with over 300 available references.

Beyond books on Cambodia, Monument Books offers a selection of over 10,000 titles in 6 languages and has accounts with 200 publishers in 20 different countries. The company is both a retailer, with 5 shops, and a wholesaler for Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Singapore, France and UK markets.

You can find Monument-Books at #111, Norodom Blvd, Phnom Penh, Cambodia as well as at the the airport. Later this year they will open a store in the new National museum in Siem Reap.

Major floods caused by Mekong river?

Uppps, just got this from KI-Media

The rapid rise of the Mekong River level could create major flooding in the next few days because intense rains are currently falling in the upper Mekong River basin.

What plastic bags are for

1. Re-use a plastic bag as a - plastic bag

2. Use a plastic bag as a hat

3. Do what the people on Craftzine.com do and use plastic bags as a material for weaving (ok, kind of..)

More about recycling clothes on craftzine.com

Hello World: Thomas Wanhoffs goes Cambodia (aehm, yes, again)

Well, its just about a week when its all coming back to me, the plane will be ready for take off again to take me to Cambodia.
I decided to open a blogger-account for my cambodia-blog, although I have my Wanhoff.de-Subdomains, because I just need to get incoming links from different domains :-) No, in fact, its just convenient for me. All the content from the tumblr-blog (its sucks, really bad performance there) will move to this account in the next days.

I will live in BKK#1, and I will also attend the Clogger Summit on August 30th
in Phnom Penh. Maybe I will see you there.

Clogger summit in Phnom Penh

There are different meanings of Clogger: One is "Corporate Blogger", another is "California Bloggers". But the most important is "Cambodian Blogger". And the cambodian bloggers will held summit on august 31 and I am very proud to take part.

If you like to get more information about the Blogger (upps: Clogger) summit, check out the wikispaces page on http://cloggers.wikispaces.com/.

We will talk about media and internet, podcasting (that my min interest), vlogging and all issues around the web 2.0.

For me, its great to attend: I will arrive on August 18th in Phnm Penh and its a perfect start to get in touch with the cambodian blogosphere.

Fair Trade Clothes

Found this about Fair Trade Clothes (via Andy)

Marie Furuta manages 5 different communities in Cambodia around Siem Reap to produce the accessories from scratch: anything from planting the trees for wild silk worms to grow, to gathering the cocoons for the precious Cambodian silk used for her bags and scarfs, creating the fabrics, designing and finally manufacturing the accessories. There are currently about 150 Cambodians making a fair living by working for Sait.