Attractions: Angkor is located in Siem Reap Province, about 240 kilometers away from the capital, Phnom Penh. It is a symbol of the Cambodian nation and is known as one of the four wonders of the East. The existing Angkor monuments mainly include Angkor Thom (Greater Angkor) and Angkor Wat (Little Angkor). From the 9th to the 15th century AD, Angkor was the royal capital of Cambodia. Angkor was built in 802 AD and completed in 1201, which lasted 400 years. After the Siamese army invaded in 1431, Angkor was severely damaged and the dynasty was forced to move its capital to Phnom Penh. After that, Angkor was abandoned and gradually submerged in the jungle, until a French naturalist named Henri Mouhot discovered the Angkor ruins in the 1860s. There are more than 600 Angkor monuments in existence, distributed in a forest covering an area of ??45 square kilometers. Big Angkor and Little Angkor are its main components. There are many exquisite pagodas and numerous stone reliefs, which are spectacular. These pagodas are all built with huge stones, some of which weigh more than 8 tons. The pagoda is engraved with various forms of statues, some of which are several meters high and lifelike. In 1992, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee listed the entire Angkor monuments as a World Cultural Heritage.
Cambodian Customs
Clothing and Etiquette
Because it is located in the tropics , Cambodian people’s clothing is very thin. Their national casual clothing is that men wear straight-collared multi-button tops. When the weather is hot, they don't wear tops and only wear "sarong" or "shanpu". "Sarong" is made of several feet of cloth printed with various beautiful patterns sewn on both sides and tied around the waist, like a skirt. "Shanpu" is made of a long strip of cloth without stitching, which is wrapped from the waist down to the calf, then passed through the crotch, and tightly tied to the waist behind the back, with the remaining part sticking out like a fish tail. Women's casual tops are mostly silk round-neck double-breasted short-sleeved shirts, and their lower bodies also wear "sarongs" or "shanpu". Usually they also wear a long cloth scarf with beautiful patterns around their waists.
Manner and Etiquette
Cambodians believe that the left hand is unclean, and it is not polite to hold things or food with the left hand. They also believe that the head is a sacred part of the human body, so others cannot touch their heads, nor can they touch the heads of children at will. In some Cambodian dances, gestures are often used to express specific meanings. For example, putting the five fingers together and straightening means "victory"; clenching the five fingers into a fist means "dissatisfaction" and "anger"; putting four fingers together and bending the thumb into the palm means "surprise". ","sad".
Meeting etiquette
Cambodian people put their surname first and first name last. The names of aristocrats and commoners are different: nobles generally inherit their father's surname, while commoners generally take their father's surname. Aristocrats are very particular about naming and often have profound meanings, while commoners' names are mostly casual and have no meaning. Cambodians usually do not call people by surname, but only by first name, and add an article before the name to indicate gender, age, superiority and inferiority. For example, "Zhao" means grandson; "Ah" means child; "Da" means grandfather; "Ning" means girl; "Lock" means sir, etc. Namaste is the most common greeting etiquette in Cambodia. When saluting, the height of the palms should be grasped according to the object. For example, when a woman salutes her parents, a grandchild greets her grandparents, or a student greets a teacher, the palms of her palms should be raised to the eyebrows; when a government official salutes a subordinate to his superior, he should raise it to his mouth; When people of equal status salute, they should raise their heads to the tip of their noses. In rural areas, people only perform Namaste; in cities, people now also perform handshakes.
Dining Etiquette
Cambodians take rice as their staple food. Because they believe in Buddhism and are taboo on killing animals, they do not eat much animal meat and prefer to eat vegetarian dishes. However, during holidays, they There is still fish and meat on the dining table, and the dishes are very rich. They prefer spicy, sweet and sour flavors, and chili, onion, ginger and garlic are indispensable seasonings. They appreciate our country's Cantonese and Yunnan cuisine. Drinking is more common, and fruits can also be used as tonic. They have the habit of gargling after meals.
Wedding and Funeral Etiquette
Cambodia is located in the tropics, and men and women develop earlier. Generally, women get married around 16 years old, and men get married around 20 years old. Before the wedding, both the man and the woman must dress up beautifully and, accompanied by their parents and two witnesses, go to the relevant government departments to register their marriage and receive a marriage certificate. According to local customs, all weddings are held at the bride's home, and the husband usually settles down with his wife after the marriage, similar to Chinese bride-grooming.
A traditional wedding usually takes three days; the first day is the "move-in day", that is, the bride's family sets up the groom's shed, the reception shed and the catering shed, so that the groom can live in the groom's shed before the wedding; the second day is the "move-in day". "The first day", including ancestor worship ceremony, haircut ceremony, etc.; the third day is the "worship day", and the ceremony is usually presided over by an old man who is good at choosing "good and auspicious days". Nowadays, weddings are usually simple. Urban residents and intellectual families mostly adopt modern wedding forms and hold various civilized weddings according to their own wishes.
In Cambodia, there are many festivals throughout the year, including the New Year Festival, Water Festival, Kite Festival, Fasting Monk Festival, Rainy Season Residence Festival, etc. Among them, the Water Festival is the most grand and solemn traditional festival in Cambodia. The border is celebrated for three days every year during the full moon of the twelfth lunar month of the Buddhist calendar. The water delivery is to celebrate the end of the rainy season and the receding of the river. Burial methods for Cambodians after death include sky burial, water burial, cremation, earth burial, etc. Nowadays, cremation is mainly used. After a death, family members usually plant one or two crocodile flags in front of the house to indicate the death of the person in the family. Relatives and friends all wear white mourning clothes during the funeral, and the cremation time is usually arranged in the evening. Three days after the cremation, descendants take back the urn and place it at home for worship, or build an urn in a temple for burial.