To most casual bystanders, who aren’t Thai, it’s obvious Cambodia owns the temple. Not only was the temple built by the Khmer in Khmer style, it was also built on land that had always belonged to the Khmer until Thailand took it over in one of their incursions, into what is now Cambodia, a few hundred years ago.

Cassandra James, Associated Content

I ran into this commentary on the recent Cambodian-Thai spat and thought you guys might be interested.

According to CNN, Thailand has ordered its Ambassador to Cambodia to return home after it learned that deposed Thai ex-Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, had been named as an economic adviser to the Cambodian government. And, according to the Bangkok Post, the situation between Thailand and Cambodia is rapidly deteriorating, to the point that Thailand is now considering cancelling a memorandum of understanding on overlapping maritime boundaries in the Gulf of Thailand. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has also told the Foreign Ministry to take any steps necessary to downgrade dimplomatic relations with Cambodia. As this ‘tit for tat’ fight continues, how did this all happen and which country will back down first?

Preah Vihear Temple

To understand where the situation really began, you have to be aware of the ongoing dispute over an 11th century temple that sits squarely on land owned by Cambodia, but with the only access to the temple on land owned by Thailand. An agreement by Thailand saying Cambodia owned the land was made many years ago, so the Cambodians in all fairness probably felt the situation was solved. Things flared up again however last year, when Cambodia applied for the 11th century temple to be named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This sparked Thailand’s interest in the temple and a war of words, followed by a stand-off between the military of the two countries, occurred on the border of Thailand and Cambodia. To most casual bystanders, who aren’t Thai, it’s obvious Cambodia owns the temple. Not only was the temple built by the Khmer in Khmer style, it was also built on land that had always belonged to the Khmer until Thailand took it over in one of their incursions, into what is now Cambodia, a few hundred years ago. Ownership of the land went backwards and forwards, but has been held by Cambodia for much of the last century. Therefore, in the eyes of just about every international body, the temple belongs to Cambodia.Fast forward to 2006, when Thaksin Shinawatra the then Prime Minister of Thailand was kicked out of office in a bloodless coup. With talk of ‘immense corruption’ much of the country believed this to be the reason for the coup, only to find out later it was more likely as a result of Thaksin becoming too powerful, a fact the Thai military did not like.

Regardless of whether Thaksin was corrupt, which many people still believe he was, he was the most effective Prime Minister Thailand had ever had when it came to managing the Thai economy. As a true business man with a natural sense of how to run a country, Thaksin was able to take Thailand’s economic future and improve it faster than anyone thought possible. Once he was deposed however, the military came into political power and destroyed the Thai economy in just over a year. Three years later, Thailand’s economy is still limping along, a fact not lost upon the millions of poorer Thais who support Thaksin 100% and want him back in political office.

Cambodia, probably realizing Thaksin is an economic genius, and one who could benefit Cambodia’s economic future, jumped on the chance to offer him a position as economic advisor and, quite frankly, you can’t blame them. Add onto that the opportunity to anger the present Thai government even more by hiring Thaksin and therefore elevating his legitimacy in the eyes of many Thais and foreigners, and Cambodia took it.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s government is doing a lot of chest beating and appealing to the international community to pressure Cambodia to extradite Thaksin if he arrives in Cambodia. As most of the international community however were against the coup that evicted Thaksin from political office in the first place, it’s highly unlikely they will.

As to which country will back down first? If the last couple of years of Cambodia vs Thailand is anything to go by, neither country will. Cambodia however seems to be in the right more than Thailand does in this case, so only time will tell what will happen.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart, Abhisit Vejjajiva

And so, the Cambodia-Thailand diplomatic row continues following Hun Sen’s nomination of ousted former Thai prime minister Thanksin Shinawatra. Here is what I woke up to this morning:

Cambodia recalled its ambassador to Thailand Thursday, the deputy prime minister said, hours after Bangkok pulled its envoy in a row over Phnom Penh’s job offer to former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra.

“To reciprocate the recall of Thailand’s ambassador-designate, the Royal Government of Cambodia decided to recall its ambassador for the time being but regards this only as a temporary measure,” Deputy Prime Minister Sok An said.

Sok An told a news conference in Phnom Penh that the Cambodian envoy would be sent back to Bangkok “only after Thailand has sent its ambassador-designate to Cambodia”.

The Cambodian government announced the appointment of Thaksin as an economic adviser late Wednesday, riling Bangkok as it attempts to bring the billionaire tycoon home to face justice three years after he was ousted in a coup.

While I was kinda expecting this, I still find this very insane. I’m just sick and tired of this political drama. The two governments are worse than kindergarten kids, doing what they are doing. Let’s act more like grow-ups, please!

ยำหมูกรอบ or Crispy Pork Salad

Cooking and me were never good friends before I came to the US. I suppose I was too lazy back then and never cared about learning it since my mom would do it anyways.

Now that I have to live away from home, knowing how to cook has become more important than ever. For a reason, it’s too expensive to eat out over here. I’ll need at least $10 each time to do. Twice a day and 31 days a month, that will total to around $620 a month. Yikes! For another, I can’t see myself eating American food everyday. It’s not because their food is bad; it’s just it is often too rich and that isn’t quite compatible with an Asian system like mine.

So the other day, I tried out this one dish called ยำหมูกรอบ or Crispy Pork Salad, which I had grown to love  and would eat regularly when I was in Thailand this summer. Just like other salads, this salad was quite simple and easy to make. The only time-consuming part, though, was the making of the Crispy Pork itself – which took me almost an hour to make. Unless you don’t have access to a ready-made crispy pork, you may wanna skip this part. But again, it’s always good to try doing something like that at least once and make yourself proud.

For those who wanna make it, below is the recipe:

• CRISPY PORK SALAD
  • Ingredients
    • 300 g of pork belly (សាច់ជ្រូក​បីជាន់)
    • 1 teaspoon of salt
    • 1 cup of vinegar
    • 6 cups of cooking oil
  • How to make it
    1. Thoroughly mix the salt and vinegar.
    2. Boil the pork belly until it is well cooked.
    3. Take the belly out of the pot and leave it until it’s dry.
    4. Score the skin on the belly of pork crossways with a sharp knife.; then paint it with the salt and vinegar you mix and leave to dry.
    5. Heat your frying pan until it’s really hot.
    6. Add the pork strips in batches & deep-fry for about 40 mins, or until the skin has crackled & is golden.
    7. Cut the pork crossways into thin strips, and it should be ready for our salad.

• SALAD
  • Ingredients
    • 50 g of thinly sliced cucumber
    • 50 g of thinly sliced onion
    • 50 g of sliced tomato
    • 50 g of lettuce
    • 50 g of cilantro (ជីវ៉ាន់ស៊ុយ)
    • 1 tablespoon of lime juice
    • 2 tablespoons of fish sauce
    • 1 teaspoon of sugar
    • 1 teaspoon of ground chili
  • How to make the salad
    1. Mix the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar together in a small bowl.
    2. Mix the crispy pork with the cucumber, onion, tomato, lettuce and cilantro we prepared in a salad bowl.
    3. Pour the ground chili and dressing we prepared in step 1 onto the salad mix and toss them together.

Then your yummy salad should be ready! Enjoy!

Known as Jingju (京剧) in Chinese, the Beijing or Peking Opera is one of the most treasured art forms in China. Formerly reserved only for the emperors of the Qing Dynasty, the Opera combines music, vocal performance, mime, dance and acrobatics. Unlike its counterpart in other parts of the world, Jingju is highly renowned for its unique facial paintings  whose designs represent different characters’ roles. For example, a red face usually depicts heroic bravery, uprightness and loyalty; a white face symbolizes a sinister, treacherous and guile character and a green face connotes surly stubbornness, impetuosity and lack of self-restraint.

As a big fan of art and music, I have always longed to see it live. Growing up in a Cambodian-Chinese family, I remember listening to it almost everyday. Though she spoke no mandarin, other than some basic Toechew, my grandmother was a big fan of it. She would put it on all day and would be super mad if any of us ever messed up with her tapes. To her, it was one of the things she couldn’t live without…

And unconsciously, Chinese opera started to sound more beautiful to me.

Two weeks ago, a Chinese friend shared with me that the Confucius Institute was going to bring the dance to our campus at the end of October. The show will be performed by artists from China’s National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts, and will include excerpts from some of the most famous stories in ancient Chinese literature.

Finally, the day (Oct 30) came. With 5 other friends, I went to the show with excitement. The show was very interesting, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s simply very different from other shows I’ve been to, in the way that audience could get up close with the performers and try some of the Opera’s beautiful moves. If only all classical performances elsewhere could be the same. That was a smart move to promote one’s culture to the world.

An audience trying out a move with an artist

The troupe’s next stop will be in Alaska and New York City. Do check them out if you are around there. More pictures from the show are available here.