Cambodia |
Cambodia Tours & Cambodia Tour Packages |
This section covers many valuable resources on Cambodia such as the travel guides or tips to travelers. Some of the topics contain links to the other related sites of similar subjects. In certain topic, we include lists of useful contacting address for your information.
Cambodia Fact File:
Country Name: The Kingdom of Cambodia
Country Name in Khmer language: Kampuchea
Motto: Nation - Religion – King
Capital City: Phnom Penh
Language: Khmer (Cambodian). Some English, French.
Government: Multy-party democracy under a constitutional monarchy
Important/Major Cities: Siem Reap (Gateway to the temples of Angkor). Sihanoukville (port and beach town). Battambang, Kampong Cham.
Major Rivers/Lakes: Tonle Sap River, Mekong River, Bassac River, Tonle Sap Lake
Ethnic Groups: Khmer (90-95%), ethnic-Chinese, Cham, ethnic-Vietnamese, several ethnic-minorities in the northeast.
Boring Countries: Thailand, Laos, Vietnam
International Airports: Phnom Penh (PHN), Siem Reap (SEP)
Religion: Theravada Buddhism (95%), Islam, Christianity, Animism.
Population of Cambodia: 14.2 million (est.)
Land area of Cambodia: 181.035 km2
Land area of Siem Reap: 10.299 km2
Currency: Riel (US$1=4200R). US dollars are as commonly used as riel
Voltage: 220v/50Hz
Time: GMT +7 hours
Country Calling Code: 855
Internet LTD: kh
Business Hours: 7:30-11:30 / 2:00-5:00 Closed Saturday afternoon and Sunday.
Equinox, an astronomical event that marks a change in season, is the time in which the sun passes over the celestial equator causing the length of night and day to be roughly equal. In the northern hemisphere vernal equinox marks the beginning of spring while autumnal equinox marks the beginning of autumn.
Vernal equinox is usually celebrated in 21st March while autumnal equinox in 23th September. In the southern hemisphere, it is the other way around.
Spring equinox is not just any ordinary season celebration. In most cultures, it is a religious observance embracing a symbolic sense of spirituality. It has been celebrated for thousands of years in many countries with different traditions with almost similar themes, the start of new beginnings.
For Christians, spring equinox plays a vital role in determining the Christian Easter and the same goes for the Jewish celebration of the Passover.
While a tradition from ancient Chinese calls for balancing of eggs to bring good fortune and abundance.
For Iranians, spring equinox marks their New Year or Nowruz established from the Zoroastrianism beliefs. St. Patrick’s day in Ireland is also an observance related to the spring equinox.
In Pagan traditions, spring equinox is a celebration in honor of the gods and goddesses.
Ancient Romans celebrate in honor of the mother goddess of Rome, Cybele, who with some divine intervention and help from Zeus, resurrected her lover, Attis after he castrated and killed himself.
Germanic tribes celebrate Ostara, originally from the word Eostre, the Germanic goddess of spring; while Ancient Egypt celebrate the Festival of Isis, the goddess of spring and rebirth.
The native Mayan people in Central America celebrates spring equinox for ten centuries in the Mayan sacrificial ritual pyramid, El Castillo or the Kukulcan Pyramid, in Chichen Itza, Mexico. The pyramid has four staircases and at the base of the stairs stands the carved head of a snake deity, Kukulkan. The pyramid is designed with quite an impressive precision that during the equinox, as the sun sets, shadows and sunlight plays an illusion of a snake sliding down the staircase. They call this occurrence as “The Return of the Sun Serpent”. At present, El Castillo is also one of the famous venue for equinox observance.
Stonehenge, a celebrated tourist attraction in England is another well-known venue for the equinox. One function of the Stonehenge’s blueprint is to serve as an astronomical observatory to forecast and calculate celestial occurrences. During the equinox, Druids and Pagans gather early in the morning to witness the sun rising above the stones. This structure has become a very prominent venue for those seeking some kind of an extraordinary spiritual encounter during the equinox.
Another remarkable site to experience the equinox is the Grianan of Aileach, a group of ancient structures on top of a hill in Count Donegal, Ireland, with structures believed to have been built in the 6th or 7th century AD. During the equinox, the beam of the rising sun is dividing the inside of the stone ring-fort which is the main structure, into a northern and southern part.
Mnajdra, a temple complex in the the island of Malta, is considered as one of the most ancient religious sites on earth. The structure is believed to have been built during the 4th Millenium B.C. During the equinox, a ray of sun pass thru the temple and lights up its main axis.
Finally, being considered as one of the shrines of the ancient world, Angkor Wat near Siem Reap Cambodia is the most popular venue in Southeast Asia to celebrate the spring equinox. The structure, aside from its magnificent design is also drafted to forecast celestial phenomenons. Angkor Wat temple features a very distinctive and spectacular sunrise during the equinox; the sun rises exactly behind the pinnacle of the central tower, the most sacred point of the temple rising 65 meters above the ground. For this upcoming Spring Equinox we are doing a special photography tour, please visit this page for more details. Here are few pictures below of sunrise at the equinox in Angkor Wat temple.