LTO Cambodia: Sihanouk Photos

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Sihanouk Photos

Photo vendor at the Royal Palace

To date, photos of Sihanouk have been one of the few available mementos of King Father Sihanouk's passing. (Portrait pins and commemorative t-shirts are also available.) I noticed the first vendors selling Sihanouk photos in front of the Palace on the evening of Day 3, the day of Sihanouk's return, offering a selection of just 3 or 4 different photos. Both the number of vendors and variety of photos have increased steadily since. As of this afternoon there were at least a couple of dozen photo vendors in front of the Palace and as many different photos. After the portrait shots, the family photos seem the most popular. I was quoted prices of 1000-2000 riel (US$0.25 - US$0.50) per photo, though 1000 riel seems to be the 'right price.' The follow is a selection of the memento photos that I bought from vendors at the Palace over the last few days.

One of the most popular selling photos. Monineath, Sihamoni, Sihanouk (c.1970?)

Also a popular selling photo. Prince Ranariddh, Queen Mother Monineath, King Father Sihanouk, King Sihamoni, Princess Bopha Devi

Monineath, Sihanouk

King Sihanouk

King Norodom Sihanouk, Queen Norodom Monineath. Royal Ploughing Day, 1969.

King Father Sihanouk, King Sihamoni, Queen Mother Monineath. Coronation of Sihamoni, 2004.

King Norodom Sihanouk

Prime Minister Norodom Sihanouk

Queen Monineath, King Sihanouk

King Sihanouk

Sihanouk in Moon, October 21, 2012

Sihanouk in Moon over Palace, October 21, 2012

Sihanouk in Moon, October 21, 2012

2 comments:

UnknownOctober 28, 2012 at 5:32 PM
Casey, did you go around collecting these...I still need to acquire a t-shirt.
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Cambodia

Cambodia is Srok Khmer, the 'Land of the Khmer,' the primary ethnic group in the area since at least the Neolithic and an Indian influenced civilization with origins near 2000 years old. Centered on the lower Mekong and tributaries the Khmer people have dominated the region for millennia. From 2nd century AD Khmer kingdoms rose and fell, culminating in unification and the 500 year reign of the Angkorian Empire, the builders of the temples of Angkor near Siem Reap. The Empire stretched from Burma to the ocean. But by the 1400s Cambodia fell to centuries of change and decline squeezed between the expanding Siam and Vietnam. Colonized and by the French in the 1860s, independence 90 years later in 1954, a brief post-colonial 'golden period' under Sihanouk, coup in 70, civil war, fall to the communist Khmer Rouge in 75, 3 years 8 months 20 days of madness, Vietnamese rescue in 1979, occupation, low level war and international sanctions in the 80s, the UN, ostensive democracy and an adventure party destination in the 90s and now mainstreaming, tourism, rapid development, rapacious capitalism and NGOs, missionaries and other international busybodies aplenty.

Southeast Asia

As the term implies, Southeast Asia encompasses the southeastern corner of the Asian continent, loosely speaking, the area between India, China and Australia. It is made up of two distinct regions: the mainland zone, a bulbous peninsula jutting into the Pacific Ocean, bounded by China to the north and India to the west; and the insular (island) zone in the Pacific Ocean. The name 'Southeast Asia' is a comparatively recent invention, first coming into use into the 20th century and still a bit indefinite in definition. Mainland Southeast Asia is generally considered to include Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar) and peninsular Malaysia. The mainland is sometimes referred to as Indo-China though Indochina (Indochine) also designates the 19th/20th century French colonial conglomerate of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Sitting south of the Tropic of Cancer, most of mainland Southeast Asia lies in the hot, humid tropics and sub-tropics with a climate dominated by a monsoon cycle which divides the year into two distinct seasons: a dry season and an extremely wet monsoon season. Much of the mainland is mountainous and thickly jungled, with large river systems and wide, low-lying, flood-prone plains, much of which is, in modern times, deforested and blanketed with geometrical rice paddies. Several major river valleys including the Mekong River, the Red, Ma and Ka rivers and the group of rivers draining to the Chao Praya Delta played host to the rise of early civilization in the area. The Mekong River is one of the world's greatest rivers, the seventh largest on the planet, and since pre-history has been closely associated with the land of the Khmer.