CAMBODIA: Massaging back your sex life

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia / The Phnom Penh Post / Lifestyle / February 8, 2012

By Roth Meas


Many people have a regular massage to stay healthy, or use a massage therapist after an injury suffered while playing sport, for example.


But even in the age of Viagra, most people would be reticent about advertising the fact they are going for a massage in order to improve their sexual performance. 

Ahmad Noor Mohamad Haidar, 70, has been quietly massaging customers to treat their sexual issues for some time.

Health Practitioner Ahmad Noor Mohamad
Haidar, 70, holds up one of the
ingredients for  his traditional medicine.

He claims he knows how to massage clients in order to improve the performance of their sexual organs.

He reckons people all over the world, including Cambodia, have sexual problems and decided to come to Phnom Penh to join his daughter after she opened the Malaysia restaurant. 

“Both men and women always lose their sex capacity at the age of 40. Men become weak and inactive, while women get dry,’’ Ahmad says. 

“But they both still have passion. Their problem is that their sperm or vaginal discharge has run out. So their reproductive parts are dead.” 

Ahmad says there are three types of sexual intercourse: sex for death, for health and for strength.

He says sex for death is when people have sex just for satisfaction. When people have sex for health, they have just enough intercourse for their sweat or toxins to come out, then they stop. 

It’s like doing exercise, so they rarely achieve satisfaction, he says.

Sex for strength is when people aim to improve the performance of their sexual organs. 

It’s like training them so they last longer.   

“Most people and animals choose the first sort, sex for death. They want to reach a comfortable feeling until climax,” Ahmad says.

“This is the problem that causes their reproductive parts to decline . . .  you know, when their sperm or vaginal discharge comes out one time, it’s equal to the nutrition they receive from food for 20 days.

“So in the next 20 years, their reproductive parts will be dead.”   

Ahmad believes everybody can protect their reproductive parts by conserving their semen or vaginal discharge. 

“If you can control their sperm or vaginal discharge, then at the age of 60 their reproductive parts will still work,” he says. 

“Everybody is concerned about their reproductive parts. They think it’s important for their life. That’s why we massage on that area. The massage can revive it.” 

Ahmad doesn’t just do massage alone, but he also makes coffee with a mix of his traditional medicines to improve sexual capacity.

He mixes coffee and medicine together. Pha Lina

He says most of his Cambodian clients are around 50 years old. 

Compared with when he operated in Malaysia, the numbers are still small, so every month he returns to his home country to see clients.  

Sandap Seepakdy, 43, the director of International Invision, a business consulting company, has been seeing Ahmad for 10 years.

She didn’t have any sexual problems, but her husband did. 

She said her husband used Viagra quite often, but had a problem with ejaculation, so Sandap sent him to try a massage with Ahmed. 

“He was a bit shy at the beginning, but decided to give it a try,’’ she says.

“He didn’t just get a massage; he also drank some traditional medicine to help revive his capacity.

“From then on, he has wanted to have sex. Nowadays, he doesn’t have a problem any more, and he is 60  now. But when I was 40 I had problems. I felt dry, so I let him massage me one time every month. I feel OK now.”

Sandap adds: “He doesn’t just massage our reproductive parts but also on my legs, arms, and back. He is honest with us and respects us. He doesn’t cheat us.”

Sandap believes nobody  wants their reproductive parts to stop working and really need such treatment.

So she has tried to learn  massage from Ahmad. She expects Cambodian women, who are normally shy, will let her do it for them.  

Health Minister Mam Bunheng says the ministry has never had a policy of giving licences to any company offering medicines for improving sexual capacity.

He says Cambodians have always used traditional medicines, but only for the treatment of diseases, not for sexual problems.

Copyright © 2012 The Phnom Penh Post
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CHINA: Ginseng elixir of China

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SHANGHAI, China / Shanghai Daily / Feature / June 14, 2010

By Wang Lichun

GINSENG is a fabled elixir treasured by the ancients and said to be a wonder herb curing all manner of ills. Wang Lichun visits China's mountainous northeast where "green gold" grows best and tells the tale of the tonic.

Ginseng refers to the plants that belong to the genus Panax. The Latin name is derived from a Greek word that means "all-healing" - attesting to the herb's medicinal properties.

Ginseng prefers a dark and humid environment with a sizable diurnal difference, and it thrives only on slopes with fertile soil. This is why most of China's ginseng is produced in the cool northeast: the Changbai, Zhangguangcai and Lesser Hinggan mountain ranges.

In recent years, Chinese researchers have been trying to isolate the active ingredients in ginseng to enhance its potential for specific applications.

The Chinese were the first to use ginseng as medicine. However, ginseng's healing properties have also contributed to its scarcity. In ancient times, one inch of ginseng could be sold for as much as one inch of gold.

This made ginseng collecting a highly lucrative endeavor, and for many peasants harvesting the herb represented the fastest way out of poverty. Every year, thousands would comb the mountains hoping to make a quick buck.

The rampant plundering alarmed the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) government, which in 1699 imposed strict controls on the collection of ginseng. But this did little to stop illegal gatherers.

People began to find ways to cultivate the prized herb in their own gardens. The transplanting of wild ginseng became common, and an industry was born.

People have been gathering ginseng for more than 1,200 years, but farmers have been cultivating the herb for only about four centuries.

China is the world's top producer of ginseng, with 70 percent of the world's total produced in the Changbai Mountains in the northeast. One notable center for ginseng production is the county of Fusong in Jilin Province.

Dark and damp forests are ideal for growing ginseng

Fusong is home to the largest ginseng-trading market in Asia, as well as a lively festival every September that celebrates all things ginseng: medicine, foodstuffs, beverages, cosmetics, toothpaste and even cigarettes.

At this festival, the big buyers from South Korea are mobbed by hordes of sellers.

The Koreans import raw ginseng into their country, where it is processed, packaged and then sold at a much higher price.

Here's a little-known fact: Out of the 20,000 tons of ginseng that China produces every year, as much as 50/60 percent is exported as unprocessed ginseng, with the majority destined for South Korea.

China exports four times as much ginseng as South Korea, but earns only one-tenth as much revenue as the Koreans.

Why is Chinese ginseng so cheap?

Professor Wang Zhenyu of the Northeast Forestry University explains: "There is no regulation in China's ginseng market. There are no controls on the quantity produced. If there is a surplus, the farmers undercut one another's prices in order to sell their ginseng.

"It's possible to find raw ginseng selling for the same price as radish!

"In contrast, the Koreans have a strong cartel to manage production based on market demand. This ensures that their prices remain competitive," Wang notes.

Beyond TCM

Ginseng has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Compared with the milder American ginseng, the Korean and Chinese varieties are considered a more potent tonic, and excessive consumption can lead to excessive internal heat in the body.

This effect is due to compounds known as saponins: The concentration of saponins in Chinese ginseng is higher than that in American ginseng, and is highest in Korean ginseng.

There is a common belief that ginseng is a wonder herb that can cure all kinds of ailments - even cancer. However, researchers caution against using ginseng as a cure against a specific disease; it is safer to consider it a general tonic.

Copyright © 2001-2010 Shanghai Daily Publishing House

NEPAL: People flock to high altitude areas in western Nepal collecting yarsagumba

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KATHMANDU, Nepal / Xinhua / Asia / June 4, 2010

Hundreds of people have flocked to the high altitude areas of Mustang district in western Nepal to collect yarsagumba, a prized herb with aphrodisiac properties, regarded internationally as Himalayan Viagra.

According to Friday's report from Nepal's National News Agency RSS, many people from Baglung, Rukum, Rolpa, Dolpa, Solukhumbu, Taplejung and other parts of the country have come to the jungles of the district to collect the herb.

The collection began in mid-May, according to Tejendra Gauchan, secretary of Kunjo Village Development Committee (VDC) Conservation Area Management Committee under the Annapurna Area Conservation Project.

Those willing to collect the herb must acquire permission from the VDC Conservation Area Management Committee. The committee said that over 1,000 people have come to collect yarsagumba.

The committee grants permission by charging 2,000 Nepali rupees (some 27 U.S. dollars) from each individual. Those coming to collect yarsagumba are from children of 8-10 years of age and elderly of 50-60 years of age.

The yarsagumba collection season lasts for three months.

Source: Xinhua

Photo by courtesy of Himalayan Excursion

AUSTRALIA: Herbal medicines can kill, warns researcher

. SYDNEY, NSW / The Sydney Morning Herald / Life & Style / Wellbeing / February 9, 2010 By Nick Miller SOME popular herbal medicines can be dangerous, even lethal, contrary to the perception that they are a safe alternative to conventional medicine, says a University of Adelaide researcher. Roger Byard, a forensic pathologist (left), reviewed the risks of herbal medicines in last month's Journal of Forensic Sciences. He said herbal products had been found to contain potentially lethal levels of arsenic, mercury and lead. Even if not contaminated, some herbs posed such risks as liver failure, haemorrhage or heart failure. Many common herbs could cause severe side-effects when used with conventional medicine, such as negating the effect of the blood-thinning agent warfarin or making epileptic seizures more frequent. Professor Byard said his interest in the area was sparked by the 2006 death of a young South Australian man who had injected chan su, a traditional Chinese herbal remedy that contains toxic toad venom. The National Herbalists Association of Australia is lobbying for a registration scheme, which would cement uniform standards of training and education across the country. More than 50 per cent of Australians report using herbal or complementary medicines.[rc] Copyright © 2010. Fairfax Digital