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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CAMBODIA: Artist tells of survival in S-21

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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia / The Phnom Penh Post / National News / May 24, 2010

BOU Meng may be one of only a handful of inmates who escaped from Tuol Sleng prison with his life, but that doesn’t mean his time there was any less intense than that of the estimated 16,000 who perished.

In a biography released Sunday, the artist describes how he was imprisoned and tortured, and how the assignment that saved him – painting portraits of Pol Pot and other Communist leaders – also came with the pressure of knowing that his work was being scrutinised by fiercely dedicated revolutionaries.

Bou Meng, now aged about 68, walks through the displays Sunday at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. A new book about the artist, one of only a handful of inmates who survived Tuol Sleng prison, was released on Sunday. Photo by: Heng Chivoan
 
He recalls in the book that prison guards warned him: “If the portrait is not lifelike, you will be dead.”

Written by researcher and Cambodia Television Network news director Huy Vannak, the biography – titled Bou Meng: A survivor from Khmer Rouge Toul Sleng Prison S-21; Justice for the Future, not just for the Victims – traces the artist’s life from an impoverished childhood in Kampong Cham province to an emotional encounter with Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, nearly 30 years after the Khmer Rouge fell from power.

It tells the story of how a self-described peaceful artist who “never dreamed of joining any political movement” was swept up in the Khmer Rouge revolution in 1971, after hearing a radio broadcast in which Prince Norodom Sihanouk called for citizens to help “liberate” a country that had been overtaken by the Lon Nol regime the previous year.

After six years of service to Pol Pot, Bou Meng and his wife were imprisoned at Tuol Sleng, a turn of events he says he still doesn’t understand. “It is hard to describe my suffering,” he says in the book. “We had devoted everything, even our happiness to the revolution. We were rewarded with suffering and remorse.”

Bou Meng was separated from his wife upon arrival at the prison, and though he never learned the details of her fate, it is assumed that, like many prisoners, she was tortured before being executed and buried in a mass grave.

He was also separated from his two children, and has no idea of what happened to them.

After two months of detention, Bou Meng was interrogated and tortured for two weeks before the staff put him to work painting portraits for the regime.

Huy Vannak, who began work on Bou Meng’s biography in 2003, said in an interview Sunday that the same skill that saved the artist’s life was integral to the process of transmitting his life story to the page.

“During the writing process, he painted more than 100 paintings about his life history during the Khmer Rouge. I asked him to paint pictures so that he could restart his memories,” Huy Vannak said. “Sometimes, he would just paint a picture and then the story would come out by itself.”

The process was often a painful one, the author recalled.

“Sometimes he cried when he spoke about the misery. Especially when he talked about his wife. But also when he talked about the way the Khmer Rouge tortured him, the way the Khmer Rouge dehumanised him,” he said.

Huy Vannak writes in the book that “every family in Cambodia, from the King to the peasants, lost at least one member during this regime”, and that victims and perpetrators across the country are now living side by side, often uneasily.

A 2004 piece by Tuol Sleng survivor Bou Meng depicts the painter finishing a portrait of Pol Pot as other detainees create a sculpture of the Khmer Rouge leader. As they work, a guard stands watch in the corner. Photo by courtesy: DC-CAM

He said Sunday that the personal histories of survivors such as Bou Meng effectively complement the trials unfolding at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. Individual stories, he said, can potentially reach a broader audience, and thus facilitate reconciliation in a manner that legal proceedings can’t.

“This book is another side of the history and the justice and healing process. I don’t think [the trial] alone can provide the truth, the whole truth of the Khmer history,” he said.

“At least we now all have a chance to acknowledge their suffering. When people suffer and you acknowledge their suffering, this is the way you can help victims to move forward, to move on.”

The first Khmer Rouge leader made to sit in the dock at the tribunal – Duch, Bou Meng’s former tormenter – was due to be sentenced early this year, but the verdict has not yet been reached.

Bou Meng said Sunday that he is concerned that he and other survivors – including fellow artist Vann Nath, who has been struggling with various illnesses – will not live to see justice served.

“I wish to God to help Vann Nath stay alive, at least until the court decision about Duch’s trial,” he said. “I want the court to do it quickly before my friend dies so he can know and feel better.”

In the meantime, he added, he is eager to see how the public responds to his book.

“I have never thought that I would have the opportunity to do this work when I was this age, and I hope that I live longer to see the book of my history being read by many people,” he said. [rc]

Copyright © 2010 The Phnom Penh Post.

CAMBODIA: "I can see my ancestors improve my life"

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PHNOM PENH, Cambodia / The Phnom Penh Post / Lifestyle / April 5, 2010

Ching Ming holiday draws crowds to family gravesites

Today marks the end of the period dedicated to making offerings to ancestors

By Chheng Sambo and Ngo Menghak

ABOUT two kilometres outside the village of Kambol in Kandal province, down a dusty road and past the gate of Taphem Pagoda, is a rice field off to the right-hand side with what appear to be mounds of earth in the middle.

Most of the time these mounds are lonely and silent, but in late March every year they become the centre of attention for members of the local Cambodian-Chinese community.

Seng Chanthouk and her relatives place paper strips on the graves of their ancestors in Kambol village, Kandal province. 

Photo by: Chheng Sambo

During this period, small groups of people can be seen gathered around the mounds. Some of them use tools like hoes, shovels and sickles to clear the weeds away, while others attach colourful strips of paper to the newly exposed earth. Invariably, the smell of incense floats on the air.

Closer inspection reveals the reason for all the attention: The dirt mounds are actually Chinese graves, and during the annual Ching Ming festival family members gather at the site to make offerings to the spirits of their ancestors.

The Ching Ming festival, which traditionally lasts for about 15 days ending on the 104th day after Winter Solstice (April 5), is an occasion for younger generations of Chinese people to remember and honour their ancestors at gravesites by praying, sweeping the tombs, offering food and drink, and placing paper strips on the mounds.

The work of clearing the graves is usually done over the course of two or three days within the 15-day period of the festival, followed by the main offerings, which are made over three days at the end of the festival. Ching Ming, which means “clear and bright”, is so named because it occurs during a time of year when in some parts of China the air is generally thought to be clean and clear, and when plants and trees are at their lushest.

Seng Chanthouk, 42, who last week gathered with her relatives at the graves in Kambol village, said “thatching” the mounds with paper strips was like building a new house for her ancestors.

“It’s very important to thatch the tomb with paper strips because it’s like building a roof and decorating a new house for them,” she said.

“Without a new roof, the ancestors might get uncomfortable, and then we cannot live happily either. If there is no proper offering and preparation, my family will be blocked from running our business smoothly.”

She added that the paper strips are taken as sign that the current generation will continue to make offerings and observe the rituals needed to ensure that their ancestors will be remembered and revered. By extension, it shows that the current generation will likewise be honoured in the future.

Accompanying Seng Chanthouk last week was 35-year-old Aing Mouykea. As she knelt on the ground with three incense sticks in her hand, she explained that she never missed celebrating the Ching Ming festival.

“Every year after I participate in the festival, I can see that my ancestors help improve my life, even preventing me from getting sick,” she said.

“Placing the paper strips on the grave is not only like making a new roof or house,” she added. “It’s also like making a blanket to keep them warm because they stay outdoors all year.”

Kuok Cheng Heng, who oversees the Chinese graves in Kambol on behalf of the Ti Chiv association, said the Ching Ming festival has been celebrated since the Tang dynasty, more than 2,000 years ago.

He added that the event is similar to the Khmer Pchum Ben festival, which occurs in the 10th month of the Khmer calendar (around September) and during which people also provide food for their ancestors.

“Khmer Pchum Ben lasts for 15 days, so does Ching Ming. Both festivals also include visits to gravesites, but during Pchum Ben Cambodians also go to pagodas, whereas during Ching Ming Chinese people do not go to pagodas,” he said. [rc]

Copyright © 2010 The Phnom Penh Post

CAMBODIA: Phnom Penh gets first association for the elderly

. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia / The Phnom Penh Post / January 29, 2010 By Tep Nimol and Mom Kunthear, The Phnom Penh Post The Ministry of Social Affairs has established Phnom Penh’s first Association for the Elderly, one of hundreds that have been set up nationwide to assist Cambodia’s senior citizens. Sok Tho, the director of the new association, which is located in Chamkarmon district, said it had been inaugurated last week and already had 231 members. Members of the association are required to pay dues of 2,000 riels (about US$0.50) per month, which are used to provide financial assistance to members who become sick or injured, Sok Tho said. Grandmother in paddy fields in Kampong Chang, Cambodia Dr Pay Sambo, deputy director of the retirement and pensions department at the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, said Thursday that the ministry had established 334 similar associations in the provinces but had never before set one up in Phnom Penh. “We wanted to establish this Association for the Elderly because it expresses that we are paying attention to the old people, not only in the province but also in the city,” he said. Citing 2008 census figures, he said 37 percent of Cambodians were older than 55, adding that the age group was expected to grow to 62.5 percent of the population by 2050. Khan Yun, a 68-year-old resident of Phsar Doem Thkov commune, who has joined the association, said she hoped it would provide the types of services commonly available to the elderly in the West. “We must have associations for the elderly in our country that are the same as the Western countries, because all old people can help each other by sharing what we have, like money, with old people from poor families,” she said. rc] Copyright © 2010 The Phnom Penh Post.

CAMBODIA: Ageing has impacted support networks

. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia / Phnom Penh Post / July 30, 2009 By Mom Kunthear and Christopher Shay As Cambodia ages, its already strained support networks for the elderly will face added pressure, officials and experts say. Chea Yun, 76, Lim Kim Eang, 73, and Long Hean, 68, clean the house they share in Phnom Penh on Wednesday. Photo by: Sovann Philong A RECENT report from the US Census Bureau concluded that, in fewer than 10 years, seniors will outnumber children worldwide for the first time, creating burdens for families, communities and health and social service providers. Though Cambodians are relatively young, the Kingdom's elderly population will also rise sharply, taxing an already strained support network of pagodas and commune councils, NGO and government officials said Wednesday. Pay Sambo, deputy director of retirement and pensions at the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation, said the population of people aged 60 and over was 3.4 percent in 2007. By contrast, 17.8 percent of Western Europe and 6.8 percent of Asia are 65 or over, according to the US Census Bureau report. Pay Sambo said he expects 6 percent of Cambodians to be 60 or over by 2050, a statistic that underscores an ageing trend that could in coming years put tens of thousands of seniors at risk. Pay Sambo said a lack of funding had hindered his department's goals to prepare the country for the future. "We haven't done research on old people in recent years because we don't have the money," he said. A 2004 University of Michigan survey of the elderly in Cambodia concluded that Cambodia's seniors are the least healthy in Southeast Asia, and that endemic poverty has left more than half without a toilet. Guy Clarke, the Cambodia country manager for HelpAge International, said elderly Cambodians were often called on to provide - rather than receive - support from their families. "In times of food insecurity, the middle generation often leaves the villages," he said, adding that this means the elderly are often left to look after their grandchildren. He added that pagodas and commune councils, which have traditionally been sources of support for the elderly, are already under some strain. Keo Chanta, director of the Cambodian Elder Support Organisation (CESO), said the government had failed to support its elderly population. "For the elderly who do not have families, they will face difficult lives," he said. "I used to talk with government officials about helping old people, and they said they don't have money. They want the NGOs to help, but how can we do it all if the government does not help?" [rc] Copyright © 2009 The Phnom Penh Post

CAMBODIA: Elderly, monks pray for peace

. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia / The Phnom Penh Post / Life / June 6, 2009 Monks, including some from Thailand and Japan, march around Cheung Ek in Kandal province on June 4 before praying for those who died at the killing fields. Delegates from 13 countries joined a series of marches across Asia this month to show solidarity for world peace. By Heng Chivoan Copyright © 2006 - 2009 The Phnom Penh Post.

CAMBODIA: Stay overnight in Kirirom National Park, for $20 a night!

. PHNOM PENH, Cambodia / The Phnom Penh Post / Life Style / May 23, 2009 Kirirom mountain getaway, a favourite of former King Sihanouk, offers nature, traditional cure for fatigue and loss of appetite By Stephanie Mee A chimney stack is all that remains of former King Norodom Sihanouk’s summer home. Photo: Stephanie Mee. Just two hours away from Phnom Penh, in Kampong Speu province, lies Kirirom National Park, a thickly wooded mountain retreat long sought out for its peace, solitude, nature and respite from the oppressive heat of low-lying cities and towns. Boasting 35 hectares of protected land in the rugged Elephant Mountains, Kirirom possesses a landscape that is unique to the rest of Cambodia, with pine trees towering over the leafy slopes and cool breezes drifting across crystal lakes. The name Kirirom means "mountain of joy", a name bestowed by former King Norodom Sihanouk, who was no stranger to the mountain's beguiling charms. During the 1960s one of the King's favourite summer getaways was his mansion at the summit. The retreat was destroyed during the civil war, and today all that remains is the giant stone chimney, jutting into the sky. But the same incredible views that so enthralled Sihanouk are still there. Close to the abandoned retreat is a visitor's centre, open only on weekends and managed with support from Mlup Baitong, an environmental NGO, as well the Ministry of Environment. Vendors sell a variety of drinks and snacks next to the visitor's centre, including grilled fish, sticky rice with sweet potato and coconut, and, oddly enough, traditional Khmer remedies. Srey Pov, a young vendor, explains: "We get all the remedies from the forest and many people come from all over Cambodia to buy them - mostly Khmer people, but also quite a lot of Chinese visitors." The traditional remedies include large, woody tree mushrooms, boiled in water to make a tea used to cure headaches; tree bark that smells strongly of menthol, also boiled and drunk to cure fatigue; and black-and-white porcupine quills. "The porcupine quills are for pregnant women who suffer from morning sickness and loss of appetite," says Srey Pov. "We light the quill on fire until it crumbles, and then put it in rice wine. We get many pregnant woman who come here just to receive this cure." Just a few feet away from Srey Pov's natural remedy stand is a small nature trail leading down to the secluded lake. The walk takes about 10 minutes and trekkers are rewarded at the bottom with access to the glassy blue body of water and near total seclusion amid the tall grass and gently swaying pine trees. Paths around the lake end up at either a cluster of small bamboo picnic huts sitting in a verdant patch of grass on the edge of the lake, or the towering stupa of Wat Chas, otherwise known as Old Wat, overlooking a bubbling stream. One of Kirirom's most popular attractions is the Tea Farm Waterfall, known in Khmer as teuk chreus jom ka tai. Located 700 metres from the main road, the waterfall can be reached by a steep set of stone stairs built into the side of the hill. Thatch and bamboo picnic huts balance precariously on hillside, looking down onto the small waterfall, which tumbles noisily over the slick black rocks. "There are a lot of animals out here," says Ruot Ravy, manager of Kirirom Guesthouse and Restaurant, located nearby on a ledge overlooking the nearby mountain ranges. "The animals don't often come out in the daytime, but sometimes I see them very early in the morning or late at night," she says. "It's hard to tell what they are sometimes, but we know that there are deer, porcupine, bears and possibly even tigers in these mountains." Guests can try their luck at animal spotting at the Kirirom Resort in one of their basic rooms for US$20 a night. The quirky Kirirom Hillside Resort at the base of the mountain also offers accommodation ranging from $17 a night for a simple tent on the grounds to $160 for the opulent executive suite. Attractions here also include a manmade UFO structure, plastic dinosaur gardens and a turreted castle-like gate entrance. More down-to-earth accommodations can be found at the Chambok Community-Based Ecotourism site, located at the base of the mountain, down a rich red dirt road and surrounded by fields of mango and jackfruit trees just 10 kilometres from the park's entrance. Visitors can stay at the home of a local villager for the small fee of $3 per person per night. Meal options are available, as are guided treks to a 40-metre waterfall, ox cart rides, trips to a bat cave, bicycle rentals and traditional Khmer dance performances. All revenues from the site go directly to the villagers, and are used in part to protect and conserve the area's natural resources. Entrance to the Chambok is $3 for foreigners and 1,000 riels for Khmers. For more information about Chambok, or to stay overnight, contact Mlup Baitong at 023 214 409. The entrance fee to Kirirom National Park is $5 for foreigners and free for Khmers. To get there, follow National Road 4 west to Treng Trayeung town, where signs point the way to the park. Kirirom Guesthouse and Restaurant can be reached at 012 957 700 and Kirirom Hillside Resort at 016 590 999. Copyright © 2006 - 2009 The Phnom Penh Post An elderly Cambodian woman looks on in the village of Prey Ta Pork on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Less than 10 percent of the population is over 60 years old, a legacy of the Khmer Rouge regime, according to Government figures. AP Photo. March 29, 2009