Let the world see through your LENS

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 03 March 2010 15:02








Many Cambodians in the blogosphere use their writing skills to shed light on the social and political issues in Cambodia, but there are also a growing number of cloggers (Cambodian bloggers) who are using their cameras to share their daily experiences with the world over the Internet.

These young Cambodians living in the country and abroad can be trusted to post new photos nearly every day, sometimes capturing important events and other times capturing the details of their life that would otherwise go unnoticed.

According to Borei Sylvann, a 25-year-old freelance producer who started a photo blog in January, it is not difficult to begin a blog, and once it is started it can provide daily encouragement to take photos. “First I talked with my friend about starting a photography Web site that we could use to show our photos and share our ideas with the world, but time went on and it never happened,” explained Borei Sylvann. “But then I started looking at other blogs and realised that it is a simple way to have a place to put my photos and write about them.”

Now Borei Sylvann uses his free time to shoot photographs, some planned and others taken spontaneously, that he is able to show off to his followers online. “Before the photos were just sitting in my computer and no one could see them,” he said, adding that he hopes his blog will become popular among people besides his friends and family.

While Borei Sylvann has just begun his blog, there are many other young Cambodians who have been at it for years. Chea Phal has been blogging since 2006, and you can see the progression of his photos over time by viewing the archives on his Web site. Chea Phal is not a professional photographer. He works with a Japanese NGO focusing on educational and cultural rehabilitation, but he is very passionate about his photography, and it shows in his work.

Chea Phal says that photography has become a central part of his life. “Photography made my life more meaningful and delightful. To me, having a hobby or passion for something is an ingredient to live a good and happy life.” He explained. “Robert Adams says ‘no place is boring, if you've had a good night's sleep and have a pocket full of unexposed film’.”

Starting your own photo blog will undoubtedly make it easier for your friends and fans to understand what is going on in your life, but according to Chea Phal, it might change the way that you see things as well. “Through the lens, I can have better eyes to admire our world’s magnificence.”

Check out these photoblogs!

Borei Sylvann:
http://spikroom.blogspot.com

Chea Phal:
http://tumnei.wordpress.com

Borin
http://www.borin.ws

Eng Sothy
http://sothy-eng-pictures.blogspot.com

Spk Plus Co.
http://spkplus.com/blog/

http://limbiz.blogspot.com/

And visit flickr.com and trekearth.com to see what the growing community of Cambodian photographers are sharing with the world.

Revamped railway set for October restart: Toll

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 03 March 2010 15:04 Nguon Sovan

Australian logistics company Toll Holdings, which will manage the revived railway, aims to significantly expand rail services

THE first day of October has been billed as the date when commercial rail operations are to recommence between Kampot and Phnom Penh, according to the regional director of Australia’s largest trucking and freight company Toll Holdings Ltd (THL), the firm that will eventually manage the renovated Cambodian railway.


Photo by: RICK VALENZUELA
An old railway carriage sits idle at the Phnom Penh Railway Station in January. Cambodia's decrepit rail network will finally resume service from Phnom Penh to Kampot on October 1, if renovations are completed, a manager at logistics firm Toll Holdings said Tuesday.

Speaking after the signing of Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) US$42 million supplementary funding agreement for the rehabilitation of Cambodia’s dilapidated rail network Tuesday, THL’s Brian Warry said he wanted the first commercial train to run between the two towns in just seven months time.

THL will operate trains on the network, while the Ministry of Public Works and Transportation acts as an executing agency, responsible for developing railway infrastructure and stations.

“There is a lot of work happening on the track at the moment,” he said. “The critical date is October 1, when the section of rail from Kampot and Phnom Penh is due to be finished in order to begin some modest train operations.”

Warry added that he hopes the setup of the railway will become an “entry point” for THL to widen its operations in the country. He said wanted THL to cover logistical activities such as warehousing, road transportation and freight-boarding. The firm operates a small business in the Kingdom providing offshore oil and gas support.

Cambodian officials were positive about extra funding for the Kingdom’s railways.

Minister of Economy Keat Chhon said after the signing ceremony that the supplementary funding will be used to partially upgrade 254 kilometres of line from Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville and 338 kilometres from Phnom Penh to Sisophon, for construction of new rail links to the container port in Sihanoukville and two dry ports in Phnom Penh, building of new freight facilities on the outskirts of Phnom Penh and to provide institutional support and capacity building.

According to an ABD press release, the entire system will be operational by 2013.

Kunio Senga, ADB director general for the Southeast Asia Department, said the upgraded rail network will position Cambodia as a subregional transport hub, creating new jobs and business opportunities in the manufacturing and logistical services sectors.

The agreement consists of a $42 million supplementary loan from ADB and a $21.5 million grant from the Australian government through the Australian Agency for International Development.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $141.6 million of which ADB’s loan accounts for $84 million and an OPEC fund for international development loan accounts for $13 million. The Australian government’s grant accounts for $21.5 million, and the government of Malaysia’s donation of 106 kilometres of rail is worth $2.8 million. The Cambodian government has contributed $20 million.

The move could be a positive one for THL after its stock fell 18 percent in Sydney on February 25 after posting A$147 million (US$131 million) in earnings before items for the six months ending December 2009. Revenues fell 6 percent from a year earlier, Bloomberg reported.

Education on the Internet 03-03-2010

The Phnom Penh Post
Wednesday, 03 March 2010 15:02 Sidaroth Kong

Learning 2.0 is the next generation of learning that involves the effective integration of communication technology in education to improve information sharing, knowledge exchange, social networking and strengthening communication skill.
The communication technology that supports Learning 2.0 is commonly called Web 2.0. With this technology, you can easily create and fully manage your own Web page on the Internet, create an information network, form a group, join existing social networking groups, link with your friends, share information and work collaboratively. Some of my suggestions for useful sites for Learning 2.0 are:

www.facebook.com: One of the largest social networking sites in the world, with more than 400 million active users. On Facebook, you can create a Web site for your personal use or for a learning group or an organisation. Its special feature is the availability of many applications that you can add to your Web site. It also allows you to connect easily with your friends, stay informed about what they are doing, and much more. LIFT also has a Facebook page, which you can easily view by searching for Lift Cambodia once you are a member of Facebook.

www.twitter.com: Twitter is an Internet SMS system that allows you to share and receive short messages, called tweets, of up to 140 characters each. You can follow your friends, groups and organisations who use Twitter. Twitter is a very useful information network and allows you to share what is happening within the network and with yourself.

www.delicious.com: Delicious is an Internet bookmarking and favorites Web site. Saving a page that you like in your Internet browser is called a bookmark. With delicious, you can have your favorite sites stored online so that they can be accessed from wherever you are in the world, as long as you have an Internet connection.

http://groups.google.com: A simple and effective means of forming a group and to communicate electronically. You can start a group, invite members to join in or join the groups of your friends. Members can easily communicate to the group through their email addresses. If you already have a Gmail account, it is easy to join and since this is a fairly new feature for Google, there are many new members joining everyday.

Sidaroth Kong, 28, coordinates the Open Learning (E-Learning) Program at the Open Institute