Now with 60% more explanations!

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1. A motorcycle can easily carry a family of five.

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2. The role of police is not to protect citizens, but the highest bidders.

why? Bribery has long been a part of Cambodian society. The police and the military have been known to kidnap and threaten citizens for cash.

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3. The sompeah – the act of putting your palms together – is the most dignified way to greet someone.

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4. Talking slower will not make someone learn to read a map.

why? There is no free and compulsory education in Cambodia. Parents must pay for school. Most Cambodians are poor and therefore have little formal education. It seems strange at first that the average Cambodian can’t read a map, but few have been trained in that kind of abstract thinking.

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5. If you walk off the path and hear a click, don’t move. Call for help. You might get lucky and simply lose a foot.

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6. Smile during any disagreement, not matter how acrimonious.

why? It’s part of Southeast Asian culture to hide your emotions under a mask of calm. In Cambodia, this is taken to the absolute maximum. No one dares lose their cool, lest they “lose face.”

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7. Revenge is best served after several years of simmering spite.

why? An excerpt from Survival in the Killing Fields, the chilling memoir by Haing Ngor:

“Kum is a Cambodian word for a particularly Cambodian mentality of revenge – to be precise, a long-standing grudge leading to revenge much more damaging than the original injury. If I hit you with my fist and you wait five years then shoot me in the back one dark night, that is kum… It is the infection that grows on our national soul.”

It is thought that the Khmer Rouge turned simple peasants into thoughtless killers by stoking their kum against the city-dwelling elite, who were “corrupted” by the imperialist West. Survivors of the genocide called these brutal Communists kum-monuss: revenge people.
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8. If you want to beat someone up, you must insult him publicly first. Otherwise, you’re just a goon.

why? Ngor was arrested and tortured three times because one of his former colleagues told Khmer Rouge cadre Ngor was a doctor – and anyone with an education was targeted for execution.

Before taking his revenge on the mole, Ngor had to declare war on him before a public. That is the Cambodian way.

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9. Being invaded by several countries over many centuries results in one kick-ass cuisine.

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10. “No” only means “no” if said in Khmer.

why? Cambodian street sellers are a persistent lot. You can say “no” five times and they will still try to sell you bracelets, books, souvenirs, or massage. But say “aw te, aw kun” or simply “te!” and they will back off. Maybe it reminds them of a scolding by stern parents?

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