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Phailin Y., Thailand: "Cambodia is a poor country. This means that most houses, especially in the outskirts of Phnom Penh, have no toilets, so women and young girls have to relieve themselves roadside. Cambodians are very polite by nature. They always look the other way. But there are now more and more Western men walking around in the outer parts of Phnom Penh. And usually they wear sunglasses so nobody knows what they are looking at. There are now two urgent measures to be undertaken to stop this intrusion into the privacy of young girls (which actually is a form of rape). First, the sale of sunglasses to Western men must be prohibited (except if they have a medical prescription). Second, the international community urgently must provide funds so that secure toilets can be build for girls and young women throughout Cambodia."
Kambodscha ist ein armes Land. Dies bedeutet, dass die meisten Häuser, vor allem in der Umgebung von Phnom Penh, haben keine Toiletten, so dass Frauen und junge Mädchen haben sich am Straßenrand zu entlasten. Kambodschaner sind sehr höflich von der Natur. Sie suchen immer die andere Richtung. Aber es gibt jetzt mehr und mehr westliche Männer herumlaufen in den äußeren Teilen von Phnom Penh. Und in der Regel tragen sie Sonnenbrillen, damit niemand weiß, was sie suchen auf. Es gibt nun zwei dringende Maßnahmen ergriffen werden, um diesen Eingriff in die Privatsphäre der jungen Mädchen zu stoppen (was ist eigentlich eine Form von Vergewaltigung). Erstens, den Verkauf von Sonnenbrillen bis hin zu westlichen Menschen muss verboten werden (außer, wenn sie eine ärztliche Verschreibung). Zweitens hat die internationale Gemeinschaft dringend mehr Mittel zur Verfügung, so dass sichere Toiletten für Mädchen und junge Frauen in Kambodscha werden zu bauen.
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Weights
and Measures
Buddha footprint in Buriram
The metric
system was officially introduced by a law passed on December
17, 1923. However, old Thai units are still in common use, especially
for measurements of land. The traditional units convert into metric
units as follows: 1 picul = 60 kg; 1 catty = 600
grams (100 catty = 1 picul); 1 baht (named like the currency,
used to weigh gold) = 15.16 grams; 1 carat = 20 centigrams
(5 carat = 1 gram); 1 sen = 40 meters; 1 wah = 2
meters (20 wah = 1 sen); 1 sauk (?wah) = 0.50 meter; 1
keup (?sauk) = 0.25 meter; 1 rai (1 sq sen) = 1,600
sq meters; 1 ngan (?rai) = 400 sq meters; 1 sq wah
= 4 sq meters (100 sq wah = 1 ngan); 1 kwien = 2,000 liters;
1 ban = 1,000 liters (2 ban = 1 kwien); 1 sat = 20 liters
(50 sat = 1 ban); 1 tannan = 1 liter (20 tannan = 1 sat).
In 1940, Thailand
moved its New Year's Day from April 13 to January 1
to bring the country in line with most of the world. Until today,
the old New Year's Day (Songkran) is a holiday, and festivities
are at least as exalted as on December 31 and January 1.
While a solar
calendar has been used for a long time to count years, a lunar
calendar is in use until today to set the dates of religious
holidays (as it is the case with Easter in the Christian religion).
And while Thailand switches to a new year at the same day as Christian
countries, the years are still counted as Buddhist Era
(B.E.) and not as Anno Domini (A.D.). 2484 B.E. was set
as 1941 A.D.
The Buddhist
Era started 543 years earlier than the Christian Era. Therefore
1957 A.D. was the year 2500 B.E.; 1993 A.D. is 2536 B.E. and the
year 2000 A.D. will be 2543 B.E. While postal stamping indicates
Buddhist Era, bank matters are usually conducted in accordance
to the Christian count.
The time
zone of Thailand is GMT + 7 hours.
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The main drag, Av del Libertador General San Martin, is a pleasant place to
stroll at night, and is home to a host of outdoor gear shops,
cozy taverns and top-flight restaurants where one can indulge
in appetizers, mouthwatering steaks, wine and dessert for
about what Chinese takeout would cost back home.
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http://www.asiatour.com/thailand/e-01land/et-lan13.htm
Jan Garanoz
869/116 Thanon Pemavipat,
Chiang Rai, 57000 Thailand
Created: September 1, 1995
Last updated: February 09, 2010