In a 2m x 2m shop on the first floor of Phnom Penh's huge and crowded O'Russey Market, 27-year-old wedding dressmaker Sok Markly sits at her sewing machine day making gowns that sparkle and shimmer for Phnom Penh's brides. Cambodia's wedding season is well underway and she's flat-out busy but – while continuing to put the finishing touches on a midnight blue Khmer-style dress – she agreed to have a chat about her trade with Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Will Jackson.

How did you become a wedding dressmaker?
After finishing high school in 2007 I studied dressmaking in order to earn money to support my family. When I finished in 2008 my mother gave me this clothes store on the first floor at O'Russey Market. I started to make some wedding dresses to sell and over time more and more of my customers came to order wedding clothes.

How much do you earn making wedding dresses?
Dressmaking won't make my family rich but it can support our livelihood. I charge between $60 and $120 per wedding dress but if the customers have their own material I can make the dress for only $35. I don't have plans to expand my business at the moment but in the future I would like to.

What are your working hours?
Every day I get up in the early morning to prepare breakfast for everyone in my family and then I go to the market at 7am to open my clothes store and start sewing or hemming the dresses for my customers. I have lunch at 12am at my store with my older sister and mother and then I continue to do my job until 5pm. Sometimes I hire some other seamstresses to help me when I accept too many orders from customers.

How long does it take you to make a wedding dress?
I can make one or two wedding dresses a week, depending on the style of dress that the customer has ordered. Dresses take longer when the customers come and look at the album and see four or five different styles and decide to mix them up. Some order me to mix the Western and Khmer traditional styles to create a new style. I order most of the cloth and beads from India, China, Thailand and Vietnam but the silks, which I prefer, are produced in Cambodia.

How are tastes in wedding dresses changing?
The new generation tends to order more Western and European style dresses which have more adornments, like rhinestones. Only the older generation prefers the traditional Khmer style, which is softer and more subtle. For me, the dressmaker's role is not to have a preference for style. The client is the boss and they order us to do their wedding. So the best style is whatever the client wants.

How busy do you get during wedding season?
The wedding season in Cambodia begins once the observance of [Buddhist] Lent has been completed, or we can say from October to May. Before, people could not get married during the wet season because their weddings could be ruined by the rain but these days people in Phnom Penh have their weddings all year round. Wedding season is still the time that I am very busy though, especially in April.

When you get married, who will make your dress?
I don't want to get married until I am 30 because I want to earn money to help my family. Before I marry, I will make a beautiful wedding dress for myself and my future husband and I will also make some dresses for my mother and sisters. But because I will need up to five dresses to wear during my wedding, I will have to hire the other dresses from someone else, along with the other wedding embellishments.

Work is underway on the first ever feature-length English-language documentary about Battambang's fine and performing arts school, Phare Ponleu Selpak, and its internationally lauded circus program.

Bangkok-based filmmaker and journalist Joel Gershon said his film would follow the personal journey of young circus performers Sopha Nem and Dina Sok as they left their homeland for Canada to chase their dream of joining the internationally renowned Cirque du Soleil, which is based there.

Phare Ponleu Selpak – which means "the brightness of the arts" in Khmer – was founded in 1994 by eight former refugees who participated in art classes with French artist Véronique Decrop at the Site 2 camp on the Thai-Cambodian border. They benefitted so much from the experience that they pledged to share the gift of art therapy with other children damaged by the civil war. The school, which has about 1,400 students, now has visual and performing arts faculties along with social support and education programs.

Phare's circus school was created in 1998 to channel the energies of its most volatile, damaged and vulnerable students with participants learning juggling, acrobatics, aerial acts, clowning, balance and dance. Since 2002, troupes from the school have performed internationally, but they also stage two electrifying performances each week at home in an onsite big top in Battambang.

"When I saw my first circus performance at Phare two years ago, I could clearly see the joy and passion in the performers' faces and I could feel it in the audience's energy," Gershon said via email from Thailand.

"Then when I heard the back story of the school, I was floored.… I asked the show's announcer that night after I saw the performance if there had ever been a full-length documentary on the school, and he told me that there hadn't ever been any feature length films done in English. I immediately knew that I had to go for it."

When Gershon began shooting in 2011 he intended to document the circus's preparations to perform for the first time in New York. But after a year working in that direction, the tour was cancelled and Gershon had to find a new subject.

Watching the fundraising trailer for Gershon's documentary – which shows Dina and Sopha's incredible circus skills – they juggle, tumble, perform backbreaking contortions, breakdance, tightrope walk. It almost seems a stroke of luck that the tour was scrapped. Sopha and Dina have serious star power and charisma.

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"In the end, I think focusing on Sopha and Dina will work as a much more emotionally satisfying story as the film can concentrate on these two amazing characters," said Gershon.

"Looking back on it now, I don't think the New York angle would have been as powerful, whereas the film now documents a more substantive journey."

Xavier Gobin – who was one of Sopha and Dina's mentors at Phare and now works at the offshoot Phare Cambodia Circus in Siem Reap – said it was always obvious the two performers were special.

"Sopha is an excellent contortionist, equilibrist – which is like balancing and hand balancing – and hand-to-hand artist. He was already showing exceptional skills. And Dina is multi-talented; he is a juggler, clown, dancer and an acrobat."

He said circus skills came naturally to Sopha and Dina, as for many Cambodians.

"Most [Cambodians] have very good skills in acrobatics because they are very used to climbing trees and to using their bodies very young," Gobin said. "They take risks, and families let them take risks from a very young age and that shows because they are not afraid of anything.

"It's very obvious with cable tightrope walking: they're really not afraid of heights and have a really great sense of balance and orientation in space when they jump or do physical circus exercises."

Gobin said Sopha and Dina were accepted into the National Circus School of Montreal on the basis of a video audition in 2011 when they were 16. He helped them with their passports and visas, accompanied them to Canada and has maintained contact with them via Skype ever since. "They're doing great training over there," he said. "Everyone is very impressed by their capacity to adapt, which was not guaranteed from the beginning. Their French is fluent now and their progress is very impressive.

"The rhythm over there! They have to work 10 hours a day and they just bite into it so much and they're still very highly motivated even after two years."

Next to the National Circus School of Montreal is the headquarters of Cirque du Soleil, the world's most famous and prestigious circus and the place where Sopha and Dina hope to perform after they graduate in two years time.

"It's my dream to be in Cirque du Soleil," said Dina in Gershon's trailer.

"When I went to see Cirque du Soleil for the first time. I felt in my heart that I wanted to go on stage and perform with them.

"When the show started … boom. And the hair on my body stood up like this. And my hair was like this."

In Gershon's trailer, Cirque du Soleil's acrobatic talent scout Marceline Goldstein had nothing but praise for the Cambodian duo. "They're extremely gifted, talented acrobats and they're really doing what they really need to do to become professional circus artists and I think the passion you can see via video that they both have, they have a desire to perform to the best level that they can so I hope to see them eventually at Cirque."

Gershon has launched a campaign on crowdfunding site Indiegogo to raise funds for the documentary. As of press time he had secured $5,253. He said $25,000 was his goal.

"I am committed to making this film, no matter how it has to get done, even on my own – completely independently.

"I've also pledged to give 10 per cent of the total funds raised directly to Sopha and Dina if I hit my goal. They have their own financial challenges, as it's not easy for them to be able to afford the expenses of living in Montreal."

Gershon said he was uncertain when he will finish the film.

"I don't want to rush it but I don't want to take forever either," he said.

"It will take at least a couple of years, but it will be worth the wait."

To see the trailer for the documentary and make a donation go to http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/cirque-du-cambodia-from-the-rice-field....

Bootleg DVDs are at present the only way to purchase films in Cambodia. A new organisation formed from 10 industry players including movie houses and production companies hopes to change that. Bennett Murray reports.

Since the initial influx of bootleg VHS tapes in the UNTAC days of the early 1990s, pirated movies have been the norm in Cambodia. Not a single shop in the Kingdom sells legitimate DVDs, and it was not until Legend Cinema and Platinum Cineplex opened in 2011 that foreign movies even had a legal avenue of distribution in the Kingdom.

With the odds seemingly stacked against them, however, several industry players plan to change the game. Ung Nareth, president of the Motion Picture Association of Cambodia (MPAC), which he founded in June, hopes that the Kingdom will soon see its first licensed DVDs go on sale. If things work his way, he said, bootleg DVD shops will be forced to legalise their operations or be shut down by the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.

"By probably the end of this year, we're going to see things change completely," Nareth said last Sunday, adding that he is pushing for change "with all [his] heart".

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To eradicate piracy, Nareth, a Cambodia-based line producer who most recently worked as a location manager on Hollywood film Clash of the Empires, has organised 10 industry players, ranging from small movie houses to production companies, to form a lobby with the aim of working with DVD vendors, the government and overseas distributors to create a viable market for legal movies in Cambodia.

Simon Chow of Westec Media Limited, which secures distribution rights from the "big six" Hollywood production companies (Universal, Walt Disney, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Paramount) for use in Cambodian cinemas, said that the MPAC will act as a lobby group for the film industry's intellectual property rights.

"We need to move forward as an industry to let the government know that we are an industry in Cambodia and they need to do more for us," said Chow, adding that copyright protection is the single greatest issue facing the Kingdom's film industry.

Although the World Trade Organisation granted Cambodia an eight-year extension in June to fully enforce its copyright laws as required by its membership obligations, Nareth said that the government must start acting now, adding that Cambodia's lack of intellectual property protection is a national embarrassment that scares off big overseas producers from doing business in the Kingdom.

"I have a hard time meeting with friends in Hollywood when I try to get them to shoot films here so we can bring jobs here. They say, 'we don't want to go there because Cambodia doesn't have any law.'"

Chow said that it was a challenge for Westec to win the trust of the major studios due to the Kingdom's rampant piracy, adding that one person with a camcorder in a cinema can cost a studio millions.

It is not just the foreign filmmakers, however, that Chow said the MPAC stands to protect. With virtually no copyright enforcement in their primary market, Chow said that local filmmakers do not even bother releasing legal DVDs. By creating a legal market for Cambodian-produced films on DVD, Chow said that the local filmmakers benefit.

"What's important for the producers is that they make money from [movies], and from the profit they can make better movies. So it's a win win."

To start, the MPAC has recruited Phnom Penh's CD World CD and DVD shop to work with international film companies to secure distribution rights. Walt Disney recently signed on as its first partner.

Chheang Leng, general manager of CD World, said that he decided to switch to legitimate DVDs because he did not see a long future in selling pirated goods.

"Instead of selling pirate, why not change to legal, now we have an option? Now we have legal cinemas, the big Hollywood studios will not leave us alone in the future, and may make problems with the Ministry of Culture."

Once CD World has secured the rights to a given movie, the MPAC will systematically seek out vendors selling the movie illegally. After approaching a shop, it will be asked to start stocking the legal product. If the shop does not comply, the MPAC will file a complaint with the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, which is responsible for enforcing copyright law, to take legal action.

The director of cinema at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts said he personally supported the MPAC, but the person responsible for copyright protection could not be reached for comment.

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Hopefully, said Nareth, the vendors will comply voluntarily, although he added that an MPAC survey conducted last summer in the Russian Market suggested that most DVD vendors are not yet onboard.

"It touches a lot of people, their family's incomes. People say they sell products they know are illegal, but they don't have any alternative way."

A Boeung Keng Kang One DVD vendor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that more economic development needs to precede copyright enforcement.

"The law is we can't sell, but Cambodia is still a poor country, and no one has the money to buy legal licenses," said the shopkeeper, adding that he estimates it will take another five to 10 years for the country to catch up.

But Nareth said that legal DVDs, which he estimated would retail for $7-8 apiece, would increase profit margins. Switching to legal products would also "decriminalise" their businesses and save them the hassles of dealing in a black market.

"I'm not here to say: you're illegal, you should go to jail. We're going to show them by complying with international rules, you're going to end up making more profit. You will do your business without risk of police coming to take the DVDs, you will stay away from this corruption. By doing this, you end up making more profit." The fine for selling copied movies currently stands at 7,500 riel per pirated disc.

CD World's Leng, whose business has sold pirated goods since it opened in 1996, said that it has only been in the past couple years that going legal seemed a feasible idea. To legally sell a movie in Cambodia, a local distributor must first obtain the rights from the copyright holder before submitting the film to the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts for censorship. The process takes time and money that Leng said he did not have.

"Before the MPAC started, I wanted to sell the original [DVDs], but how to do that? How much do I pay for one movie from a studio and how much do I get when I sell?"

But with the arrival of Legend Cinema and Platinum Cineplex, who have both joined the MPAC, important connections have been forged with international film companies.

Pushing films through the government bureaucracy is also made easier through the association.

"For an unimportant company to go the ministry, it is not an easy thing, so instead we use the MPAC so we can use a big voice of one association," said Leng.

When asked if corruption would hinder his efforts, Nareth said he was confident that it would not.

"The Cambodian government wants to change. They see how important it is to change. They are ready for that."

Nareth said small movie houses such as The Flicks and The Empire, which until now have been left to their own devices to receive the necessary approval from film studios and the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, have joined the MPAC and will be asked to obtain screening rights through CD World as they become available.

As long as they keep a low profile and stay away from titles screening at Legend Cinema and Platinum Cineplex, Nareth said he will tolerate screenings of movies whose rights have not yet been obtained by CD World.

Niall Crotty, owner of Empire, said he supports the MPAC's rules.

"We are members of MPAC and fully in support of these developments which offer a path to legitimacy for distribution and exhibition of titles here in Cambodia," said Crotty, adding that he seeks to maintain good relations with the bigger cinemas and distributors.

Ramon Stoppelenburg of the Flicks said that the MPAC will improve the quality and selection of movies available at cinemas and movie houses.

"Before the MPAC, I would try to get as much approval [possible] for all the titles I play," Stoppelenburg, who owns the venue, said.

Gaining screening rights may be a new concept in Cambodia, but Nareth is convinced that the time is right to encourage legal distribution.

"Most of the film industry people, most of the students, most of the people with some kind of education, they understand, they support the idea of copyright laws here."

When most people think of Buddhist nuns, Chhin Samboun – a wrinkled 81-year-old man wearing Tom Cruise sunglasses and a permanent grin – is probably not what comes to mind. In white trousers and the traditional matching robe as a scarf around his neck, on a recent afternoon he enjoyed a post-lunch siesta in a hammock strung between the wooden beams of the hut where he lives in the Wat Put Mondal temple complex, Oudong.

Samboun refers to himself as a "nun", but some dispute the term, claiming it to be a mistranslation when explaining the term to a Western audience. The word certainly doesn't relate to the Christian idea of a nun, which is largely viewed as the female equivalent of a monk. In Theravada Buddhism, the primary duty of monks is to study and practice morality, meditation and wisdom so as to attain nirvana. They will also preside over communities as spiritual teachers and leaders, and provide instruction in some basic Buddhist teachings.

Nuns, meanwhile, are not ordained, and therefore have lower status than monks. They live in the pagoda, wear white robes and shave their heads.

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Samboun is what Cambodians call a ta tei, essentially a male Buddhist ascetic who lives in the pagoda. The female equivalent is either daun chee, for women who follow the ten precepts of Buddhism, or yay chee, for women who follow eight.

"I became a nun ten years ago, because I wanted to respect Buddhist rules and to teach Vipassana meditation," Samboun says. "I didn't have a particular passion to be a monk, and besides, monks have more rules they have to follow."

Samboun, who spends most of his time teaching meditation to other nuns, is one of nearly 100 male nuns or ta tei who live and worship at Wat Put Mondal. They join the women to pray, but live in huts on a separate side of the compound. As is the case for monks, they are strictly forbidden to touch the women.

In most pagodas across Cambodia, traditional gender roles are still in place. But while the Buddhist temple may not be a hotbed of revolution, an increasing number of influential female voices are furthering change within its gender politics.

Tan Sovannah, 58, who worships at Wat Put Mondal, became a daun chee six years ago in order to seek refuge from the trauma she has suffered since losing most of her family during the Khmer Rouge genocide. For Sovannah, meditation is a psychological medicine. She said that had she not become a nun – this is what she, too, defines herself as – she may have committed suicide.

She said: "I saw my children, father and mother die during the Pol Pot regime, and afterwards I lived alone. I had no home. I came to this pagoda and admired the Buddhist rules, so I decided to become a nun."

As well as performing religious duties, Sovannah and the other nuns at Wat Put Mondal are expected to wait on the monks, washing dishes, chopping vegetables and cooking for them. Sovannah in particular is also responsible for approaching the villagers to ask for help when the monks run out of food.

This is a tradition that goes back centuries. However, over the past two decades, figures have begun to emerge who are challenging these gender roles. In Cambodia, Chan Sobunvy from Oudong, project director at the Association of Nuns and Laywomen of Cambodia (ANLWC), is at the forefront of this campaign. Until recently, the association, which was founded in 1995, was funded by the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Germany, though it now survives through funding from the Queen Mother Norodom Monireth Sihanouk. The initial aim of the association was to encourage nuns to put their respected religious status to good use in the community, through advising and counselling women who had problems, spanning from domestic violence to drug or alcohol abuse. The association works with 100 communities in 15 provinces around Cambodia.

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As part of the initiative, the Heinrich Böll Foundation trained nuns and laywomen in counselling, which they would then put into practice when they advised other women. For Sobunvy, it represents an elevation of the status and rights of women, both within and outside the pagoda. She said: "Our mission was to reconstruct this country and bring peace. Our goal was to give opportunities to the nuns to study with the monks. Buddha said that women and men have equal rights."

Lok Yeax Horn, 71, is a nun based at Wat Mongkalvan in Phnom Penh. She became a nun more than 20 years ago, and joined the ANLWC 10 years ago, going to rural areas in Kandal province to counsel women suffering from HIV and AIDS as well as victims of domestic violence. She has also taught women Vipassana meditation in order to escape trauma, including that brought on by memories of the Khmer Rouge regime.

Horn said: "The Heinrich Böll Foundation trained me about how to avoid discrimination among people with HIV or AIDS, and I also gained counselling skills from the ANLWC. I shared this experience with disadvantaged women."

She continued: "Because I am a woman, other women look up to me. Before I became a nun I had problems with alcohol, so I can pass down my advice to others."

ANLWC isn't the only organisation to give nuns mentoring roles. The Nuns and Wat Grannies programme (NWG) was established by the Reproductive and Child Health Alliance (RACHA) in 2000 with the help of US AID, with the aim to empower nuns with the means to advise women on health issues including breastfeeding and pregnancy. Chan Ketsana, child health team leader at RACHA, said: "The initial initiative and purpose of RACHA to work with NWG is to use the religious channel to promote and improve correct breastfeeding practices and later on to integrate other key child health messages. The nuns are influential because they are elderly and respected by people in the community."

According to Kristin Mundt, an academic expert in the history of Southeast Asia from Leipzig University in Germany who spent three months working with ANLWC, the association can be viewed as part of a wider modernising Buddhist movement seen across Asia during the 20th century. It has strong links with independence movements in the region, as well as ideas around socialist reform and western influence on gender norms. "[The ANLWC] can be understood as a development that happened within ideas and structures of colonial and revolutionary modernity," she said, referring to the colonial history the country shares with other parts of Asia.

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A similar movement is the gender programme at the International Network of Engaged Buddhists (INEB) in Thailand, spearheaded by Ouyporn Khuankaew. When the organisation was launched 20 years ago, Ouyporn was interested in its ideals of social justice, but recognised a need for more women to have a voice. She said: "There might have been 10 nuns present at a meeting but we didn't hear their voices. I immediately started a project inviting Buddhist nuns in particular."

Ouyporn organised public speaking training, counselling and social work for the nuns, focusing particularly on gender-based violence. She said: "The role of nuns in the temple is not so different than at home: they serve the monks, cook and clean; they take on the same service role. In order to shift this role, we provided them with counselling skills and taught them about social justice."

In Southeast Asia, advising women who face gender-based violence is complicated. Many Buddhist women, Ouyporn said, are taught by monks that victims of domestic violence are paying for previous sins. She said: "It's taught wrongly by monks.

Women internalise a misrepresentation of karma. We explain to them about patriarchy so they can make choices. It comes from feminist empowerment. I hear women say, "it must be my karma from my previous life"; they say the monks say so, and I say, "do you know the Buddha doesn't say that?""

Ouyporn still works at the INEB from time to time, but is now based in Chiang Mai where she has founded the International Women's Partnership for Peace and Justice (IWP). With IWP, she has extended feminist teachings to monks, with whom she now holds classes. Ouyporn said: "The monk has power - if you don't train them, they will keep repeating the same teachings."

The idea that bad karma influences suffering, particularly from domestic abuse, is also prevalent in Cambodia. Nap Somaly, Senior Women's Rights Monitor at the human rights NGO Licadho, said: "Women often believe that they suffer because of having sinned in a past life. We advise women that this isn't the case, that they are victims in the situation."

The complexities don't stop there. Among Buddhism's outspoken female voices, some disagree on the ways in which to elevate the status of nuns and the ANLWC's approach has faced criticism. Elizabeth Guthrie, an academic in Buddhism and Southeast Asian religion and author of the book History, Buddhism and New Religious Movements in Cambodia, wrote: "encouraging daun jee to get involved in secular society will only hinder their meditation and dhamma studies while further diminishing their status as religious ascetics in Cambodia."

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For the moment, in Cambodia, attention has shifted towards the pagoda – if not by choice. As the Heinrich Boll Foundation no longer funds ANLWC, the organisation now focuses on education within the temple. Horn, who used to visit women in the provinces once every three months for a month at a time, now goes just once a year. Sobunvy has some income-generating ideas in the pipeline, particularly involving the association's centre at Kep: "It's the perfect location to transform into a retreat – people could come and give us a contribution."

Similarly, US AID funding for the Nuns and Wat Grannies initiative has now run out, though Ketsana insisted that they had taught the women to pass on what they had learned to younger members of their family.
Others have higher aspirations in their sights.

Unlike nuns, only men can be ordained as monks in the Theravada Buddhism practiced in Cambodia, but it hasn't always been this way. According to Mundt, the Buddha fully ordained his aunt like a monk, becoming what is known as a bhikkuni. She said: "The Buddha granted the first female ordination for his aunt and adoptive mother Mahaprajapati, after she and her hundred followers boldly shaved their heads, donned the golden robes of the monks, and demanded equal ordination rights."

Dr Ian Harris, visiting professor of Buddhist Studies at King's College, London, said: "The bhikkuni must observe 311 rules and put herself under the authority of the monks' order."

This tradition isn't completely dead in Theravada Buddhism: a group in Thailand is embracing the ordination of female monks. Thai Chatsumarn Kabilsingh, herself ordained in Sri Lanka, changed her name to the Venerable Dhammananda and started ordaining women back in her homeland.

While the Thai Sangha, the country's religious authority, refuses to recognise the ordination of women, Dhammananda runs the Songdhammakalyani Monastery, Thailand's first all-female temple, in Nakhon Pathom near Bangkok. Today there are an estimated 150 bhikkunis who practice in ten temples across Thailand.

Could something similar happen here? Would Cambodians look on women differently if they were allowed to be ordained like men? Sobunvy thinks so, but it won't come any time soon. She said: "I think that for equality, this would help. At the moment, progress for nuns is very, very slow."

From Vietnamese pho stalls to Chinese hand-pulled noodle restaurants, it seems ironic that Phnom Penh expats tend to laud foreign-inspired noodle eateries more than their Cambodian counterparts. Perhaps it's due to the latter's sheer ubiquity: in Phnom Penh, food carts on every corner sell the same store-bought instant noodles served with smatterings of vegetables and congealed blood. They're Cambodia's answer to New York hotdog stands. But even hotdogs can turn out to be gems, and although the good noodle stalls are often crowded out by the mediocre, they can be found with a little sleuthing.

Such is the case of an unnamed noodle place down an alley just north of the corner of streets 111 and 198 near the Capital Guesthouse. Hidden from the street and without signage, its only distinguishing feature at first glance is that it looks especially dingy in the shade of the surrounding shop houses. But this unassuming stall is a favourite of culinary stars including the staff at one of the capital's most luxurious eateries, Topaz.

Lina Hak, general manager, said: "I grew up around there. My father always took me there with him, it became my 'benchmark' as far as noodle soup concerned. When I introduced the place to my boss, he loved it immediately."

At 8:30am last Monday, no less than 50 customers were slurping away in the cramped alley. To accommodate their local fame, the owners converted an adjacent building to a dining room that allows customers to eat their food inside.

Kuy teav, which is similar to pho, is the restaurant's signature dish. Prepared with thin rice noodles and pork broth, it is served with slices of spongy beef paddies and small bits of squid and prawn. The broth had a smooth aroma and a clean herbal taste that complimented the abundance of meat and seafood that is added shortly before being served.

The exact recipe is a secret closely guarded by head chef Ear Heng, 31, but he said that it contains several herbs that make his brand of kuy teav particularly popular.

"Before, we had noodles, but not good noodles," said Heng, who was brought on by the family business four years ago to redo the menu.

"I changed a lot of things, because before they used beef that gave people stomach problems."

All looked clean on the food cart last week, and the food went down without any drama. This noodle eatery without a name may not turn heads, but it is a prime example of what street cooks can do with a little ingenuity.

Near the Capital Guesthouse. Open daily from 5:15am to 10:30am. ​​​

I really wanted to like the revamped Luna. As I walked down a winding path and into a leafy garden surrounded by fairy lights, I was convinced I was onto a good thing. There were comfy couches and cabanas where, until three weeks ago when the refurbishment was finished, there had been hard metal chairs. New artwork by Peap Tarr and Lisa Mam decorated the walls. And there were more fairy lights than before.

But first impressions lie, and it took three trips before my mind was made up about the place once known as Luna d'Autunno, or Autumn moon in Italian, and now called Luna Restaurant and Bar. The name change reflects the emphasis on broader Mediterranean food by the new Australian owner and management.

While offering the same pizza menu that Luna d'Autunno was best known for, Luna Restaurant and Bar has altered its pasta dishes, and added Spanish food such as paella, seafood and salads. By Phnom Penh's standards, it's not cheap. Salmon and tuna steak are the more expensive dishes at around the $15 mark, and the pizzas are anything $8 and above, though they can easily feed two people. The cheapest pasta dish on the menu is spaghetti bolognaise, at $7.

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I was excited to see gnocchi on the menu. When they're good, gnocchi are fluffy and flavoursome. When they're bad, they're vile. I ordered "gnocchi with salami milano". I expected the salami to be in the sauce; however, what arrived was three thinly-cut slices of salami on top of starkly white gnocchi, which were soft and floury in texture, not unlike mashed potato. I wasn't impressed. A friend found the penne in a chicken and mushroom bake too chewy. Another reported the spaghetti bolognaise tasted like it had been burnt. For a restaurant that once prided itself in Italian food, this wasn't good going.

The new fish dishes were fresh and pleasant but didn't overwhelm. The crispy-skinned salmon was delicately cooked but under-seasoned. Roasted vegetables, including buttery asparagus, were a more flavoursome accompaniment. A friend who tried the tuna steak complained it was too pink though she cleaned her plate contentedly.

Prior to its revamp, Luna was best known for its pizza, so I decided to give it another try and returned to see if the management had maintained the standard. Happily, the four cheese pizza I shared was everything a pizza should be: large, with a thin crusty base and very, very cheesy. On my third attempt, I ordered a pizza calzone, about which my only complaint would be that it was so big I couldn't finish it. It fitted in a doggie-bag nicely, however.

Service was hit-and-miss. On my first and second visits we had to ask for water several times before it arrived, though glasses came right away on my third visit. We were given complimentary bread, oils and grated eggplant to start with, too, which was much appreciated.

Luna makes a lovely drinking spot and is perfect for an aperitif. Of the wines, I tasted red and white, both of which were up to standard, and the prosecco was a joy at $4 per glass. For an evening of wine and pizza in a delightful setting, Luna fits the bill.

Luna Restaurant and Bar can be found at #6 Street 29. Open from 11am to 11pm. ​​​

Local identity Stéphane de Greef will hold an exhibition of photos of insects living and lurking in Temple Town's famous Royal Gardens. Miranda Glasser reports.

Awalk around Siem Reap's Royal Gardens is always a delight with the manicured lawns and colourful flower-beds, but beneath the pristine parkland lurks a whole world that most of us ordinary folk don't know about. Most of us, that is, apart from Stéphane de Greef, who is planning an exhibition of his insect life photography taken in the gardens.

Belgian bio-engineer and photographer De Greef says he wanted to document all the different varieties of insects, of which he has already found 150.

"The idea is to realise a photographic survey of all the different species," he says. "Ninety per cent of the diversity of animals on this planet and in these gardens is invertebrates, so my work is about showing that there are a lot of things to see on your doorstep, in your backyard."

De Greef, who admits he was the kid who was always out "digging in the garden, looking for insects, looking for fossils – and I'm still at it.

"There are so many different insects that nobody can actually put a name on each of them, and nobody has really started doing research on insects of Cambodia yet. I'd like to try and put all this information together."

De Greef says some insects are easier to photograph than others. Moths and butterflies, for example, are typically shy subjects, although he did manage to stumble upon a giant moth.

"It's incredible, sometimes you spend twenty minutes on a single tree, sometimes you just cross the grass and a lot of things jump out, sometimes you come across a giant moth hidden behind some leaves."

De Greef was able to snap a quick selfie posing alongside said moth, which looks to be nearly the same size as his head.

"I would never have suspected the moths were there," he says, "But until you start looking, you don't see them. It was so huge I could see the edges of the wing sticking out of the leaves, so I just slid my Smartphone behind it, took a couple of shots, then it flew away."

One of the more unusual insects De Greef photographed was the 'bat fly', so called because of its penchant for bats' blood.

"It is the most unexpected fly you could think of," he says. "We call it the bat fly because it has no wings, but has long legs like a spider, it's very freaky. It walks like a spider, looks like a spider and specialises in living in the fur of bats and drinking their blood."

"There's no way you would find them elsewhere than in the company of bats, so they're quite rare."

The gardens are home to a colony of bats, and De Greef managed to get close enough to get a shot of a bat fly because he spotted one on the ground being pulled apart by ants.

"Weaver ants are the dominant species of that garden," he says, "They're all over the place, and they eat pretty much all the other insects they come across. The first time I saw this bat fly was because ants were eating it so I took a shot, thinking it was a spider."

On closer inspection De Greef realised it wasn't a spider and consulted his entomologist colleagues, who were extremely surprised to confirm its identity.

All these weird and wonderful creatures and more will be available to view at De Greef's exhibition in the coming weeks.

He says the exhibition will probably be in one of the hotels around the Royal Gardens. "The idea would be that people look at the exhibition and say, 'Wow that's good, where is that?" And it's just there. So they can go by themselves, or they can have me guide."

KINGS ROAD OPENING DATE
The King's Road Angkor complex near the Old Market in Siem Reap is now set to open on December 14. The $10 million, 7,000-square-metre development will house 15 restaurants and cafés – eight of which have shares held by Alain Dupuis, director of Meas Development – and a dozen upscale souvenir shops. It's estimated that 400 people will be permanently employed at King's Road.
King's Road is described in a press release as, "An enclosed courtyard style village of exclusive boutiques, world class restaurants and cafés. All the outlets are accommodated in individually designed Khmer traditional wooden houses. Some are on the ground, some stand on stilts, just like the floating villages of the nearby Tonle Sap lake."
It's said to be, "An oasis from the gritty streets nearby," and "An elegant alternative to the cluttered and popular Pub Street."
Lim Nam, King's Road concept developer and managing director says, "In 2007 when I launched The Angkor Night Market, Siem Reap was still a quiet city. Since then, tourism has grown fast and supply has had to go upscale. Indeed tourists are looking for something different than what they can typically find in town, but nobody has given them that yet."
Of course one of the big draw cards will be Cambodia's first Hard Rock, due to open in the Kings Road complex in "early 2014." February seems to be the favoured date at the moment. This will feature two bars, international and local memorabilia, live music and enough room to seat more than 300 people. Alain Dupuis, director of Meas Development, comments on the connection between the name of the complex and the King's Road name. He says, "Siem Reap is where Cambodian kings once lived in their palaces and temples, but the name is also a pop-culture reference to the famous King's Road of London in the 60s and 70s."

ANANTARA COMES TO TOWN
The upscale Sothea boutique hotel officially became the Anantara Angkor Resort and Spa on November 1, and a grand opening party is slated for Monday November 18.
A subsidiary of Thailand-listed Minor International Public Company Ltd, Minor Hotel Group Ltd, which operates hotels under brand names including Anantara, Marriott and Four Season, announced in September that it had bought an 80 per cent stake in Sothea, with the remaining 20 per cent retained by the Cambodian owner, who also owns the Angkor Century hotel. The majority ownership of Sothea was flogged off in a juicy $6.4 million deal.
The new deal marks Minor Hotel Group's first foray into Siem Reap, indeed even into Cambodia. In November 1995 local media said that the company's Four Season chain would be one of many hotel outfits to enter the Siem Reap market place, but that never eventuated.

DIRECT FLIGHTS TO BEIJING
Air China kicks off its Beijing-Siem Reap nonstop service on December 1, sparing travelers the trouble of having to transfer in Phnom Penh or Bangkok. Flights will take off twice weekly on Wednesdays and Sundays until December 31. Next year, flights will increase to four times a week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

SHORTS
New Leaf: The New Leaf Book Café is celebrating its first three months in business by noting that it has already achieved profitability and made its first donation to the Cambodian Children's House of Peace. Plus a quite impressive range of other projects was also achieved by the café, its staff, and supporters. See the What's On section on page 4 for the café's latest entertainment provision.
Vital correction: Bill Morse points out that CNN's 60-second public service announcement which has just finished a two week run was about Aki Ra and NOT about the Landmine Relief Fund.

Fancy a feijoada? Craving a caipirinha? Siem Reap's first Brazilian restaurant, Gigi Brasil, is open for business thanks to the owner's hankering for some home-cooked food.

Vanessa dos Santos, a Paulistana – São Paolo national – has been based in Siem Reap with her family for the last two years, and found she was really missing Brazilian fare.

"I was trying to make it at home but I could not find the ingredients here," she says. "I was talking to my husband and decided to try opening a restaurant."

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Despite being a newcomer to the restaurant business, Dos Santos has clearly found a winning formula as even in the short time it's been open, customers have been flocking to Gigi's, which is named after her son, Gabriel.

"People are coming, they're liking the food, I'm happy," she says.

The menu features hearty dishes such as feijoada, a traditional Brazilian black bean stew made with pork, and camarão na moranga, a small pumpkin stuffed with prawns in a creamy tomato sauce. The beef a Braziliana, a kind of beef parmigiana served with both fries and rice, was so enormous Insider had to admit defeat and take half of it home in a doggy-bag. Definitely not a place for the salad-nibblers.

Dos Santos explains that São Paolo is similar to New York in that it is a melting-pot of different nationalities and, therefore, culinary influences.

"It's the second biggest city in the world I think in business and so we have everything, including international food – it's a fusion," she says. "So with the menu I wanted to do something mixed, as Brazil is mixed. My family is very big and from all over Brazil, so I know all the different dishes, which is why we have popular food from the north-east like feijoada."

When making feijoada, a lot of preparation goes into the meat before being added to the stew, Dos Santos says. The pork is bought locally but the beef is imported from Australia.

"We have to work on the meat before, we salt it for ten days," she says. "We also make our own homemade sausage. We buy the meat fresh, clean everything, prepare the meat, leave it for one day and then let it dry. It has a particular taste; we add chili pepper, fennel and other ingredients."

Alongside the main courses are smaller tapas-style bites like coxinha, a typical São Paolo street food consisting of a chicken croquette, and päo de queijo, small cheese buns – both delicious.

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"Päo de queijo is from the south-east," she says. "Brazilian people love cheese, they make it fresh. We don't have it here so I make them with cheddar cheese. There they are in love with päo de queijo, they have shops selling only this."

Dos Santos says as well as the food, customers are going crazy in the drinks department for caipirinha – which is the real thing.

"We use cachaça, made from sugar cane, and maybe it's different," she says, admitting, "Personally it's too strong for me – but it's Brazilian and people like it."

The airy eatery has a tropical, beach-hut feel to it; all bamboo, with large colourful paintings of parrots and toucans adorning the walls. There is a small lounge area which Dos Santos plans to transform into a 'beach lounge' by adding sand, while a screen to the side plays silent images from Brazilian videos and documentaries.

Dos Santos is holding an official opening, themed around a Brazilian beach party, tomorrow night, Saturday November 9. An expected highlight is a performance by Dos Santos herself decked out in carnival bikini, alongside three ladyboys from Rosanna Broadway who have been practicing their samba.

"For the party we're going to make everything full of sand, apart from one area because I have asked some dancers from Rosanna Broadway to come," she says, indicating the space that will serve as stage. "They will dress in costumes, I will be dressed up as well and they are preparing my outfit. We will have space so that people can dance if they want to – I really want to make a party like a carnival."

The party kicks off at 6pm and there will be tapas, finger food, sangria and discounts on drinks, as well as a hog roast barbecue.

Park Hyatt Siem Reap's elegant new Living Room is the perfect setting for that most refined of rituals, the afternoon tea. Retaining some of the traditional components of high tea but adding a contemporary twist, Hyatt's plentiful feast is served daily between 2-5pm.

"Our high tea is a bit different," says public relations manager Daisy Walsh. "I feel it's maybe not as traditional. The pastries are amazing, but I don't think it's your typical high tea. You could say it's more modern, more contemporary, but it works."

Devised by Hyatt executive sous chef Martin Robl, the tea is divided into three sections; 'warm', 'sandwiches' and 'sweets'. The warm selection has been given something of an Asian flavour comprising crispy crab cake, and chicken curry puffs as well as a delicious take on the quiche Lorraine – a bite-sized bacon, spinach and ricotta quiche.

"It's a mix of different things you'd like to eat," says Robl, "Something small in the afternoon. We have some Khmer influence like the spring rolls, and we also have some Indian flavours with the puffs and crab cakes. We have French quiche, which reflects the Provencal theme we have everywhere in the restaurant."

The tea snob in Insider couldn't help being mildly disappointed not to see cucumber sandwiches in the sandwich section, but with three different sarnies including smoked trout mini baguette and chicken finger sandwiches plus rice paper rolls, diners can be sure not to go hungry.

Last and by no means least is the pièce de la résistance of any afternoon tea, the sweet section. Miniature chocolate brownies sit alongside small fruit tartlets and wonderfully light and chewy strawberry macaroons. There is also banana cake, pandan crème brulee, and a basket of miniature warm scones.

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In a departure from the norm that some traditionalists (regretfully, your British reporter included) might find controversial, these sweet treats are served with cream flavoured with orange in place of clotted cream, plus a choice of strawberry or coconut jam.

Director of sales and marketing Sarah Moya says that with a British general manager, Sholto Smith, afternoon tea was never going to be taken lightly.

"He loves high tea," she says. "We've been developing our pastry section and what they do is a mix. It's really a taster, but it's quite sumptuous in a way."

She adds that two of Hyatt's best regional chefs – one of them an award-winning pastry chef – were on board to advise on both the Glasshouse and the components of the high tea.

"What is good is that Martin is really understanding of what is available locally, and has been really good at embracing the culinary conditions of Cambodia," she says. "The idea was to present something that has a regional and Asian flavour, along with traditional high tea items."

Moya says that Hyatt also plans to instigate a 'recommended read,' where tea-takers can combine their afternoon grazing with a good book.

"We wanted to do something thematic where you've got a recommended read and we would like to have, for instance, an expert in the subject of the book that we're featuring," she says. "The Living Room is very much a living room, with books and all, so we want that to be really a part of the high tea."

The afternoon tea costs $25 a head and is filling enough to double up as lunch. For a more decadent version, a glass of champagne can be added for $33.

Months ago, Chinese engineers were posting markers for a hydropower dam opposed by villagers in Koh Kong province's Areng Valley. This week, in marked contrast, monks draped trees in iconic saffron sashes as they blessed the very forest the dam would destroy.

The saffron robes of 40 monks who on Monday carried 80 metres of cloth made for striking visuals as the group walked through the jungle of one of the most isolated parts of Cambodia.

The procession was part of efforts by the monks – who travelled from Phnom Penh – to save the Areng Valley from a long-proposed dam.

Venerable But Buntenh, an increasingly prominent dissident monk, came with a simple message to the locals.

"You are not alone. There are many monks with you," he said.

In explaining his opposition to the project, Buntenh said that any profits that come from the dam, reported to be 100 or more megawatts in power, "will not reach the hands of the people".

Traditionally, monks have been discouraged from engaging in politics. During the recent national election, their superiors warned them not to protest in the streets.

But Buntenh, who has been building a network of young like-minded monks around him, has dared to say that things don't have to be this way.

The proposed Stung Cheay Areng dam, on the edge of the Central Cardamom Protected Forest, will impact one of the last and most biologically diverse areas of wilderness, left in Southeast Asia, environmental groups say.

The dam was planned by a Chinese company, China Southern Power Grid, and then shelved in 2010.

Another Chinese company, China Guodian Corporation, took over the project almost immediately. Despite this, confusion remains over if and when construction will start.

"To me, the Chinese engineers said there's no money to be made because the generators will not generate enough electricity," said Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, a co-founder of NGO Mother Nature Cambodia, who helped organise the monks' trip.

"One guy from some ministry in Koh Kong was saying it's been approved, but something else needs to be sorted," he continued. "But then it hasn't been approved because if it's approved, it's made public – and the parliament hasn't approved it."

Two weeks ago, company officials had visited the area, Gonzalez-Davidson said.

"Everyone got really, really scared, but they didn't get any information out to the people."

When contacted this week, Sun Dara, the deputy governor of Koh Kong, said the provincial "authorities have not yet got official comment or advice from the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Energy" for the dam.

Adding to confusion about the dam's current status, in April last year, the Post reported Cambodian People's Party lawmaker Cheam Yeap as saying "that which the government has already granted to the company we cannot withdraw".

Journey of the monks
To reach the valley, the monks travelled by bus and car for nine hours before setting out on foot for the last 30 kilometres. The walk turned into a gruelling test of endurance as the monks – many only wearing sandals – struggled through the dark jungle for six hours.

About four hours into the walk, while crossing a small ad-hoc wooden bridge, a tired young monk turned and laughed.

"This is my first time and my last time," he said.

About eight kilometres short of the final destination, motorbikes began ferrying the monks and tired journalists. A stubborn group struggled forward on foot, finally reaching the pagoda at about 1:30am.

The next morning, after blessing trees under the watchful eyes of local authorities, the monks headed across the valley for an afternoon swim – with armed police in tow.

"I feel compassion for even the police with their guns. We try to make good communication with them because they're also Cambodian people," said monk Ngin Saosam Khan.

Just a few kilometres downstream from where the monks swam, the locals say there are regular sightings of the Siamese crocodile, a critically endangered species, which according to NGO International Rivers, is already extinct across 99 per cent of its original habitat range.

Other rare animals that environmental groups say will be affected by the dam include tigers, elephants, pileated gibbons and the Asian arowana, a prized freshwater fish.

It's not just the animals that are endangered. For some 1,500 people living in or on the edge of the proposed 20,000-hectare dam, forced relocation is certain should the dam go ahead.

Despite the area being the villagers' ancestral lands, it wouldn't be the first time they have been forced to leave.

In 1979, the Vietnamese moved families from their valley after pursuing a policy of regime change against the rulers of Democratic Kampuchea. When the locals were finally able to return – in the early 1990s – small bands of Khmer Rogue fighters still roamed the hills.

Welcoming party
When the monks made their journey through the village, police armed with AK-47s monitored the procession and took photographs. Later, they entered the pagoda to speak with organisers.

Since leaving the valley on Tuesday, Gonzalez-Davidson said he has been approached three times by police. Upon returning to a guesthouse in Koh Kong town, he was told that officers had visited three times asking questions about him.

A provincial immigration official, Khon Mara, returned to the guesthouse on Wednesday and, according to Gonzalez-Davidson, told him that foreigners could be deported if they were security threats.

When contacted, Mara said he simply wanted to check Gonzalez-Davidson's passport and visa.

The day before, Post staff and three other photographers were asked to provide their names and passports after leaving the same area.

The good life
Walking through the spectacular valley, Lucky, a young resident, spoke about the people's "connection to their homeland" and the good quality of life.

The people who inhabit the eight villages that environmental groups say would be flooded by the dam have lived in Areng Valley for generations. Between the forest and river, the area provides an abundance of food.

The concerns of these residents are consistent.

Yung Pun, 57, was born in Pralay village.

She had heard the authorities would move them and felt villagers had no choice but to go.

"I don't want to move.… We'll lose our animals, forest … the house," she said. "The new site that the government is moving people to is very difficult to live in. It's a damp forest and has lots of mean wildlife like tigers and elephants, and has no rice fields."

She claimed the site also lacks schools, access to water and fish and is far from sources of income.

"I would like to say to the world: please try to stop the government from doing this."

But not all those affected have the same level of opposition.

Some 300 recent migrants to the valley, who have settled on the slopes and would only be temporarily moved, are resigned to, if not supportive of, the dam, after being promised a desperately needed health centre, according to Gonzalez-Davidson.

Despite the valley providing a rich life in terms of food and tradition, it doesn't provide healthcare or adequate education.

The teacher at the local school, Sok Sa Rasmey, who has only a grade three education himself, sat in a single-room school with large holes in its walls.

He is opposed to the dam and instead wants to see the development of educational opportunities for his students.

"After hearing about the project, I am worried and deeply concerned of its effects on our livelihoods. And although we will be relocated, we worry that the new location is not good. Living here gives us happiness, and we see nature and animals," he said.

People's movement
The blessing of trees by 40 monks may appear unlikely to stop a Chinese company building a dam, though a recent case gives them hope.

A nearby titanium mine was cancelled in 2011 "due to the concerns of the impact on the environment, biodiversity and local livelihoods", according to a press release from Prime Minister Hun Sen's office.

Gonzalez-Davidson said this decision was the result "of eco-tourism and NGOs and a strong movement by the people".

The coming together of dissident monks, youth groups and locals, though at an embryonic stage, is a potentially potent mix.

The increasingly media savvy and assertive Cambodian youth had a huge, and unexpected, impact on the recent national election.

If the company cares only about the dam project in terms of its utility in aiding a more profitable project, it may only need to see its plan pushed across the ledger from an asset to a liability to consider abandoning it. And it is this thought that is informing the strategy of those seeking to prevent the dam's construction.

The group of monks, led by Buntenh, plan to march on the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh, seeking to pressure the publicly listed company.

At a time when the government is under unprecedented political pressure, time will tell how many monks break with the orders of their superiors and follow.

Either way, Buntenh's call to action extends far beyond the Cambodian clergy.

"Now I'm calling on the whole world to join us to prevent and protect our forest, because I always think of and call myself the same life as the forest."

More than $600 million flooded out of Cambodia's entire banking system during the third quarter of this year, as fears of post-election chaos set off panic and mass withdrawals, new figures from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) reveal.

The figures, obtained yesterday, were the first system-wide indicators of how the banking sector fared since the July 28 poll awarded the election to the ruling Cambodian People's Party. The results triggered allegations of foul play from the opposition, creating a tense stand-off marked by protests and go-nowhere negotiations.

National Bank of Cambodia Deputy Director General Chea Serey said yesterday that the sharp decline was expected every five years due to elections, but that this time around, it "probably" was the largest dip ever.

"When there are elections there is a bit of uncertainty," she said. "After all, this is a young economy, there have only been five elections," she added, referring back to the UN-backed poll in 1993.

Tensions have been high since disputed voting results came in months ago. Though largely peaceful, subsequent demonstrations by the Cambodia National Rescue Party were met with a heavy security presence in the city, and one man was shot and killed after authorities descended on a bridge to quell protestors in September.

The climate of fear extended to the financial sector, where many mistrusted the level of security maintained at banks. Deposits fell from $7.2 billion at the end of June 2013 to $6.6 billion at the end of September.

That means that account holders withdrew close to $630 million, or 8.7 per cent, of the total number of deposits held in Cambodia's 34 commercially registered banks.

While large, the decrease did not astound observers, who have seen the same during the past several months with other financial institutions.

Acleda, the country's largest bank, reported last month that customers withdrew $200 million in the period around and following the election.

Confident that customers would return, Acleda president and CEO In Channy said at the time that the bank had regained close to $186.5 million in little over a week after the quarter ended.

Industry leaders and economists echoed Channy's positive outlook yesterday, pointing out that Cambodia's banking system could even build trust with consumers by showing that it can weather a storm.

Charles Van, president of the Association of Banks in Cambodia, said the industry had made it through the withdrawal frenzy, and he did not expect any lingering effects.

"It always happens in the country during the election process. The money is withdrawn but then over a period of time the money comes back."

Independent economist Chan Sophal said he had not seen any severe impact on other parts of the economy, as "the banking sector was able to absorb the shock", he said. "It could even increase confidence in the future because of this precedent."

Serey at the NBC agreed that there were no clear economic ripples bubbling, but that Cambodia's economy always needed to be monitored.

"As regulators, as a central bank we would always be on the watch, whatever the situation. If it is not something that happens here it is something that happens outside that can spill over on us," she said.

Not all believed the economy had turned the corner. Kang Chandararot, director of the Cambodia Institute of Development Study, said that as long as the political stand-off continues (the opposition is still boycotting parliament, the ruling party isn't giving in on their demands) the cost of investing in the country could increase.

"The longer it holds, the worse the economy," he said.

Government officials were still tight-lipped about the 2014 draft budget yesterday, though some details did continue to trickle out, such as the announcement of a sizeable increase in national defence spending.

Cambodian People's Party lawmaker and banking and finance committee member Cheam Yeap said yesterday that the Standing Committee of the National Assembly would put the draft budget up for debate in a full session of the assembly – "likely next week".

While the complete contents of the budget would not be made public until the full session convened, he added, the budget does contain a 17 per cent boost in the $400 million spent last year on defence.

"We have to establish a proper uniform for the armed forces such as shoes and headgear, which is necessary to have appropriate armed forces to ensure the stability of peace and territorial sovereignty," Yeap said, maintaining the money was not for buying weapons.

Of the proposed $468 million in military spending, he added, 72 per cent would be to pay servicemen's salaries. However, the presence of so-called "ghost soldiers" has long been a target of opposition criticism, and Cambodia's relatively large standing army has even been the subject of donor-funded "demobilisation" schemes that have largely proved unsuccessful.

Though Yeap refused to offer further specifics, unconfirmed local media reports cited some notable figures, such as a 20 per cent increase in education funding over last year, and a more than 10 per cent increase in agricultural spending.

Despite the lack of complete figures, the potential for issues with the national debt has raised concerns in some corners.

The International Monetary Fund said in January that Cambodia's risk of "debt distress" – that is default, or imminent default – would remain low as long as there were continuing reforms.

However, this year's $3.5 billion budget represents a nearly 35 per cent increase over 2012's, and Cambodian Institute for Development Study director Kang Chandararot maintained yesterday that reforms are only part of the picture.

"Reforms are tool[s] to increase revenues, not indicator[s] for debt level," he said in an email. "You can make many efforts (reforms), but sometimes [with] no success (increase in revenues). Revenues serve the source of repayment, not just reforms."

"We will have difficulty in servicing debt and [gaining the] trust of the private sector on [government] economic management," he added. "The economy will suffer when repayment [is] due."

The National Election Committee yesterday announced a date for the election of district and city-provincial council members, a vote that will only be open to current commune council members.

NEC Secretary-General Tep Nytha took the opportunity yesterday to outline the polling procedures for the May 18, 2014, vote, but observers dismissed the election as undemocratic, maintaining it violated the spirit of representative democracy, and was furthermore a waste of time given that the voting pool entirely comprises of people already affiliated with a party.

There are more than 300 city-provincial council members and 2,800 district council members in the current first mandate, said Nytha, but a precise number for the second mandate has not yet been set.

However, Koul Panha, executive director of the election monitor Comfrel, said restricting a vote to elected officials only works in societies in which the general population votes for specific candidates – in whom they place their trust – rather than simply voting for parties, as they do in Cambodia.

"[Other countries] use non-universal election systems too, but the voting is for individuals," he said. "This means that [voters] are content with someone they vote for, even though that [person] is in a party. But when we use a non-universal system, and vote using the proportional system and vote for a party, it is meaningless."

Cambodian Center for Human Rights president Ou Virak maintained that in a strict party system like Cambodia's commune council members will simply stick to party lines, making the actual poll pointless.

"I think it's a waste of time and money," he said. "You have parties voting for parties, basically, so if you do basic math, you can see how many parties will have how many seats.

"Unless there's vote buying," Virak added. "You have less numbers to buy than in the general population."

Yem Ponharith, a spokesman for the Cambodia National Rescue Party, said his party was preferring to focus on the still-disputed national election.

Cambodian People's Party official Ork Kimhan declined to comment on observers' criticisms of the vote's structure.

Prime Minister Hun Sen made a surprise appearance on television last night, issuing an urgent appeal for all Cambodians to remain calm when the International Court of Justice hands down a verdict on Monday.

In a 10-minute speech, the premier stressed that Cambodia's 2011 request to the ICJ to reinterpret a verdict on the sovereignty of the Preah Vihear temple was not meant to provoke Thailand.

"I would like to reaffirm to all venerables and all compatriots that the reason that the [government] asked the [ICJ] to interpret the 1962 verdict is not to stoke the fires of the dispute or out of any ambition to grab land," he said.

"On the contrary, the Royal Government believes this action is a means to end this issue peacefully and respect the spirit of international law, national sovereignty, territorial integrity and the maintenance of good relationships with our neighbour."

An eco-tourism initiative in Mondulkiri hit a snag this week when authorities asked management to vacate overnight guests while provincial officials determine whether the project is properly licensed to operate a guesthouse.

Guests of the Elephant Valley Project (EVP), which is located in a Forestry Administration-protected area in Mondulkiri's Sen Monorom town, have been temporarily moved from the onsite guesthouse to another guesthouse in town while staff resolve the matter with local officials, said Jack Highwood, manager at EVP.

"The government has just asked us to stop hosting people overnight and we are having a series of meetings next week," he said, adding that visitors are still allowed to tour the grounds during the day.

The local government's move came after it received more than five complaints from elephant tourism operators and guesthouses that say Elephant Valley has been siphoning off tourism income since its establishment in 2005, said Phou Rin, commune clerk of Sen Monorom's Romnea commune.

Investigating the matter, Rin said, officials found that guesthouses must be licensed by the provincial Ministry of Tourism. But the ministry cannot license guesthouses on Forestry Administration land because it falls under the Ministry of Agriculture's jurisdiction.

EVP has been operating under an agreement with the Forestry Administration and works closely with local government, Highwood said. But a current lack of legislation regarding eco-tourism complicates the matter.

Tension between EVP and other tourism operators have existed since EVP opened, promoting itself as an ethical alternative to elephant riding tours.

Tourists at EVP are allowed to observe elephants – many of which are sick or injured and being cared for by project staff – as they roam the grounds.

Elephant tour guides have complained that EVP unfairly portrays their operations, which often include elephant rides, as cruel to the animals.

Despite the complaint being withdrawn, the Preah Vihear Provincial Court is pursuing land-clearing charges against three defendants.

Last month, the provincial Forestry Administration lodged a complaint against Veng Eam, 45; Ngoy Yean, 51; and his wife, Huon Kim Ay, 39, alleging they illegally bulldozed state land.

The Forestry Administration last week agreed to drop charges if the three stopped bulldozing, said Un Chenda, Preah Vihear's deputy governor.

Chenda said he expected that when the defendants went to court yesterday, they would thumbprint documents that would put an end to the case. Instead, the trio was questioned by the court, Eam said.

Further, a court clerk called them last night, Kim Ay said, claiming the case would only be dropped if each defendant paid $500 to the court.

"The court did not end the case and still questioned us because we refused to pay," Kim Ay said.

Chhum Kanika, a clerk at the court declined to comment.

Teachers across Cambodia are insisting pay raises aren't just an election year issue.

More than 30 representative teachers gathered for the start of a three-day seminar in Phnom Penh yesterday to continue demanding living wages.

"Teachers cannot live on their current salary and have to find other ways and other jobs to make enough money to live," said Ke Dararoth, education program manager at the NGO Education Partnership.

The teachers are asking for $250 per month, according to seminar director Rong Chhun, president of the Cambodian Independent Teachers' Association. The figure represents a huge increase; the Education Partnership estimates teachers on average earn $50 a month.

"The biggest concern of the teachers is the low salary that makes it difficult for us to live," said Kim Darany, a Pursat primary school teacher. "I have worked as a teacher for 32 years, but I receive only 320,000 riel [about $80] per month."

Chhun said he will try to meet with newly appointed Minister of Education, Youth and Sport Hang Chuon Naron to share issues raised by teachers.

"We never give teachers a chance to talk about their problems, but here they will have time to talk about the situation they are facing and what they want the government and the education minister to do for them," said Chhun.

Chuon Naron could not be reached for comment.

The opposition party wants to deliver its political message directly into the homes of ordinary Cambodians, and it appears it is prepared to adopt shrewd measures to obtain the broadcasting licences that would allow it to do so.

Cambodia National Rescue Party spokesman Yim Sovann said yesterday that as the party was unlikely to receive a TV licence if it applied for one directly, it could move to set up a private company with sympathetic investors which would apply for a licence on its behalf.

"We don't know yet, [but] if [Minister of Information] Khieu Kanharith blocks us, it is very easy for us to ask somebody to create a company and then apply for the licence," he said.

"Like what the [Cambodian People's Party] has done [in the past], we have to do similar.… The Ministry of Information has granted licences to CPP-affiliated [companies], so why not for the CNRP?"

Although Sovann insisted that a number of well-heeled businessmen would be prepared to back such a venture, he declined to name them.

A demand for television and radio licences was one of 10 opposition requests adopted at a "People's Congress" last month.

All TV stations are either controlled by or aligned with the ruling party and will allegedly not sell airtime to the CNRP.

Minister of Information Khieu Kanharith said via email yesterday that Beehive Radio had made statements supporting the CNRP and "thus, the CNRP [has] its own radio already", and said that it was "too late" in response to whether the opposition could obtain a TV licence.

Senior CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap struck a different tone, however, saying that it was the "right" of the CNRP to run a TV station if it followed the law and were granted a licence.

"I think that there will be no problem for them if they have a private company that sponsors them," he said.

The opposition this week launched CNRP TV, which it bills as an "online TV station", but which has thus far simply released interviews with lawmakers and videos of press conferences.

CNRP public affairs head Mu Sochua said yesterday that the CNRP TV was still under trial but that both it and any future TV station would provide balanced coverage.

"If we want to bring in money from [the] private sector, that's exactly why we have to be balanced and show professionalism and credibility and [not be] a party TV."

Sochua could not say whether any future station would retain the name "CNRP TV".

Moeun Chhean Nariddh, director of the Cambodia Institute for Media Studies, said the CNRP could "slip through the licencing process" by using a private company if it kept its political affiliations quiet – something that spokesman Sovann said it would not do.

"If [the government] knows that the station is aligned with the opposition party, they will not allow this station to open," Chhean Nariddh said.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CHHAY CHANNYDA AND VONG SOKHENG

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Hun Sen called for urgent fortification of Cambodia's resistance to climate change, singling out recent flooding as evidence of the severe consequences the country faces.

But at a press conference yesterday, opposition lawmaker Mu Sochua accused the prime minister of weakening Cambodia's capacity to respond to environmental change.

"All these effects of climate change are because of logging that Prime Minister Hun Sen has allowed," she said.

In May, Hun Sen boasted that Cambodia could soon have a rubber industry bigger than Vietnam's in the same week that a report found rubber firms responsible for deforesting large swathes of the country.

The report, from UK watchdog Global Witness, accuses Vietnamese rubber firms awarded huge economic land concessions by the government of perpetuating a "land grabbing crisis" and engaging in large-scale illegal logging.