why not give it a try? If you don't ask how can i answer. You will never know if you don't ask. It is up to you. you can either ask me or bring those questions with you back to your homeland


At the invitation of Samouth to ask questions on Cambodia and the people, here is the first of 10,000 questions.


Why do Cambodian drivers not stop at this stop sign. In Australia if you don't stop, and that means your wheels stop turning, you would end up with a hefty fine and demerit points on your licence.

Why does wedding and funeral music have to be so loud? Are most people deaf?

vladimir wrote:Why does wedding and funeral music have to be so loud? Are most people deaf?

I will answer half of that question, on behalf of Samouth. Dead people have trouble hearing, so the music has to be loud .

[quote="Duncan"]why not give it a try? If you don't ask how can i answer. You will never know if you don't ask. It is up to you. you can either ask me or bring those questions with you back to your homeland


At the invitation of Samouth to ask questions on Cambodia and the people, here is the first of 10,000 questions.


Why do Cambodian drivers not stop at this stop sign. In Australia if you don't stop, and that means your wheels stop turning, you would end up with a hefty fine and demerit points on your licence.




Many Cambodians drivers don't to go to driving school, needless to say they don't have driving license. Most of them know nothing about Cambodia's traffic law. In addition, this is such a really bad attitude of Cambodian drivers. I hope that they will change somehow in the future. Most of traffic polices are so corrupted. i guess there are some threads taking about the level of corruption of traffic polices.

vladimir wrote:Why does wedding and funeral music have to be so loud? Are most people deaf?

Something to do with keeping evil spirits away ?

Also, people like to show off - the more noise the "better" the party.

And now, the question that keeps me awake at night - why do Cambodian women wear pyjamas ? You know, all the time. I know that this custom is dying out in the cities now, but I'd really like to know how, when and why it started.

My theory is that shiploads of pyjamas got sent to Cambodia by mistake instead of clothes just after the fall of DK, and because they were pretty and brightly coloured all the women loved them and started to wear them like outdoor clothes and it became a custom.

But I'm just making that up. I really would like to know the answer.

vladimir wrote:Why does wedding and funeral music have to be so loud? Are most people deaf?

-Wedding : Because we want everyone know that it is the wedding day and everyone who is invited know in case they forget. Moreover there are so many things to be done the days before the wedding and the wedding day. A lot of traditional songs will be played one day before the wedding day. I wish you guys know the meaning of those songs. They are so meaningful. The songs are intend to teach the newly-wed couple about life and how can they live together harmony. All the songs are tend to teach the bride like how should she behave after getting married.

-Funeral: The loud music is to invite the fellow villagers to come to join the ceremony. Normally the family members of the dead people are so busy during that day. So they can't go and invite people to join unlike 7 days, 49 days, and 100 days funerals which they have enough time to invite people to join. That's why playing loud sadly songs is the only way to invite people to join. When people hear those music they know that there is someone died. So if they know the person in real, they will actually come without invitation letter or verbal invitation.

Samouth wrote:

vladimir wrote:Why does wedding and funeral music have to be so loud? Are most people deaf?

-Wedding : Because we want everyone know that it is the wedding day and everyone who is invited know in case they forget. Moreover there are so many things to be done the days before the wedding and the wedding day. A lot of traditional songs will be played one day before the wedding day. I wish you guys know the meaning of those songs. They are so meaningful. The songs are intend to teach the newly-wed couple about life and how can they live together harmony. All the songs are tend to teach the bride like how should she behave after getting married.

-Funeral: The loud music is to invite the fellow villagers to come to join the ceremony. Normally the family members of the dead people are so busy during that day. So they can't go and invite people to join unlike 7 days, 49 days, and 100 days funerals which they have enough time to invite people to join. That's why playing loud sadly songs is the only way to invite people to join. When people hear those music they know that there is someone died. So if they know the person in real, they will actually come without invitation letter or verbal invitation.

Serious question: how was this done before the invention of electricity and amplifiers?

Jaap N. wrote:

Samouth wrote:

vladimir wrote:Why does wedding and funeral music have to be so loud? Are most people deaf?

-Wedding : Because we want everyone know that it is the wedding day and everyone who is invited know in case they forget. Moreover there are so many things to be done the days before the wedding and the wedding day. A lot of traditional songs will be played one day before the wedding day. I wish you guys know the meaning of those songs. They are so meaningful. The songs are intend to teach the newly-wed couple about life and how can they live together harmony. All the songs are tend to teach the bride like how should she behave after getting married.

-Funeral: The loud music is to invite the fellow villagers to come to join the ceremony. Normally the family members of the dead people are so busy during that day. So they can't go and invite people to join unlike 7 days, 49 days, and 100 days funerals which they have enough time to invite people to join. That's why playing loud sadly songs is the only way to invite people to join. When people hear those music they know that there is someone died. So if they know the person in real, they will actually come without invitation letter or verbal invitation.

Serious question: how was this done before the invention of electricity and amplifiers?

I think, we use our traditional music instruments.

Anchor Moy wrote:

vladimir wrote:Why does wedding and funeral music have to be so loud? Are most people deaf?

Something to do with keeping evil spirits away ?

Also, people like to show off - the more noise the "better" the party.

Playing loud music has nothing to do with show off, but the decoration of the platform, the quality of foods and price of the coffin do.

And now, the question that keeps me awake at night - why do Cambodian women wear pyjamas ? You know, all the time. I know that this custom is dying out in the cities now, but I'd really like to know how, when and why it started.

My theory is that shiploads of pyjamas got sent to Cambodia by mistake instead of clothes just after the fall of DK, and because they were pretty and brightly coloured all the women loved them and started to wear them like outdoor clothes and it became a custom.

But I'm just making that up. I really would like to know the answer.

Right it is really strange to wear pyjamas outside especially at the beach. In my opinion, because many Cambodians don't know the usage of pyjamas, they would wear them in all time without considering that pyjamas is only wore for sleeping. I think this has to deal with being poor, the quality of life and lifestyle unlike people in the rich countries.