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Phnom
Penh (Ah!) Travel Tips
- Faces & Places - The Road To THE
FRESHIE FINAL -
January 2006
FRESHIE CONTEST FINAL - WHO WILL WEAR THE CROWN? - TOSHU FUKAMI performs @ Angkor Wat - US Embassy Moved - SUGAR, SUGAR, SUGAR - Cambodia's ISP Slow Problems Solved? - Also: FOREIGNERS BEHAVIOR Some Good Some???... - NR Mail & Top 10 According to Google Thursday January 19, 2006 DJ Ken The Road To THE FRESHIE FINALS - It Ain't Easy The road to the Freshie is not easy for a contestant and judges. But as they say 'When to going gets tough, the tough get going.' And that they did as after three months of a grueling selections process, training, hard work and commitment it all comes down to who will wear the crowns of Freshie Boy & Freshie Girl 2006 this Saturday January 21. The event will take place at the Chaktomuk Theater on a live nationally televised show. At the beginning of November Freshie judges had 3000 entrants total boys & girls) age 16-20 pruned 300 (150 boys & 150 girls) for the interview process. They then were judged on their looks, talent and personality. Those 300 then met at the Juliana Hotel ballroom to find out who would go to the next level of competition, 20 boys and 20 girls. "There are no losers. If you are here you are a winner," said Evian water's country manager Henry Siew, one of the contests sponsors. From that group 20 boys and 20 girls were selected to appear on the first weekly television show and be introduced to the public. Since one of the qualifications is that they have NO PRIOR PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE, this show was their first ever. Think about it…. do you recall being on stage for the first time? I do and I FROZE. The Freshie B&G's didn't. The public got to see what the 2006 edition of Freshie talent looked like. By the end of the show there were only 10 boys and 10 girls remaining.
The following week one boy and one girl were eliminated as was to happen each week until there were THE FINAL 14…. Seven boys and seven girls. The training and practice continued as each week the Freshies were learning new things to perform on the upcoming TV show. In the process they made public appearances and were put to work performing and promoting I-Mobile phones at the Sorya Shopping Center. The gleam in some of the little Freshie's eyes started to dim as the six days of training, TV shows and appearances would take its toll on their energy. But... that is what becoming a Freshie is all about… learning how to be a professional performer…. Learning how to be ready and produce. It wasn't all work and not play as the little Freshies visited the National Museum and Angkor Wat having a good time and learning more about their culture. After four years now five of training the contestants teachers from the Ministry of Culture are aware of the most difficult adjustments a Freshie has to make. Ministry teacher Mr. Thong Dara said of the contests four years of television exposure, "Now all the contestants know about Fleshie Now they have more interest and are more prepared to show their talent." He also noted that this year talent is the most lacking quality in the entrants. He added, "Some are good looking but their personality is not so high." The ministry's Ms. Cinareth Mem pays attention to if they are knowledgeable, respectful and study the contest rules. "Some are lazy," she said. She also notices how they train and get along. She pointed that over the years the entrant's hairstyle and dress have improved. SO WHO WILL WERE THE CROWN? Watch the show on TV 3 Saturday night @ 7:30pm Philanthropist TOSHU FUKAMI PERFORMS Philanthropist TOSHU FUKAMI is known for many things, establishing Phnom Penh's Sihanouk Hospital, building schools, supporting orphanages included. But… did you know that is he also a musician and actor? Fukami will display his creative talents by performing at Angkor Wat this Monday evening January 23rd at 6:30pm. He will play the antagonist in the Noh play (Japanese theater from an ancient time). Admission is FREE…. BUT by invitation only that can be obtained by calling in Cambodia 023-993-274 & 012-483-508. COMING: Who Is Toshu Fukami? US EMBASSY MOVED The US Embassy has moved to a new location opposite Wat Phnom and the Sunway Hotel. New telephone number: NEW Tel: 023-728-000 CAMBODIA INTERNET WOES SOLVED? Some of Cambodia's problems are being solved. One major obstacle is the cost and quality of Internet access. In 1999 it cost $10 an hour to access the Internet. It took me 12 minutes JUST TO CONNECT to my email account. After seeing what the mail was I closed it immediately without answering thus $2.50 for NOTHING. Internet cafes had to pay high prices to ISP's and it was passed on to consumers. The access price then started to come down to per $1 increments to were most shops in Phnom Penh are now charging 2000 riel per hour (50 cents US) Charges are higher in the provinces. For the most part the speed remains slow. When viewing the download meter you can see the download speeds range from zero to 4k per second although the computers are set up to download at 100k per second. WHY??? Good question. ISP's charge on the basis of the speed that a customer purchases. The lowest charge is if you buy from 64k then increasing to 128k, 256k etc. with a limit of total consumption. When someone receives a 2 Mg. photo they could have lunch in the time it would take to download. When the Internet traffic is heavy the speed is slower (i.e.) at the end of the day when school lets out and business are trying to answer their email. ISP customers are also charged based on the SIZE OF THE DOWNLOAD. The charges go on and on and on. You buy up to a limit. If you exceed that limit you are charged more The biggest problem is the ISP's do not furnish the customer ITEMIZED BILLS as they do in Thailand. . Some shop owners have changed their ISP when an explanation of the non-itemized charges are NOT EXPLAINED. The unhappy customers therefore go shopping for an ISP that can furnish them an accurate account of their usage. The problem has yet to be solved but perhaps there is a solution for the INCREDIBLY SLOW SPEED PROBLEM IN CAMBODIA. READ ON….. GIVE ME SOME SUGAR A number of years ago at a music business convention famed singer Marvin Gay's drop dead looking sister said to me in front of her friends "GIVE ME SOME SUGAR." Quite frankly I didn't know what she was talking about. I asked embarrassingly, "Sugar?" "Yes." She replied and her friends laughed. I felt uncomfortable, excused myself and walked away. I later found out who she was and what SUGAR meant….. KISSES. WOW!!! I wish I had known! That was then and this is now. Sugar in Asia means you pay more. The price of sugar jumped 70% since I last purchased it in Cambodia about two months ago. Why? I don't know. A baker said it went up at the first of the year. She said she didn't raise her price or change the quality of her product but reduced the size in order to compensate for the price hike. It reminds me when in the USA Romaine lettuce went up from 39 cents a head to 59 then 69 and then to $1.39. At that point a friend said, "You know what that means." "What" was the reply? "You don't eat lettuce." That is the name of the game in Thailand and Cambodia… the price for food is jumping leaps and bounds. In part it's because of the high gasoline prices, the demand for the upcoming Asian New Year and also greed. Bottom line… In Southeast Asia things aren't what they used to be. That's what I'm talking about! FRESHIE JUDGING The judging comes from three sources. THE PUBLIC The public accounts for 30% of the vote. They can vote via SMS messaging service only on the Samart system. One vote is permitted per call. Each vote costs the caller 10 cents. During the first week of voting Ky Hong called 50 times within three days. As a result he won an I Mobile cell-phone and one month free service.. NOTE: COMMENTS BY CALLERS During every televised Freshie show callers can SMS a comment on their Freshie contestant of choice. Comments are not counted as a vote. Some of those comments are telecast during the telecast and scrolled down across the TV screen. Each comment call cost five cents. Over 700 comments were SMS'd during the semifinals show last year. ORGANIZERS & TEACHERS Responsible people involved in the event such as the talent trainers and professors account for 35% of the vote. JUDGES Judges at the shows account for the other 35% of the result. Judges are comprised from the sponsors of the show and representatives in government.. NR Mail Regarding the above story Joel Warren of Beverly Hills, California; USA wrote: Upbeat positive stories about Cambodia are very helpful to its image, and they are providing opportunities for youths as well. On the other hand, it's another step toward westernization and homogenization of the culture, which is too bad. The girls are indeed beautiful. FOREIGNERS BAD INFLUENCE ON CAMBODIA FOREIGNER STEALS FROM KHMER - What Is Honesty & Integrity? When you think about the problems that Cambodia has you don't have to be a brain surgeon to understand they need good teachers and good influences. Some foreigners are dedicated to help Cambodians but some foreigners come to help themselves. In doing so some foreigners destroy any hope of building moral character in the country. One case in point is a long time English teacher at a major university in Phnom Penh moved to another location in the city (i.e.; a better neighborhood) with his Khmer girlfriend and newborn child. He took with him the Khmer landlords stove, rice cooker, fan, and a chair. He did leave the kitchen sink... it is bolted to the wall. The foreigner also didn't pay for utilities that were to be paid at the end of the month resulting in him leaving his telephone number. The end of the month came and there was no sign of the foreigner. The telephone number was out of service. The landlord hunted him down and was told by the foreigner that he would pay at the end of the following month. Questions: Is stealing a lesson that Cambodians need to learn? Is this the type of person that you would want to teach your children? Is this the type of person that you would invite into you home? What lessons and values will this foreigner teach his child? Stay tuned… FOREIGNERS NOISE POLLUTION SHOWS NO RESPECT When a foreigner visits a country they are that countries guests. The way some behave they act as if they own it. Case in point. A group of foreigners opened up a business in one of Phnom Penh's most upscale neighborhoods. In the block there is the Malta Embassy and nearby the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization. The business is in a courtyard cavernous like setting with homes surrounding it on four sides. The neighborhood is also the home of many families with school age children who need to study and go to school in order to better their impoverished lives. The neighborhood is also the home of heads of ministry and police. Prior to the business opening the only noise you could hear was the croaking of gecko's after 10pm when most of the neighborhood went to sleep. Recently the business with primarily NGO type customers was open on a Thursday evening past 1am with loud music and noisy clientele. The following evening the business outdid the previous nights annoyances when they had a party with loud pulsating music with drums booming that riveted the community's residents past 4am. The noise was deafening with the surrounding walls functioning like a megaphone or intensifying the volume like that of a tunnel. The following morning the bleary eyed residents were up in arms over the disturbance. It was the topic of conversation throughout the day. The school children were without sleep. The residents had to go to work in a tired state. The foreigners had their party and were happy. Daily the business played music without regard for their new neighbors. Questions. Why do foreigners with money and jobs come to a country and treat it as if it were there own and have NO REARGUARD for the residents? Why do they come into an area with a condescending attitude? Why cant's they respect the people who have lived in the area for years raising their families? Why can't they understand that school children need sleep and quiet so they can study? WHY CAN'T FOREIGN OWNED BUSINESS' RESPECT OTHERS? ISN'T SLEEP DEPRIVATION USED AS A TORTURE IN WAR? Stay tuned... More on this story in our January 2006 edition. © Copyright: National Radio. Any use of these materials, whole or in part, is prohibited unless authorized in writing by National Radio. Contact: nationalradio@yahoo.com
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