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Amazing-Race-15 / Chasing Racers / Amazing Race / Television Travel / TV Travel / → All Tags

Sean Penn Cambodia Here We Come

Click Here for Amazing Race 15 Map

Chasing Racers is back, with a brand-new Amazing Race 15 mashup. This map will update the morning after every new episode. Send along tips, rumors, gossip, locations and spoilers to our map editors; become a member and comment on the stories below and add to the Jaunted-Flickr photo pool to get in on the fray.

Remember to zoom in, out and around on the map—with so much happening in each episode, it's easy to miss a map point.

In the last episode of The Amazing Race, it was all about fathers, as senior Marcy got emotional being in Ho Chi Minh City, where her Air Force general dad was shot, and Globetrotter Big Easy revealed that his pops died two days before the race. He made good progress on his promise to win it all for his dad by coming in first that leg. The victory brought the towering buddies so close, Flight Time says, that he launders Big Easy's socks and undies—that's either really sweet or utterly gross. But we had to say farewell to the seniors. Nine teams remain. Will the poker pals get out of their slump? Will Lance make good on his threat to wrestle Phil at the pit stop?

Find out after the jump.

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Fall Festivals / Festivals / Boats / → All Tags

Cambodians Love Their Festivals, Especially This One

Yesterday, Cambodians rushed to the country’s capital, Phnom Penh, for the annual Water and Moon Festival, which starts today and lasts all week. Officials estimate that about four million Cambodians attend the event each year--in a country with a total population of about 14 million. That'd be like 100 million Americans showing up to watch the ball drop in Times Square next month.

The event isn’t a big deal, it is the deal, an annual Olympics of sorts where family members and neighbors compete in crew-style rowing competitions along the city’s Tonle Sap river.

In addition to the races, the festival features Cambodian carnival food: Replace candy apples with fried bananas and corn dogs with dried fish patties. It also offers spins on a Ferris wheel that rivals any rickety, life-threatening rides found in the county fairs of rural United States.

To escape the battle for chair space along the boardwalk, nightly fireworks are visible from the expat-stuffed Foreign Correspondents' Club. The traffic, the crowds, the sometimes-capsizing boats and the infectious good cheer among the Cambodian people make this one of the most overwhelming and stunning cultural experiences in Southeast Asia. We'll see you there.

Related Stories:
· Biggest Water Festival To Date Expected This Week [Phnom Penh Post]
· Embedded Travel Guide: Cambodia [Jaunted]

[Photo: calcpimp]

Communist Travel / North Korea Travel / Restaurants / → All Tags

Dictatorship Travel: Eating Like Kim Jong Il

After North Korea agreed to turn off its biggest nuclear reactor last week, it officially fell off the United States' list of countries that sponsor terrorism. So we figured, why not indulge in some Communist cuisine to celebrate?

In Cambodia, along with about 200 other countries, state sanctioned and supported North Korean restaurants serve as unofficial embassies of the country's creepy culture.

Turns out Pyongyang Restaurant in Phnom Penh is a microcosm of North Korea's Arirang Festival, in which tens of thousands of children create moving mosaics at Pyongyang's May Day Stadium.

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Embedded Travel Guides / Cambodia Travel Guide / Street Food / → All Tags

Embedded Travel Guide Cambodia: Eating Phnom Penh

Hungry? Don't let the photo of deep-fried spiders fool you. Although you can find some weird-ass munchies in Cambodia, the street food here is right up there with the best in the world.

Although you can find delicious bites throughout the country, the capital of Cambodian street food also happens to be the capital of the country. Phnom Penh is foodie paradise, and you don't even need to go into a restaurant to enjoy a delicious meal.

Best of all, a few ragged dollar bills is all it takes to eat like a prince in Phnom Penh. Here's a rundown of street food favorites.

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Southeast Asia Field Trip / Southeast Asia Travel / Jail Tours / → All Tags

SEA Field Trip: Finding the Khmer Rouge

Can't afford a European vacation this summer? Do what our contributor Claire Duffett did: Explore Southeast Asia instead.

After travels through Thailand and Vietnam, we visited Cambodia. Though all three countries can claim their share of strife, Cambodia is still reeling from its trauma. The country struggles to recover from the 1970s genocide of millions of its citizens.

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Architecture / Buildings / Asia Travel / Videos / → All Tags

South Koreans Taking Phnom Penh Vertical

Though Cambodia's capital is known more for its wats and colonial architecture, work has started on three new mega-projects that will--their South Korean developers no doubt hope--transform the city. The latest is the International Finance Complex, a 52-story, multi-tower development that should be completed by 2012.

Also underway is Gold Tower 42, an accurately named skyscraper on Norodom Boulevard. It's also slated to be finished by 2012.

Meanwhile, a new suburb is being built from scratch three kilometers from downtown. Camko City, above, promises tree-lined canals, swimming pools, residential towers and leafy plazas. How long till "Desperate Housewives: Cambodia" comes out?

Related Stories:
· Cambodia Breaks Ground on its Highest Skyscraper [AFP, via Google]
· Cambodia to Get First Skyscraper [BBC]
· Cambodia Travel coverage [Jaunted]

5 Mistakes / Blogs / Travel Tips / Tourists / → All Tags

5 Mistakes Tourists Make in Phnom Penh

Australian blogger Phil Lees has whiled away his exile in Phnom Penh by taking the fight for Cambodian food online. Since 2005, he's been educating internerds on all things Cambodian and edible (some, questionably edible) over at Phnomenon.com. Since its launch, Phnomenon has managed to get banned in China, one-up the New York Times, publish the world's greatest collection of alcoholic beverage reviews, and in general build an excellent stash of advice for potential visitors. But a bad meal isn't all that can set your trip awry in Cambodia's capital. Here, Phnomenon saves you from five of the biggest mistakes tourists make in Phnom Penh.

· Don't (just) eat fish amok, eat Cambodian soups. Soups ("samlor") are central to Cambodian food. The lemongrass and galangal of samlor machou kroueng, the unripe tropical fruits in samlor karko, and the tamarind sour, Vietnamese-inspired samlor machou yuon should not be missed by any traveler. Sadly, most tourists skip the soups and tend to eat Chinese- or Thai-style stirfries and curries and thus overlook the dishes that tie together a brilliant Cambodian meal. Fish amok, while delicious, is not as fundamental to familiarising yourself with Khmer cuisine. It is still worth the effort to chase a good amok (I recommend Sweet Café on St.294); as is trying some multitude variations on fish preparation: steamed or deep-fried whole, fermented, dried, or barbecued.

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