Pailin Culture Program

Pailin Hightlights:

• History
• Points of Interest
• Phnom Sam Peo
• Phnom Yat
• Bar Taing Su
• Foods
• Costume/Clothing 
• Traditional House
• Economy

We have one big tent to present varieties of Pailin’s culture such as cuisine, dress, picture of temple architecture, festivals and arts in that tent.

Exhibition

We’ll display things relates to Pailin such as books, Pailin tourist’s brochures, precious gem stones, costumes, colorful umbrellas, textiles (sarong etc.,), typical flowers and a Cambodian book, Kolab Pailin.

Facts About Pailin

History
Pailin is originally a small forest zone which fulled of animal and several precious stones.  The people of Pailin are predominantly Kola. The Kola people originally migrated from Burma beginning in 1876. In the late 1970s, Pailin was a prosperous town stemming from the extensive gem deposits in the surrounding countryside.  A new wave of tourism began found depend on its ancient temple, natural forest, animals and especially the precious stones. 

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Points of Interest
Pailin is located 68 Kilometers west of the Capital City of Battambag. It is used to be part of Battambang province, but recently the Cambodian Government rezoned the area and make it one of the provinces of Cambodia. In the old days, Pailin was famous for gem stone mining. It is one of the best in Southeast Asia. It was just about a decade ago, the gem stone mine was depleted. Nowadays, Pailin looks more plain (see picture below) than when it was covered by deep jungle that housed many wild animals. (right: Pailin Provincial Center)
 

The road to Pailin is very difficult as of summer 2009, but it will change soon. The road and bridges are being built and is expected to be complete before the monsoon season of 2009. It will take about one hour or little longer to get there from Battambang when the road is completed.

There is one famous place worth visiting if you are in the area. And that is Phnom Sampeo 
where famous song writer Pov Sipho wrote many love songs. 

There are a couple of other interesting place right in the city of Pailin, one of which is Phnom Yat (picture shows entrance stairway to the top of the mountain). Tourist now can drive up to top without having to use this stairway.

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	Above: Statute of Preah Ko & Preah Keo, characters of a Cambodian legendary and compatriotic drama story. This place is the historic place in this drama. Left: Statute of Grandma Yat, believed to be the founder and care taker of Phnom Yat Temple. People went up there to pray for prosperity and good health.

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Bar Taing Su is another famous place. Many songs were written about this places. It is about 3 kilometers north of Pailin City. This place is one of the gem stone mining areas. The bridge you see in the picture below used to be a famous hanging bridge.

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Food
We will display some Kola's food and some colorful veggies/fruits etc.

In Pailin, there are a few different kinds of foods. Kola's food is distinct from Burma's Cuisine as well. The most popular Burmese style one is Mee Kola which is a vegetarian noodle dish made from thin rice stick noodles, steamed and cooked with soy sauce and garlic chive, sometimes mixed with some meats and small lobster. Other dishes include Tom yum from Thailand and Mon banana pudding of Burma.

Costumes
• we will showcase varieties of traditional costumes of a rich Kola rich lady and princess.
• We will create easy show for CCD to present on stage then come down to into the tent.
• We ask the CAHI’s – the Peacock dancers to participate with us when they finish presenting on stage.
• Will set up a cube/place for audiences; dress them up as Kola’s people for picture with us. 

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The Traditional clothes of Pailin is Longyi, also known as Sarong.   Kola men wear ankle-length patterns of checks, plaids or stripes “Longyi” in any kinds of color. The Men always wear their white eingyi shirt which has a mandarin collar and sometimes also wear a traditional jacket called teik -pon over their eingy. It has white, grey, black or terracotta colors. They put the Gaung Paung turban on their head and on their feet wear simple rubber or velvet slippers.
For Kola women’s calf-length longyi are in solid colors, flower prints and many kinds of designs. They soften have a red based color, with partial stripes or very small checks similar to what Mon wear. They also often have horizontal or vertical stripes at the middle part. Royalty traditionally wore a long dress called “thin-dai” decorated by many threads. It was always worn by a lord's daughter and the king of the province's lady.
The Women wears a beautiful blouse and a lovely shirt which know as eingyi. The shirt is decorated with several colors and many piece of silver. The shirt also has horizontal or vertical stripes at the middle part in some beauty color. Kola women tie a traditional shawl on their eingyi as well as they put the shawl on their shoulders. Women tie a lovely band on their head and wear beautiful flowers in their hair, allowing their hair to drop as a ponytail above their shoulders. They sometimes took a traditional umbrella made from baboom with them. The footwear is simple slippers of leather or velvet called Hnyat-phanat.  All of these costumes were shiny with bright colors during celebrations. The clothing is very similar to what is worn by the Shan in Burma.

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Traditional House
We have large posters of Pailin village with some mountains/beautiful flowers Model of Pailin House in Khmer Culture Village similar to this house below in our tent.

Model of Pailin House in Khmer Culture Village, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The houses in Pailin are built from wood, about 8 cm to 1 meter includes a wide door and in the middle of house, there are the hermitages of Buddha and another spirit house. The Kola People are fond of planting roses in front of their homes.

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Economy
The surrounding area in the past was rich in a variety of gemstones which were mined almost clean to support the Khmer Rouge. They also logged the area extensively, creating great environmental damage. Unlike most of Cambodia, Pailin is composed primarily of uplands where little rice is grown.  Many farmers produce non-traditional crops for the markets, including sesame, mung and soya. In 2003-04 it produced 17,204 tons of maize, the second-highest production in the country.

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