Phnom Penh

Arrived today in Cambodia’s capital city where we booked a tour to watch traditional Khmer boxing called Kun Khmer for the evening. Our guide who took us there explained how their sport was lost during the genocide, as it was forbidden, even explaining that his uncle was killed by the regime accusing him of teaching it.

While the Thai counterpart Muay Thai gained traction worldwide in the 70s and 80s, the Cambodians are only recently now trying to excel their sport, and bring in more money for their fighters that are currently underpaid and with little to no equipment (unlike Thailand where fighters are well supported). Although he said Cambodia’s best fighter went to Thailand in 2022 to fight one of their best fighters, and won the fight, making him a big celebrity here whilst giving credibility to their sport. The arena is free to enter and is subsidised by the local beer company who sponsor it and we were even shown on Cambodian national TV which was pretty cool. Museums to see tomorrow.Read more