Trading fists for food, one round at a time.

As the reed flute begins its eerie wail, Khum Peseth and Prum Pheakdey engage in the ancient ritual of kun kru. Drums and a cymbal join the cacophony while the fighters dance around the ring, bowing in each corner on their hands and knees, praying to Lord Buddha and showing their respect for the judges, audience and fighters past. In the bleachers, men make bets and bookies shout advice to gamblers across the country via dozens of mobile phones fixed to plywood boards. Amidst the scaffolding beneath them, barefoot children hunt for bottles and cans. The bell rings and the fighters touch gloves. Round one begins.

The rise of the new capital is also providing a timely boost for its dilapidated predecessor.

At an astrologically auspicious time on November 6, 2005, Naypyidaw – Myanmar’s “domain of kings” – became the country’s new capital, replacing its largest city and former capital Yangon. As the military government trucked its first convoy of government workers up the highway to the dusty city-in-progress, outside observers were puzzled. The official explanation for the move was that British-built Yangon had become too congested; some, however, speculated that the move was designed as a defensive manoeuvre: to forestall a water-borne attack on Yangon, or avoid a popular uprising like that which nearly toppled the junta in 1988.

A financial speculator-cum-philanthropist has plans for the 'new' Myanmar.

Hedge funds and philanthropy may sound like strange bedfellows, but US investor George Soros, who made billions by speculating with other people’s money, is determined to marry the two.

One of the world’s richest men, worth in excess of $22 billion as of late last year according to Forbes, he has been funding pro-democracy initiatives, including his Open Society Foundations group, for the past two decades. Now, Soros ambitiously announced last month, he is turning his attention to Myanmar as it tries to banish the spectre of decades of military rule.

The rise and fall of a peculiar friendship.

To Marshall Kim Il Sung / I do honour / With all that’s in my heart / His Excellency / entertains me with brotherly kindness / his words are so inspiring / long live the marshall.’ These lyrics, penned by former king Norodom Sihanouk almost four decades ago, are testament to the extraordinary ties that once bound Cambodia and North Korea’s ‘Great Leader’ and ‘Eternal President’ Kim Il Sung.

Professional girlfriends and bar girls are creating new meanings of Khmer womanhood.

“Some girls make $60 a month; I spend $1,000 a month,” Trang proudly stated as she sipped from her chocolate Martini while relaxing in a Phnom Penh hostess bar. As if to emphasise the point, the sparkling diamond rings on her fingers were complemented by two diamond studs encrusted in her teeth.Trang, married to a British doctor, is considered a ‘success’ story – someone whom many other bar girls (a self-referential term) admire. This is not only because of her spending power and prestige, but also the financial and emotional support she provides to the younger, less experienced girls, whom she calls her “sisters”.

A new state-of-the-art hospital in Kampot will give the Kingdom’s fractured healthcare system a boost.

When Keo Charnay’s wife fell ill at the start of the year, the doctors in Cambodia’s southern town of Kampot were stumped.

Is Cambodia’s political environment encouraging a muted voter generation or are they happily disengaged?

Soung Sophorn speaks with the power and conviction of a seasoned politician, barking into the microphone and occasionally raising an accusatory finger at nobody in particular.