Cambodian Traditional Clothes You Should Try Once In Your Life While Traveling

Asian countries are lovely destinations to stop by, and Cambodia is not an exception as well. Cambodia private tours always attract travelers, especially those who love pagodas, and temples, along with stunning street food and colorful traditional costumes! Speaking of which, you cannot miss trying out traditional Cambodian costumes once you get here. Let’s follow our list to find out what will be your favorite outfits while traveling here!

Beautiful Traditional Dress In Cambodia

Krama

While hanging out on the lively streets of Cambodia, you will easily see the widespread appearance of krama – one of the most frequently seen traditional items in this country. Whether it is the countryside or the city, krama can be detected anywhere. The signature karma is a checked cloth that people often use as a scarf. There are more uses to this scarf, but Cambodian people mostly hang it around their necks for sun protection as an accessory as well.

In the countryside, farmers use kramas as a sarong, which they wrap around their feet to protect them from sharp objects from the ground or to carry small tools. Another use for kramas is that mothers use this scarf as a hammock for babies. It comes especially convenient when mothers want to wipe the baby’s drool, which appears all the time. If you want to experience a day of being extremely Cambodian, try on a krama of any size and quality, and utilize it the way you want!

Sampot Tep Apsara

Sampot is one of the most popular traditional costumes in the Philippines. Its popularity results in numerous variations available within the country, and the most fun-to-see version must be Sampot Tep Apsara. You can hardly see Sampot Tep Apsara on the streets nowadays, as Cambodian apsara dancers most often display it. This special Sampot provides dancers with more flexibility, so they prefer it to the original version.

To witness the beauty of Sampot Tep Apsara, you can visit apsara performances in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, an activity Cambodia private tours will always include! In this variant, the sampot is tied around the waist of the dancers with the help of a heavy golden belt. It is wrapped technically so that the pleats are in the center, allowing dancers to move easily.

Sampot

Sampot has always been the number one national costume in Cambodian culture. It is a five-to-six feet rectangular cloth, which is normally tied at the waist with plentiful colors and patterns. Due to the large size, this cloth can be draped and folded in various designs for the wearers’ purposes. And that is the reason why we have seen a lot of sampot-wearing variations on the streets. The main material of sampot is silk, dyed in 5 main colors: red, blue, black, yellow, and green. To make the sampot’s colors blend in uniquely for each one, the Khmer people have implemented the “hot” method, in which they dye the patterns on the silk before weaving.

The colors blend in beautifully, and that combination stays vibrant on the cloth from time to time due to this significant dying technique. Cambodians wear Chang Pong to cover the upper body with the Sampot. It is a shoulder-and-chest cross big cloth that reveals a bit of belly to show how charming a Khmer woman is. Many variations of Sampot can be found, each defining a different class or purpose. Suppose you want to try out a Sampot, easy! Cambodia private tours will cover you with trying out one of the traditional outfits for free, and that’s your chance to shine like a real Cambodian!

Av Pak

Av Pak is a special blouse typically worn by Khmer women on special occasions or when they have important events to attend. Made from plain-stamped cotton, each blouse will feature a unique hand-drawn pattern embroidered with gold and silk threads. The special point about Av Pak is that it has a high collar, which is often paired up with a spot for a more high-class, formal event dress-up.

Sampot Chang Kben

Although Sampot Chang Kben is another variant of Sampot, it is not a skirt anymore to expect, but a wide, rectangular pants. Measuring around 2.8m long and 1m wide, it is longer than the usual sampot. To wear a Sampot Chang Kben, you need to wrap it around the waist so that it covers the lower body and hold everything with a small belly knot and a sparkling belt.

In the past, not everyone could wear Sampot Chang Kben as this is specifically made for middle to upper-class females.
What differentiates this version is that it is made with more high-quality material, and it also features symbols indicating the wearer’s classes, such as flowers, flags, graphics, etc. In modern times, Cambodians wear it when they attend weddings, events, or special occasions in their lives. Women usually save up this outfit for extremely important events because the overall outfit is quite fancy with complicated details while wearing.

Conclusion

And that’s all traditional Cambodian costumes you can find while traveling in this phenomenal country. Cambodia private tours are nothing if they don’t offer you the chance to wear and experience the lifelong Cambodian culture by trying out these outfits. Wear a Sampot and visit Cambodia streets to eat, for example, and you will realize how pretty these traditional costumes can be. Not to mention the fact that the locals can misrecognize you as one of them!

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