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President Obama's historic first tour of Southeast Asia ended with a questionably disrespectful exchange between
the president and Cambodia's first lady, Bun Rany.
Unlike the president's constructive visit to Myanmar, where he met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and
praised the country's progress, Obama had made it clear he was only in Cambodia to attend the summit.
The president went straight from the airport to a meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen that White House officials
described as tense, with Obama emphasizing his concerns over the Cambodian leader's poor democratic leadership
model and the country's worsening human rights abuses.
<a href="http://s1267.beta.photobucket.com/user/365Wildfire/library/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/yhn.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>
Just before dinner, all appeared to be well as Sen formally introduced his wife, Cambodia's First Lady Bun Rany, to
the president.
Rany greeted Obama with the traditional ‘sampeah’ greeting -- a pressed-hands gesture that shows respect for a
person. Where a person's hands are placed and how deeply they bow during the gesture indicates their level of
respect for the person they are greeting.
Rany placed her hands at chest level and tilted the upper half of her body slightly, leading the editorial board at
Investor's Business Daily to believe that she was showing disrespect to the president.
''First lady Bun Rany greeted Obama with a traditional "sampeah" pressed-hands greeting reserved for servants, a
little dig that was probably lost on him but not to Asians,' the editorial board wrote.
The higher the hands are placed and the deeper the bow, the more respect a greeting conveys.
A sampeah at mouth level is reserved for bosses, elders or higher-ranking people. For parents, grandparents or
teachers, a sampeah is typically raised to nose level and when saluting the king or monks, the sampeah is raised
to eyebrow level.
The highest level for a sampeah is the forehead, which is reserved for God or sacred statues.
According to Investor's Business Daily and a few bloggers, however, Rany's sampeah was only fit for a servant.
Hmmm ..... Was the first lady getting her own back over the president's harsh words earlier to her husband or did she
simply forget that she was shaking hands with the leader of the free world?
the president and Cambodia's first lady, Bun Rany.
Unlike the president's constructive visit to Myanmar, where he met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and
praised the country's progress, Obama had made it clear he was only in Cambodia to attend the summit.
The president went straight from the airport to a meeting with Prime Minister Hun Sen that White House officials
described as tense, with Obama emphasizing his concerns over the Cambodian leader's poor democratic leadership
model and the country's worsening human rights abuses.
<a href="http://s1267.beta.photobucket.com/user/365Wildfire/library/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/yhn.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"/></a>
Just before dinner, all appeared to be well as Sen formally introduced his wife, Cambodia's First Lady Bun Rany, to
the president.
Rany greeted Obama with the traditional ‘sampeah’ greeting -- a pressed-hands gesture that shows respect for a
person. Where a person's hands are placed and how deeply they bow during the gesture indicates their level of
respect for the person they are greeting.
Rany placed her hands at chest level and tilted the upper half of her body slightly, leading the editorial board at
Investor's Business Daily to believe that she was showing disrespect to the president.
''First lady Bun Rany greeted Obama with a traditional "sampeah" pressed-hands greeting reserved for servants, a
little dig that was probably lost on him but not to Asians,' the editorial board wrote.
The higher the hands are placed and the deeper the bow, the more respect a greeting conveys.
A sampeah at mouth level is reserved for bosses, elders or higher-ranking people. For parents, grandparents or
teachers, a sampeah is typically raised to nose level and when saluting the king or monks, the sampeah is raised
to eyebrow level.
The highest level for a sampeah is the forehead, which is reserved for God or sacred statues.
According to Investor's Business Daily and a few bloggers, however, Rany's sampeah was only fit for a servant.
Hmmm ..... Was the first lady getting her own back over the president's harsh words earlier to her husband or did she
simply forget that she was shaking hands with the leader of the free world?
we are both ok type of samsters. more friends than enemies. so far im quite lucky never kena vulgarities when kena zap.
