Border Treaty with Vietnam Poses Dilemma for new King

This CNN report explains why the new King Norodom Sihamoni is caught between a rock and an hard place.

So to sign the treaty would draw his father's [Norodom Sihanouk] disapproval; but to not sign it would earn the enmity of [prime minister] Hun Sen, who has made it patently clear that he feels that an uncooperative monarchy is an expendable institution.

One political observer has likened Sihamoni's predicament "to a Cambodian adage about a person having to choose between getting in a river infested with crocodiles and climbing up onto the shore roamed by tigers".

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Reason to Celebrate

Nathaniel Myers tells a charming yarn for the International Herald Tribune involving the Cambodia versus Singapore football match played at the dilapidated 1960s Olympic Stadium in Phnom Penh.

The report is a real gem.

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At Last, Momentum is Building

Support for the antipedophile campaign is increasing, reports Nick Cumming-Bruce for the International Herald Tribune.

A fight by Cambodian and Western law enforcement agencies, nongovernment organizations and some private businesses against the child sex trade is starting to gain momentum.

Thank goodness. And not a minute too soon.

As Nick denotes in his report:

Of 663 people rescued from Cambodian brothels by law enforcement agencies last year, nearly 40 percent were under the age of 15; the youngest was 6.

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Milestone for Siem Reap Airways International

Today marks the start of a Hong Kong-Siem Reap route in the fleet’s latest 162-seat Airbus A320 aircraft. Travel time is expected to be a mere two hours and thirty minutes on this non-stop flight service.

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Backpacker killer caught

An Englishman, and Australian and a Frenchman board a train ...

Before political correctness took hold, some jokes might start with a set-up involving three nationalities. However in 1994, this circumstance was far from a laughing matter.

This mix of three tourists, along with 13 Cambodians, were killed when ransom negotiations with the government failed.

A decade later, their Khmer Rouge killer has been brought to justice.

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Memories for Sale

The International Herald Tribune, which we have previously named here as a favoured point of reference, today offers a scathing piece on the wholesale mentality sweeping the nation.

Cambodia has become a self-devouring nation in which just about everything seems to be for sale or lease: forests, fisheries, mining concessions, air routes, ship registrations, toxic dumps, weapons, women, girls, boys, babies

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The Power of Tourism

Here is a telling quote from the People's Daily:

Currently, tourism is ranked one of the world's most booming and vibrant industries, and it has drawn attention from all countries. In the meantime, noted experts, since the most tourists prefer visiting historic sites and cultural relics while learning about the local conventions and traditions, tourism will help spread the culture of different countries in a more direct manner than via political exchanges and economic activities.

This article also holds news involving Ouk Keo Rattanak, vice governor of Cambodia's Siem Reap Province, who says stronger links between ASEAN nations will be mutually beneficial.

The province signed a tourism cooperation agreement with southwest China's Yunnan Province last year, and a group of Chinese specialists went there to help develop tourism resources.

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One Tourist's Journal

If you are fluent in Norwegian, then perhaps this site will be of interest to you. It details one a trip this year through Phnom Penh, Kampong Cham, Kompong Thom, Siem Reap, Angkor Wat, Battambang, Kampot and Sihanoukville.

For those unfamiliar with the languages, there are also plenty of pictures and links through to English sites.

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Aussie tax dollars put to good work

ABC Radio Australia reports that Australian parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs, Bruce Billson, will be meeting with officials and visiting Australian-funded activities that help to clear Cambodia of landmines and unexploded bombs.

Australia has pledged $US56 million over the next five years to tackle the horrific effects of anti-personnel mines and the explosive remnants of war.

Having come face to face with limbless beggars along Siem Reap’s main street, as an Australian I am glad that our government can show compassion throughout Asia and the world.

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First Rockers? Surely not!

This piece claims the Danish pop-rock group, Michael Learns to Rock, will be the first foreign band ever to play a rock concert in Cambodia.

That seems an odd claim. Surely they can’t be the very first?

And is Michael Learns to Rock famous? I’ve never heard of them.

Delta quest

There is a delicate sadness hanging over Cambodia that tugs at the heart.

So says Roy Masters in this piece for a piece appearing at stuff.co.nz

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Tide turns on festival's lure

Where many travel brochures will claim the annual water festival in November is an ideal time to visit, the former managing editor of the Phnom Penh Post Richard Woodd offers this cautionary tale.

The tourism industry is using this event to attract overseas visitors; it might sound appealing in the marketing, but don't be fooled because this is not the real Cambodia.

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Green field future

Guy De Launey for BBC News reports that Cambodia may turn to organic farming to fill a void in its economy should the future of the garment sector remain uncertain.

[Cambodia is] one of the least diversified economies in the world. Garment production brings in 80% of its foreign earnings, and most of the rest comes from tourism.

Meanwhile one senior minister (His Excellency Mr Veng Sereyvuth) is quoted as denoting a 50% increase this year in the number of tourists arriving at Cambodia.

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FCC "hip" tip

Rachel Askham, travel writer for The Seoul Times, lists FCC Angkor in Siem Reap as one from "a whole new breed of hip hotels waiting for you to discover". She also gives it a considerable extra push here. Perhaps if she had been scanning these blogs she might have discovered it a bit earlier.

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Four reports, but still they wait

Environmental watchdog Global Witness (previously mentioned here) is back in the news with its concerns about logging in Cambodia. This time, it accuses the World Bank of condoning illegal forest dealings.

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Takes a lickin', and still keeps tickin'

Head monk's face helps keep clock-watching commuters safe in traffic.

His image, along with an ancient Yon (a protective Pali language spell), have been added to more than 3000 of the timepieces - a popular charm since a few students wearing similar watches were subsequently involved in a bus crash from which they were the only survivors.

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Mixed messages

Two news reports today give mixed messages as to the level of U.S. concern for developing defenses against avian influenza.

The Environmental News Service carries this item explaining that U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt has signed multi-million dollar agreements with Cambodia and Laos to help bolster their programs for detecting and responding to outbreaks.

Is this an effort to contain the influenza contained at its points of outbreak?

I'm tempted to think so, when also reading this piece from the Chicago Sun-Times. It doesn't say "don't go" -- but instead urges U.S. citizens to "avoid contact".

Call me a cynic, but to me the latter looks much like the former. In other words: "we'll help you keep it away from us".

Frank admission about gun smuggling

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen makes a shocking revelation that weapons had been smuggled from the country to many terrorists including the "rebel [Tamil] group in Sri Lanka".

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Stone

Copyright Tan and Trev 2005