# Cambodian Overview **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 6, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cambodian-overview/462283 "2008-09-06T03:12:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cambodian-overview/462283/41 "2009-07-11T00:58:19Z")
Tourist numbers ma be down in Thailand, due to the global recession and our political violence, but [Cambodia is benefiting from the situation](http://www.eturbonews.com/10260/more-flexibility-tourists-cambodia-and-vietnam). Vietnam, too. Well worth a visit. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cambodian-overview/462283/42 "2009-07-18T00:27:32Z")
[Cambodia tries to tame traffic chaos](http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090717/lf_afp/cambodiatransporttraffichealth_20090717052301) Good luck! I’m not sure I’ve seen a traffic light in Phnom Penh. Whenever we were being driven around and would pass through any intersection, all of the vehicles seemed to do this little evasive dance around each other without slowing down a bit. No vehicles from any direction would ever stop. But there must be a traffic light somewhere, because I once read that Thimbu, Bhutan was the only capital city in the world without a traffic light. Until it finally installed one, that is. Other stuff: [Harshest crackdown in years, says Human Rights Watch](http://www.ifex.org/cambodia/2009/07/16/government_harassment_campaign/) [Jail sentence for Angkor Wat critic](http://www.radioaustralianews.net.au/stories/200907/2627584.htm?desktop) (Given 2 years in prison for suggesting the new lighting installed at the site could damage it. Luckily, he’s in France now and certainly does not plan to return anytime soon.) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cambodian-overview/462283/43 "2009-07-29T03:46:00Z")
[HIV families relocated to Cambodia’s “AIDS colony”](http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/28/cambodia.hiv/index.html)☹ ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cambodian-overview/462283/44 "2009-08-15T02:40:59Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > **Sam** , thanks for this thread. > > My school does a thing every year where we pick a developing nation, study it for a semester (getting into the class is really competitive) and then, during spring break, go there. Right now we’re in the middle of the process of picking a country for next year, and I nominated Cambodia. We’ve been doing an online vote for the last few days, and I just found out that Cambodia is one of the three semifinalists! I have to make a presentation on Wednesday about all the reasons we should go there and your links are SUPER helpful. You may help me get to Cambodia next year! (I figure that if the country I nominated gets selected, there’s an _awfully_ good chance I’ll get into the program.) > > If people who’ve been there want to chip in ideas, go ahead. Keep in mind we are public policy students learning about economic development, so…“I want to go to Angkor Wat” is not really a valid reason. So how did that go anyway? Did Cambodia get selected? Here’s one more: [A Land Up for Sale](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8144130.stm). ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cambodian-overview/462283/45 "2009-08-17T04:11:12Z")
Sam, have you heard of Rafa House? They rescue(negotiate or buy) girls in Cambodia from sex/labor slavery and work to rehabilitate them, teach them a skill, and do their best to return them to their life. They are religious, they are Christian and evangelize while helping, but they really do help. I believe they have 80% success in helping the girls not return to drugs and prostitution, a common career for former sex slaves. Have you heard of them? What have you heard? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cambodian-overview/462283/46 "2009-08-17T04:15:51Z")
No, I’ve not heard of Rafa House. I’m not in Cambodia all that much myself, so that’s not surprising. That’s good if they can help, the situation in Cambodia is not good, but I am completely against any evangelizing whatsoever. There are other agencies that don’t stoop to that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cambodian-overview/462283/47 "2009-08-17T04:17:49Z")
By the way, this is Rapha House’s website: [Rapha House](http://www.freedomforgirls.com/) It’s “rapha”, by the way. My bad. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cambodian-overview/462283.md?page=2)