Any reports from Cambodia?
 

I'm just wandering what's going on there. Can anyone give a first (or second) hand account? Any trouble in Siem Reap?

I was in Siem Reap this month. No trouble there. In fact, many new tourist hotels are being built. The Cambodians are hoping for tourist dollars so Siem Reap is very peaceful. According to the article in NY Times Travel section this past Sunday, the non-tourist Cambodia is probably not a good or very safe place to travel.

The poster is referring to a report of riots in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh a few hours ago. According to press reports, 20 protesters were arrested for torching the Thai embassy and several Thai businesses including a mobile phone company and several hotels. The incident was inspired by a Thai actress who allegedly said that Cambodia should return the Angkor Wat temples to Thailand. There have been no reports of trouble in Siem Reap.

The problems in Cambodia, the anti-Thai rioting, is and was caused by political infighting in Cambodia. Big election coming up in July for Cambodia and some body want to stir up trouble.<BR><BR>There were no serious casualties because most of Thais in Cambodia pretended to be from other Asian countries and manage to get out. Most of them gave accounts that if their true identity was found out they would have been beaten to death. The Thai airforce sent over several transport plane to evacuate Thai citizens and a few western tourist came out with them because they feared their own safety. <BR><BR>For the western tourist it should be safe but you might find it a bit hard getting there. Thailand has for now close the border and has cancell all Thai flights to and from Cambodia.<BR><BR>

Hi from Siem Reap! Everything is fine here. We heard about the problem from our guide, they want peace and stability here so the tourists continue to come. We feel very safe and Bangkok Air said their flights are returning to normal as of tomorrow.

I, too, was in Siem Riep this past month, 1/8/-1/10-and there were no problems then-but was quite interested to read about the riots in Phnom Penh, allegedly based on the comments by a Thai actress as Craig said. Acc. to the Washington Post-historically, Cambodia has a rather insecure relationship with their much larger neighbor Thailand, and those comments by the Thai actress fed into that insecurity-plus, as Mr. Hanuman pointed out, the elections are coming up-and Cambodia is still inexperienced in the whole democratic process-to say the least-so it isn't surprising that certain elements want to stir up trouble against the Thai foreigners-who they perceive are the cause of their problems.<BR> Glad Anna K reported that everything was o.k. in Siem Riep, and that Bangkok Airways will be reinstituting service soon. Does Mr. Hanuman know whether Thailand has opened the borders yet with Cambodia?

I heard that the Cambodian government apologized to the Thais and everything is ok now.

The land boarders were opened today to Cambodians and Thais. They were never closed to tourist who were going in or comming out. All flights have now been resumed between Bangkok and Phnom Penh. The flights to Siem Reap in the most part were never affected. If you were planning to stay at the Royal Phnom Penh hotel in Phnom Penh forget it as it was completly destroyed. Also the Juliana and Regent Parh were damaged and will be closed until further notice.

I see. thanks for the info, Peep and Scotters. Apparently tourists were not affected, as I was wondering how closing the borders would affect those going to and from Thailand/Cambodia. Let's hope that Thai actress has learned her lesson!

The Actress in question never did make such a statement and the owner of the Cambodian newspaper that first published the story is now in jail(for printing lies.<BR><BR>In my opinion Thai Royalties and senior government officials acted very well and stop the tension from escalating inside Thailand.

Really? That IS an interesting tidbit, Hanuman! I thought that was an intersting story in itself-but it DID sound sort of manufactured-I mean-why would a Thai actress say such a thing? This is why I like to chat on this forum-I probably would have continued to believe that story, without hearing anything more of it. Obviously, the newspaper editor had a particular political agenda in mind when he printed that- for which he is now paying dearly!<BR>Thanks, Hanuman! (I guess you're not the monkey god for nothing!)