2. Cambodia is a member of the United Nations and its specialized agencies such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. It is an Asian Development Bank (ADB) member, a member of ASEAN, and joined the WTO on 13 October 2004. In 2005 Cambodia attended the inaugural East Asia Summit.
Following a return to political normality, Cambodia has established diplomatic relations with numerous countries; the government reports twenty embassies in the country[16] including many of its Asian neighbours and those of important players during the Paris peace negotiations, including the US, Australia, Canada, China, the European Union (EU), Japan, and Russia.[17]
While the violent ruptures of the 1970s and 80s have passed, several border disputes between Cambodia and its neighbours persist. There are disagreements over some offshore islands and sections of the boundary with Vietnam, and undefined maritime boundaries and border areas with Thailand.
In January 2003, there were riots in Phnom Penh prompted by rumored comments about Angkor Wat by a Thai actress wrongly attributed by Reaksmei Angkor, a Cambodian newspaper, and later quoted by Prime Minister Hun Sen.[18] The Thai government sent military aircraft to evacuate Thai nationals and closed its border with Cambodia while Thais demonstrated outside the Cambodian embassy in Bangkok. The border was re-opened on March 21, after the Cambodian government paid $6 million USD in compensation for the destruction of the Thai embassy and agreed to compensate individual Thai businesses for their losses.
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"If you were looking for something clever or witty or funny here, you've come to the wrong place."
Brandon's right, Cambodia is fine for western travellers, ditto Laos, where they are heading next.
Tess, it's not FUN watching adventures on the other side of the planet, but I'm grateful for things like email and YouTube to keep me in touch with them. It seems to be a rite of passage for young people these days, like the old back-packing through Europe was in my day. There are so many western kids in SE Asia now. Most of them take off for a year after finishing school, or as in Nick's case, part way through geraduate school. I'd much rather they not go so far away, but what can I do?
As Mike said to me when we dropped him at the airport last month,"Mom, it's only Europe". Gah.
Here's another video of a little girl in Cambodia. Nick and Laura were impressed by how well they speak English and their educations. That's Nick asking the questions and Laura's voice remarking.
They didn't eat very well in Australia because food was really expensive. He said that in Thailand they could get a wonderful meal for $5 that would have been $40 in Oz. Nick ate mostly Thai food, Laura, Indian. So far, no reports of weird food.
But when Mike spent a week in the Ecuadorian jungle, he ate bugs - grubs and things. He and Cris, the poet guy part of the jazz trio, hired a jungle guide and took off into the wilds with nothing but axes. Nick isn't that adventerous, and besides, he has Laura with him, thank goodness!
