Children as tourist attractions

Tuk-tuk on Phnom Penh riverfront. Orphanages and other tourist attractions.

I have been railing online against orphanage tourism in Cambodia for almost a decade, particularly back in the mid/late-2000s when the orphanage tourism game was taking off big-time. In 2010 I posted a compilation of some of my early arguments on this blog under the post 'The Pity Industry.'

In 2011 UNICEF released a report showing a radical increase in the number of orphanages in Cambodia over the last decade and that most of the so-called 'orphans' in fact still had at least one living parent - the implication being that Cambodian orphanages had become an exploitative moneymaking business driven by foreign tourism and 'charity.' This prompted the Cambodian government to begin investigating orphanages here. Shortly thereafter the NGO Friends-International/ChildSafe launched its brilliant 'Children are not tourist attractions' campaign, which I wholeheartedly endorse. In my casual observation the word is getting out and the orphanage tourism business does seem to be leveling off, if not suffering a bit for these efforts.

Yet some people still don't get it, including some who should know better.

Two weeks ago an article appeared in Forbes online: 'Cambodia's Booming New Industry: Orphanage Tourism.' Leaving aside that the industry is not new and probably not as booming as it was, this article completely misunderstands the problem of orphanage tourism.

It casts the problem of orphanage tourism as one of holiday planning for the tourist:

"The problem is finding (an orphanage) that isn’t a scam."

Wrong. Dead wrong. The problem is not "finding an orphanage that is not a scam." The problem is orphanage tourism.

The article draws its version of the orphanage tourism problem from its formulation of the tourist's holiday dilemma:

"It’s the end of your three week vacation in Southeast Asia. You did good. You managed to hit all the locations on the backpacker’s circuit; lounging on the tropical Islands off the Thai Peninsula, experiencing the street food of Bangkok, exploring the temples of Siem Reap, and shopping on the floating markets of the Mekong River. Now, with just a few days left before your flight home, you’d like to do something selfless, something worthwhile. You decide to volunteer in one of Cambodia’s orphanages."

Herein lay the misunderstanding, (if it can be labeled a 'misunderstanding.) Cambodian orphanages and 'orphans,' i.e. children, are categorized in with street food, beaches and shopping. On this description, orphans - like gems shops and temple tours - are tourist attractions. Most travelers have heard of Thai gem scams and overpriced tuktuks and ways to avoid these scams. Similarly, for tourists the problem with orphanages becomes finding one that isn't a scam. And bizarrely, the article actually cites the 'Children are not tourist attractions' website as a guide to how to identify a ‘non-scam’ orphanage where the tourist can treat children as tourist attractions.

So let's try to be really really clear here for those who somehow missed the meaning of the name of the campaign and pretty much every bit of advice it gives. Perhaps large font, bold and all caps will help:

CHILDREN ARE NOT TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

This is a categorical statement, not one of degree, nor is it qualified. If tourists treat children as attractions, the children are tourist attractions regardless of how well they are treated, or how nice the orphanage, or how good the tourist imagines her intentions to be. Orphanage tourism, by its nature, treats children as tourist attractions.

The reasons it is bad to treat children/orphans as tourist attractions are myriad. It drives an exploitative industry, it violates the rights and privacy of the children, it endangers the children, it teaches the children the wrong message, ect. This has all been very well covered in other articles. See The Pity Industry for my take on why voluntourists are not really helping at orphanages and fueling the exploitation of children. See ChildSafe Traveler Tips to understand why orphanage tourism is both dangerous to the children and a violation of their human rights. Also see Al-Jazeera's recent report for a general look at orphanage tourism in Cambodia. And for some alternative points of view on the subject see The Cambodia Daily's 'Tourism Sector a Boon to Orphanage ‘Business’'

So, you want to visit or volunteer at an orphanage? Don't do it. Full stop. Why? Because children are not tourist attractions.

(Yes, I know that medical professionals, child care specialists, construction engineers and such can be helpful in certain special circumstances, but I'm going to skip past that because it just encourages the wrong sort to misunderstand and do the wrong thing.)

It's stuff like the contorted logic in the Forbes article that makes me question the motivations of those who would volunteer at orphanages in Cambodia. Commentators more generous than myself argue that orphanage voluntourists are well intentioned but misguided/misinformed. I have my doubts about that. I think many, even most are motivated by fad and self interest - the desire to see themselves as saviors, as heroes, to feel fulfilled, as someone who 'gives back' - with little consideration given to whether they are actually helping.

Look at the penultimate sentence in the paragraph quoted above. After listing all the fun stuff you've been doing in Southeast Asia, "now, with just a few days left before your flight home, you’d like to do something selfless, something worthwhile." It is about doing what YOU would like to do, amongst all the other stuff you liked doing. It is about the western fantasy of putting on a cape and playing superhero for a day. It is, in part, about assuaging YOUR guilt over having fun amongst the poverty that surrounded you here. It is about buying Indulgences in the form of hugging brown children. It is about treating third-world children as a means to your end. It is about you, not them. And the seeming willful blindness that allows the unambiguous meaning of five simple words - children are not tourist attractions - to be contorted into a holiday planning problem leads me to conclude the intentions of orphanage voluntourists are not good and selfless, but culpably self-serving.

Sermon over.

I also suggest reading the 'Children are not tourist attractions' website and the articles at 'Good intentions are not enough.' They are far less harsh and judgmental than me, and perhaps more convincing.

Siem Reap 1995/2013

Filtering through old photos I took of at Angkor in the 90s I found a few of Siem Reap Town I took in 1995. Unfortunately the photos are not in great shape, but good enough for a couple of comparison shots. The April 2013 photos were taken today, standing in the approximately the same spots I did 18 years ago.

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 Wat Bo Road, April 1995. At the time Wat Bo Road had several wooden guesthouses, catering primarily to budget travelers, but there were no hotels or restaurants along Wat Bo.

Wat Bo Road, April 2013.

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Corner of National Route #6 and Wat Bo Road, looking east down Route #6, April 1995. Route #6 at the time was in very poor shape. There were no buses or regularly schedule road transportation from Phnom Penh. It was possible to hire a taxi, but due to road conditions the trip could take 9-14 hours, there were dubious military checkpoints along the way and the KR was still about. Most travelers from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap took the river ferry or the plane. Even the trip from Siem Reap to the Roluos Group (only 13km) was a chore, that stretch of dirt road particularly trenched and pot-holed.

Corner of National Route #6 and Wat Bo Road, April 2013. It's a smooth, paved 5-6 hour drive to Phnom Penh. Buses rule. The river ferry only runs part year now. Roluos is an easy 15 minute drive.

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 Garden House Guesthouse on Wat Bo Road. Fan, bed, net, shared bathroom, $4/night. April 1995.

Garden House Guesthouse on Wat Bo Road. April 2013.

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The Ya Tep Statue in the center of town, in the middle of National Route #6, near the Hotel Grand d'Angkor Park. April 1995. Ya Tep is a neak-ta (powerful spirit) local to Siem Reap and is said to help bring protection (and winning lottery numbers) to the faithful. At the time people told me that she likes "ugly things" and she always used to be surrounded by stinking chicken skins left by worshipers. I haven't checked thoroughly, but these days the offerings seem to consist mainly of incense, flowers and fruit.

The Ya Tep Statue in the center of town, April 2013.

Better late than never - 2011

Newly completed Phnom Penh Tower, the city's second highrise.

Running a couple of weeks late on this post. Stray thoughts of Cambodia last year.

2010 At the end of last year, the on-going conflict with Thailand over Preah Vihear was probably the most talked about issue of that moment and perhaps the year. A decades old dispute, the flare up of the last few years was largely the result of Thai political instability stemming from the 2006 coup that ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. After months of deadly border skirmishes in 2010, political and military tensions had begun to ease in December, only to spike again with the arrest of a Thai politician and yellow-shirt activists on the Cambodian side of the border. And so began 2011.
Preah Vihear: the Thai-Cambodia temple dispute 
New developments in the Thai-Cambodia conflict (Dec 30, 2010)

Cambodia Daily

Voluntourism The international press turned a long overdue critical light on Pity Industry tourism, including orphanage tourism and commercialized voluntourism. Prompted by a study of orphanage tourism in Africa, papers such as the Guardian and the Telegraph published critical pieces toward the end of 2010, sparking several other unfavorable articles, blog entries and internet debates throughout the year. In October 2011 the high-respected NGO Friends-International in Cambodia launched an important new campaign aimed at bringing an end to orphanage tourism.
Guardian: Before you pay to volunteer abroad, think of the harm you might do
Telegraph: Volunteer holidays 'do more harm than good'
Inside the thriving industry of AIDS orphan tourism
Taking Aim at Voluntourism
The Independent: Cambodia's orphanages target the wallets of well-meaning tourists
When Children Become Tourist Attractions

Internet censorship Cambodia stumbled clumsily into the world of Internet censorship in February. After a ham-handed start in which all of BlogSpot was suddenly blocked and ISPs initially affirmed then denied knowledge of the blockage, the outage narrowed, leaving only the highly provocative KI Media and Khmerization permanently unavailable through some ISPs in Cambodia. Both the government and the ISP’s denied responsibility. The media squawked about it for a month or so, but the story has since been relegated to NGO reports. The blocked sites are still unavailable through many, perhaps most ISPs in Cambodia. That said, Cambodia still has some of the most unrestricted internet access in Southeast Asia, significantly better than its immediate neighbors.
The Curious Case of the Banning that Wasn't
LICADHO Condemns Censorship of Web Sites Critical of Government

Sam Rainsy Mid-March, Sam Rainsy was stripped of his seat in Parliament. It seemed much less of a story than it would have been in years past.
Cambodia opposition leader loses parliamentary seat

US Maintains Ban on Cambodian Adoptions  There has been a US imposed ban on the adoption of Cambodian children by Americans since 2001. After reconsidering the ban in March, the US ultimately declined to rescind it.
Cambodia Law Blog: Can expats adopt Cambodian children? Dispelling the myths

Unhappy Hippi In May Sihanoukville’s fabled Happy Hippi lost its smile.
K440: Happy Hippy smacked

The Cows of Spring On Royal Plowing Day in May the Royal Oxen ate beans and corn, eschewing the rice and other offerings.

Phsar Thmey and wart

Central Market After more than two years of work, during which many vendors were displaced to temporary buildings next to the market, the renovation and refurbishment of Phsar Thmey was completed mid-2011, including a brand new bright yellow paint job. (And it grew a wart in the form of a new, completely out-of-place 7-story building on the market square.) What a fantastic building, even with wart.

Preah Vihear In July elections were held in Thailand. The Pheu Thai party won. Thaksin’s sister became PM, Thailand’s political turmoil eased a bit, the yellows quieted, and the Preah Vihear situation has been getting better ever since. Come the end of 2011, Thai activist Veera remains in Cambodian jail.
Cambodia congratulates Pheu Thai Party on election win
Yingluck's visit to improve relations: Cambodian deputy PM
Cambodian PM stresses good relations with Thailand

DVDs at Russian Market

Legend In July The Legend Theatre opened in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s first ‘international-standard’ cinema. Full size screen, proper theater seats, quality projection and sound and the first screen in Cambodia to (legally) show Hollywood first run movies, including 3D movies. As a result there has been a threatened crackdown on bootlegged DVDs of certain first run movies.
Cambodia Law Blog: New moves on pirated movies

Tonle Sap Prime Minister Hun Sen continued to make the health of the Tonle Sap a priority, apparently with significant success. Illegal reservoirs and fishing lots were ordered shut down and the orders were enforced. Initial reports indicate the annual total fish catch is way up.
Fishing licenses around Cambodia's Tonle Sap Lake revoked
Hun Sen extends Tonle Sap fishing lot closure
AKP: Large Scale Crack-down of Illegal Fishing in Tonle Sap to Come

Former brothels on 63

Brothels closed on 63 Sometime in July, the long-running string of brothels on Street 63 was raided and closed. I posted about the bust of one in this group back in 2010. The place was back in operation a couple of weeks later, business as usual. Clearly well protected. But all of the brothels are gone now. To my knowledge those places on 63 were the last openly brothel-like businesses in central Phnom Penh. They have been there as long as I can remember and survived years after every other city center brothel had been shuttered. There must have been dozens of girls there. Closing them was probably one of the biggest brothel raid/ closures in the country this year. But to my knowledge the raid went unreported in the English press in Cambodia.

A Brief Tour of the Cambodian Sex Industry Best article on prostitution in Cambodia by an international journalist in recent memory. I don’t agree with everything he wrote, but unlike many of the weepy, sensationalistic, pre-scripted reports in the international media of late, he drew his conclusions from the evidence rather than looking for evidence to support his conclusions.

Faintings There was a spate of mass faintings at several different garment factories and even a couple of schools in Cambodia. Many observers were understandably quick to cast a suspicious eye on factory conditions, but the cause is still a matter of investigation. The mass faintings began suddenly and have occurred over a relatively short span, the only obvious commonalities being most happened in the factories and were exclusively amongst the laborers. It would be an extraordinary coincidence for such a cluster to occur, yet not have some common cause or link between the incidents – e.g. some new chemical, pesticide or product in use, a new ventilation system, a illness of some sort being passed around, longer working hours or increased production requirements, some new practice common to all of the affected factories.

Different causes have been suggested by investigators and labor advocates. In fact, there have been almost as many possible causes cited as there have been fainting incidents – chemicals, smells, ventilation, long hours, hunger, food poisoning, dehydration, etc., but nothing definitive and nothing new and common to all of the affected facilities. Working conditions in the factories appear to be pretty much the same as they have been for years.

In lieu of evidence of a common cause I am inclined to agree with Time Magazine. The mass fainting are, for lack of a better term, ‘mass-hysteria,’ but by that I don't mean to diminish their significance. These factory workers are largely poor young women, often rural girls accustomed to rice farming and country living, now working in gray, stuffy, unpleasant conditions, feeling homesick, pressured by family (for money) and harsh supervisors, and doing mind-numbingly repetitive work for very little compensation (averaging $55-$61/month,) often for long hours. Though the factories are not 'sweat shops,' this is still the kind of work that is undesirable enough to drive some young women to choose prostitution in preference. In my opinion, for whatever reason that first mass fainting happened, it sparked a chain reaction of all the faintings that followed - it was the spark for a sort of involuntary protest by these young women against the unhappy and oppressive circumstances in which they find themselves.
Hundreds sick in mass fainting at Cambodian factory
Mass Fainting In Garment Factory
Mass faintings at H&M factory in Cambodia
What's Causing 'Mass Faintings' at Cambodian Factories?

Siem Reap, September 2011

Floods The wet season was too wet this year. Cambodia (and Thailand) saw some of the worst flooding in more than a decade. In Cambodia huge swathes of countryside along the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers were submerged, hundreds of deaths, enormous crop loss and property damage. Government response was slow and inadequate. In an unprecedented but widely supported move, the government cancelled the Water Festival boat races in Phnom Penh. Just as the press was beginning to take note of the flooding in Cambodia, especially with the repeated flooding of Siem Reap town, Bangkok came under flood threat and story in the international press changed focus to Thailand and never really returned to Cambodia. Interestingly, even with the flood related crop loss, Cambodia managed to produce more rice in 2011 than the previous year.
Flood reports, photos and links
Cambodia's rice yield stable in 2011 despite flood devastation: PM

Most self-absorbed article of the year Amidst stories of captive Cambodian women jumping from upper floor windows to escape Malaysian recruitment agencies and of repeated allegations of abuse, torture and rape of Cambodian maids in Malaysia, the Cambodian government has banned its citizens from working as maids in Malaysia. Reporting on the ban in ‘this article’ the Malaysian press complained of a “dire maid shortage”in Malaysia and of how the ban will hurt their recruitment agencies. "Dire." Never mind the abuses suffered by these maids in Malaysia or captive women jumping from windows to escape these so called 'recruitment agencies' in Phnom Penh, it sounds like tough times in Malaysia. It's dire. They're having to make their own beds and there's nobody to do the dishes. 
“They Deceived Us at Every Step”
Recruiters Round Up Cambodians to Work in Malaysia

Rice wine deaths There were several mass poisonings attributable to bad batches of homemade rice wine. A regular motodup on my street died a couple of months ago after being poisoned. In one tragic case the better part of a village was wiped out. One poisoning incident:
12 Cambodians died of wine poisoning

Top Ten Tycoons The essential Who’s Who

Land Next to the floods, the rampant land-grabbing and mistreatment of evictees was the story of the year. So much has been written on the subject I am not sure what more is to be said. The problem continues and is growing. It is involving ever more people and confrontations between evictees and authorities are becoming more violent. In terms of politics, it is a gift from the ruling party government to the opposition. While I accept it is unrealistic to expect there will not be evictions as the city and country develops, I don’t understand from either a human or political POV why it is being handled so badly and the evictees treated with such callous inhumanity. It is sowing the seeds of dissent and future conflict in ever growing numbers. As one Kampong Speu evictee put it, "If there was still a Khmer Rouge hiding in the jungle, I'd join." In the long and even medium term, these pitiless evictions don't make moral or even Machiavellian sense.

NGO Law The government wants to regulate NGOs and has proffered a law. The NGOs are suspicious of the government’s intent but split between those who say the proposed law needs modification and those who say there should be no law at all. Much ink has been spilled on the subject with the highlight being an exchange between Elizabeth Becker and an anonymous commentator at AKP, the government media mouthpiece. The proposed law is currently in its fourth draft and the debate continues. The Prime Minister recently calmed the debate by saying that there was no rush, that they would work as long as necessary to craft a law acceptable to both sides. But, of course, this also takes the ‘no law’ option off the table.
Catalogue of artcles related to the NGO Law
Hun Sen Calls for More Talks on NGO Law
Elizabeth Becker/AKP exchange
Silencing Cambodia's Honest Brokers By ELIZABETH BECKER
AKP: Commentary: Elizabeth Becker and the Campaign to Put NGOs above the Law
Response To Anonymous Critique by Elizabeth Becker

The King, King Father and Queen Mother on the occasion of the 90/20 celebration.

90/20 King Father Sihanouk celebrated his 90th birthday and 20-year anniversary of returning to Cambodia. A truly historic occasion.
Birthday of King Father Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia

Mu Sochea proves to be a continuing force, making her mark (and political hay) taking a hands-on approach and focusing on issues that directly affect the poor and disadvantaged such as land grabbing and maid trafficking. Like I said last year, keep an eye on this lady, especially in the coming election year. She’s going places.

Kristof Tweets In November Nicholas Kristof parachuted in to Anlong Veng to tweet a brothel raid and promote his favorite anti-trafficking NGO in Cambodia. His dramatic tweeting of the raid probably did more to raise public awareness of his questionable ethics in the reporting of sex trafficking than anything he has done since purchasing two underage girls in Cambodia in 2005.
Nick Kristof to the rescue!
Nick Kristof Live Tweets a Raid on an Underage Brothel – And Not Everyone is Thrilled
Fighting back, one brothel raid at a time
A human trafficker defends Cambodian sweatshops
Be Aware: Nick Kristof’s Anti-Politics

Laos threatens to construct the first hydropower dam on the Lower Mekong.
Laos' Mekong Xayaburi dam plan delayed again

@Faineg Tweets KR trial The KR trials continue under a darkening cloud of criticism from disparate quarters. Growing feelings that the trials may be fundamentally flawed, talk of UN incompetence, accusations of government interference, a judge resigned, acrimony between the government and UN, and that's just the now of it. Case 002 is underway. Nuon Chea (Brother #2) has been on the stand and has put on quite a show, well-worth a hundred million, see-sawing between denying knowledge and blaming Vietnam. In an innovative and powerful use of Twitter, Faine Greenwood, aka @faineg, (and others more sporadically,) has been live tweeting the proceedings from the courtroom. This is journalism. ( Recently @KRT_Monitor has taken up the blow by blow.)

Plane to Sihanoukville Cambodia Angkor Air began regular flights between Siem Reap and Sihanoukville in December. If memory serves, this is the first regular air service to Sihanoukville since Royal Air Cambodge stopped flying to Sihanoukville in late 1997…except for PMT’s short-lived ill-fated venture on the same route a few years back. 

Tourism grows and grows At year’s end the government announced that tourist arrivals were up 14% over last year, Vietnamese leading the way. Tuk-tuk drivers in Siem Reap complain that the increasing numbers of Asian tourists, often on packages, is driving down local transport prices. Still, Siem Reap is booming and some of it is spilling off to Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh.
Cambodia's foreign tourist arrivals up 14% in 2011

Gold Tower 42, The Phnom Penh Tower and The OCIC Tower

Phnom Penh towers At the site of the old Ministry of Tourism, Phnom Penh's second highrise after the OCIC Tower (Canadia Tower,) the new Phnom Penh Tower on Monivong Blvd, was completed and opened for business. Stalled project Gold Tower 42 (aka Grey Tower 31, aka Bassac Thmey) has been idle now for 15 months.

The Riel The Cambodian Riel held its own against the US dollar throughout the year, varying only about +/-50 Riel over the course of the year, beginning 2011 at about 4055KHR = US$1 and finishing around 4075KHR = US$1.

New bridge to Koh Pos, Sihanoukville, 2/11. Construction is now complete.

Outrage In the final week of the year Cambodia publicly soiled itself and walked around stinking of shit in its pants all week after pardoning and releasing convicted Russian pedophile Alexander Trofimov. Alexi first arrived in Cambodia heading up a high-profile US$300,000,000 Koh Pos investment project before being caught diddling dozens of prepubescent girls in Sihanoukville in 2007. His subsequent handling by the Cambodian judiciary was riddled with irregularities and he had served only a fraction of his original sentence before being freed by royal pardon. Juice speaks. He has since disappeared into Cambodia somewhere, doing what...we can only imagine. After he was released all of the authorities that should have been in-the-know did a Sgt. Schultz style, "I know nothing...nothing!" all denying knowledge of how he got on the pardon list. His former company even denied knowing who he is. Yeah, right.  
Cambodia pardons Russian in paedophile case
Phnom Penh Post: Petition to deport pedophile Alexander Trofimov

Ten Cambodia Tweeps to Follow
khmerbird
peter_k440
faineg
nate_thayer
dickonverey
HunSensEye
ChrisInCambo
SimOliver
MuSochua
mybigfatface
JaredsCambodia

Cambodia News and Info on Twitter
phnompenhpost
voakhmer
tweetcambodia
cambopedia
cambodianews
Canby_Cambodia
USEmbPhnomPenh
EyeOnCambodia
KRT_Monitor

New Cambodia Blogs of Note
Faine Opinines
Nate Thayer

Street 51

Street 51, early evening, 1AM

New Year nears. A perfect excuse for talk of auld lang syne (times gone by,) and so I indulge. In the following I mean only to note some of the changes on Street 51 over the years, not imply (as would be cliche in expat reminiscences) that it was somehow better ‘way back when,’ (even though it was.)

Street 51 in Phnom Penh, at least the short section between Streets 154 and 174, is an ‘entertainment center’ as the nearby hotels like to say – a couple of blocks of bars, clubs, a few eateries and more bars - a 'bar street' reminiscent of a Sukhumvit soi. And the Heart of Darkness was the start of it all, the seed from which the Street 51 bar scene grew, planted in the early 90s and now in full blossom, though not exactly fragrant.

In the beginning (1993) the Heart of Darkness was the only bar on a dark block of Rue Pasteur (Street 51) - a small one-shop open-facade place next to a couple of brothels. The old French Colonial Police Headquarters sat opposite, but otherwise it was a quiet block of daytime shops and houses. Inside the Heart, the walls were flat black, Doors, Hendrix, Stones and the like on the CD player, cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, a betel box of ganja on the bar, beer from an esky and the same three guys behind the bar every night. There was a duct-tape patched pool table in a small back room that required a short stick for the near side. "No Dancing" was spray painted in large letters on the poolroom wall. And in fact there was no dancing at the Heart.

Back then during the monsoon season Street 51 would flood every time it rained. I have fond memories of plowing through shin-deep water after work, past the old police HQ and stopping at the Heart, which sat comparatively high and rarely flooded. I'd check in a couple times a week for a smoke and some chess with the bartenders. On weekend evenings it was the place to go (in fact one of the few places to go) in Phnom Penh - frequented by the embassy and NGO crowd, English teachers, journalists and the few tourists that happened to be in town. It had something of a 'notorious' reputation and was on more than one embassy no-go list, but for the life of me I could never figure out why.

Heart of Darkness, New Year Eve, 31/12/99

Heart of Darkness, New Year Eve, 31/12/99

Heart of Darkness, New Year, 1/1/00, Samnang

There were no soldiers, regular trouble makers or much in the way of dodgy dealings, at least by Cambodian standards. It wasn't that kind of crowd. There were a couple/few regular prostitutes, but that was it. Sure, there were people sitting around smoking pot but that was, for the most part, the hardest drug in the place, and back then it was de facto legal in Cambodia anyway. I used to imagine that the bar garnered its notorious reputation, not from anything that actually went on there, but from its dark name, the town it was in and the imagination of travel writers who were afraid to go anyplace truly notorious (like the Cambodian night clubs.)

The Heart slowly expanded over the years, growing two shops wide in 96 (absorbing the brothel) and eventually closing in the front and adding air-con. The brothels of 51 were all gone by the late 90s and the second bar I recall on the street, in 96 I believe, was the Duck Tub a couple of doors down from the Heart. They did semi-regular live rock - the only place in town at the time. After the owner was killed in a tragic traffic accident, the Duck Tub became the AK-47 briefly, then Huey's (if I recall correctly) and eventually Howie's which it still is today. Beginning in the late 90s other bars opened along that couple of blocks - some of the earliest being Club 51 which became Shanghai within a year, and the Walkabout, formerly the Pasteur Hotel.

By the early 00s the Heart started taking on a clubbier atmosphere, it expanded to three shops, changed its look, music and ultimately its clientele. The decor went from rattle-can basic to Khmer baroque, it became a dance club, no pot, no rock, more cocktails, drawing clubbers, travelers, young locals and Khmer bad boys. Around that same period, especially after the 2003 elections, more small bars, many of the hostess variety, opened along the same block, eventually filling out most of the street and stretching around the corner. The old colonial police station was finally torn down 4 or 5 years ago and replaced with the Golden Sorya Mall a couple of years later where Pontoon Club (Phnom Penh’s most popular foreigner disco of the moment) opened its doors last year like the proverbial cherry on the top of the Street 51 sundae.

The street was now officially booming.

Street 51 is a totally different place - a different crowd, a different look, a different atmosphere. Though the Heart isn’t my kind of place anymore, I’ve been generally pleased with ever growing choice of bars and clubs on 51. Yet these last couple of years the street seems to be taking a bit of a mean turn.

I have always felt safe on Street 51, or at least as safe as on any tourist street in town. And there have always been beggars and of course the occasional punch up, drunk drivers, trashed backpackers and such. It all goes with the bar business. But the other evening, for the first time ever, I felt unsafe on 51.

It was the end of the night, admittedly quite late - 4ish - when I left my last bar. I wanted to buy food at a burger stand 80 meters away. In that 80 meters, over the next 10 minutes, a couple of Middle Eastern guys tried to pick a fight with me, 2 drunken luxury cars weaving through the intersection at 60kph narrowly missed me, a tuk-tuk driver told me to ‘fuck off’ because I politely declined his offer of a ride or a prostitute, a parade of infant bearing beggar women and half a dozen glue sniffing children pawed and moaned for money, two people offered to sell me drugs, and when I finally got to the food stand a 6-year-old tried to pickpocket me while I ordered my dog and ribs. I sat with my back to the wall as I waited for the food. A tourist girl vomited in the middle of the street in front of me and a motorcycle crashed trying to avoid her. Down the street near the Heart a commotion began. Some sort of fight, drawing a crowd. I went for a look.

A barang and a Khmer guy were having at it. The barang was big. His friend was trying to stop it. A barang standing next to me in the crowd started taking photos with his phone. A Khmer girl ordered him to stop. “You cannot take photo. No photo of Khmer fight barang!” she barked. He didn’t respond so she repeated herself then continued, “I am Khmer! I tell you what to do. You not stop, I take camera. I am Khmer. I tell you, stop!” Inspired by her words, I took out my phone to film it too. This is what I got. That's her, in the pinkish clothes and light hair, bouncing in and out of the commotion. 

I’ve seen most all of these things on 51 before – fights, pickpockets, glue sniffing kids, aggressive drunks, moto crashes, rude tuk-tuks, the beggars, druggies, etc., etc. – but not all within 80 meters and 10 minutes of each other. That was a first for me. It gave me pause.

Street 51 really does seem a bit notorious these days.

Riverfront Scammers and the Filipino Blackjack Con

It’s the beginning of the high tourism season in Cambodia. The tourists are back, and so are the scammers that prey on them, especially in tourist zones like the riverfront in Phnom Penh. Actually, the scammers never left, but in my forays up the riverfront these last couple of weeks they seem to be out in numbers and working hard, chasing the fresh crop of newbies in Cambodia. Day before yesterday in front of the Royal Palace I almost got a photo of three different scammers in the same shot, but they saw me raise my camera and scattered.

There are of course the professional beggars that pester tourists as they try to have a meal on the riverfront, but they are more of an annoyance than scammer. There are also more insidious forms of this, such as the women (and sometime children) that carry around rented and drugged infants as sympathy props and child beggars that have been put on the street to work. All this is fairly well known.

Then there are the foreign scammers. ‘Wild Turkey Man’ (a.k.a. the Australian beggar) is probably the best known and longest ‘working’ of the group. He and at least one or two other foreigners are running the same scam on the riverfront, a rather old one in fact, often used on the traveler’s trail. He approaches you and spins a tale about how he’s a tourist who has lost or had his passport and money stolen, the embassy requires him to pay for a new one, or is making him wait, leaving him penniless and on the street, or he needs a bus ticket to Siem Reap to pick it up, etc., etc. The tale ends predictably, with a plea for financial help, “just a dollar, maybe a few…” Leaving aside issues of honesty and such, the biggest problem I have with these sorts of foreign ne’er-do-wells is that while they are scamming tourists for beer money they are also competing with poverty-stricken third-worlders for the limited pity dollars that flow in the tourist areas.  

But it wasn’t the usual suspects that inspired this post. It was the appearance of a comparatively new and potentially much more dangerous group of tourist scammers in Cambodia – what’s become known as the ‘Filipino Mafia’ or ‘Filipino Blackjack Con.’ One of these guys tried to work me the other day in front of the National Museum, and it wasn’t an hour later that a tuk-tuk driver was complaining to me (unprompted) that a tourist couple he had been ferrying around had to cut their Cambodia holiday short for having fallen prey to “Filipino sharks.” He claims that there are several of these scammers working in Phnom Penh and that he and other tuk-tuks have complained to the police, who have as yet done nothing about it.

The Filipino scammers have been running this con for years in Vietnam and their doings in Ho Chi Minh City have been well documented by Adam Bray on his website Fish Egg Tree. Even the well-experienced Vagabond Traveler was taken for a ride by these guys in Saigon.

I first noticed them here in Phnom Penh about a year ago. While walking past the Royal Palace I was approached by a friendly Asian couple – a man in his 50s and a woman in her 30s in casual dress. They began by complimenting my hat and asked where I got it. This led to more friendly conversation, and more praise and interest in my knowledge, appearance and country. They claimed to be Malaysians living in Australia. When they found out that I was a long-term expat they ended the conversation politely but quickly. I was immediately suspicious. It may sound cynical, but while somebody may stop to ask directions or perhaps try to sell you something, nobody starts extended conversations with passing strangers for no particular reason. I didn’t know what the game was at the time, but something was definitely fishy.

Three weeks later the same couple approached me in the same spot in almost the same way, but this time it was my beard they liked. They had forgotten me from before. They claimed to be half-Khmer/half-Malaysian visiting family in Cambodia. Again, they showed glowing interest in my country, my travels, my family and my experiences as a tourist in Cambodia. All 'feel good' stuff, appealing to my vanity and sense of openness as a traveler. Again, they ended the conversation when they learned I was a long-termer. I still didn’t know what they were up to but it was clearly no-good. I saw them a few times after that, walking the same area, but they didn’t approach me again.

It was shortly thereafter I learned about the ‘Filipino Blackjack scam’ being run in Saigon and heard that the same scammers had been seen in Phnom Penh. I put 2 and 2 together.

About a month ago in front of the National Museum here in Phnom Penh another couple approached me in the same way – different people, same general description, same sort of conversation except this time they started by complimenting me on my handsome backpack. Like the others, they spoke English well and with a non-Khmer accent. Unlike previous encounters, I changed my story and said I was a tourist. The conversation ran much longer. They expressed great interest in learning more about my country and invited me to join them for an authentic Khmer meal, a cultural exchange of sorts. I already knew enough, begged off and walked away. Whatever was to happen next, it was going to be some sort of an attempt to lead me into a situation over which I had no control and then separate me from my money.

Over the last month I have spotted the male half of the couple several times working tourists on the Sothearos Blvd sidewalk in front of the National Museum in Phnom Penh. Twice in the last two weeks, apparently forgetting that they have already done this to me several times, he approached me with the same lame sort of compliment/question they use every time. Day before yesterday it was my sunglasses he liked. “Very nice sunglasses. Did you buy those here?…”

They have been seen in several places in Phnom Penh including other parts of the riverfront, at Sorya Mall, in the park next to Wat Botom and in front of the Central Market (Phsar Thmey.) There are also recent reports that they are working in Siem Reap as well.

No need to detail the rest of their scam – how they manipulate you into a compromised situation, how you get into a card game you never thought you’d enter, how you lose money you never thought you’d bet, how it can amount to hundreds or even thousands of dollars, how they pressure, threaten, even drug you afterwards. They are slick and they are professionals and if you start to walk down the rosy path with them, they will get you there. The details of the scam have already been well covered by Fish Egg Tree and Vagabond Traveler.

You only need to know that THE FILIPINO SCAMMERS ARE HERE IN CAMBODIA, that they are targeting tourists, and to follow the advice that your Mom gave you when you were young...

BEWARE of friendly strangers.

Pedophile!

It finally happened.

As a result of the hysteria generated by the western press, and perhaps a bit of racism as well, today I was accused of being a pedophile, for absolutely no other reason than being a white male in the company of brown children – my son and daughter. 

First, just a bit about us. I’m 50+ years old, white, a businessman and have lived in Cambodia for more than 18 years. I’m married to an Asian woman. We’ve been together more than 10 years and have two beautiful children - a 9 year old girl and 7 year old boy. We are the natural parents of both. They are wonderful children, the loves of my life. They are well-behaved, excellent students and speak perfectly accented American English as well as 2-3 other languages. And though it sickens me that the situation requires me to make note of their racial features… though they are not distinctly Asian, they are darker than me and not 100% European in appearance, to anybody with an eye, clearly ‘kon kut’ (mixed race.)

I work a lot, perhaps too much, but always reserve Sundays for my family and children. It’s become a Sunday afternoon tradition in our family to give Mom a break, some time for herself. The kids and I always go somewhere together on Sunday afternoons - the Museum, the park, the Palace, the Russian Market, or quite often the riverfront for snacks and CD shopping, as we did today. 

We took a tuk-tuk to the riverfront, got out at K-West (Sisowath Quay and Street 154) and started walking up the riverfront road. My children were dressed in their Sunday best, happy and smiling. We strolled hand in hand, my daughter anxious to buy the newest installment of Harry Potter at the CD shop, my son looking forward to strawberry and passion fruit ice cream at K-West.

We hadn’t got but 40 meters when I noticed a woman – white, 50ish, seemingly a tourist - walking toward us taking photos in our direction. A man, presumably the husband, stood next to her. As we got closer I thought she might be trying to get a riverfront shot, perhaps of something behind me, so I stepped slightly to the side to get out of the way. But she tracked us with her camera. As we got closer and she kept shooting I furrowed my brow in a ‘what are you doing?’ sort of way, but didn’t actually say anything.

She held up her camera, pointed at it and said, “Internet!” I wasn’t sure I got the meaning so I said “what?” She pointed at her camera again and said with a smirk, “Internet,” pointed at me and said, “you pedo!” Hearing clearly but not wanting to make a mistake I stepped closer to her and asked again. She repeated, “Photo you, internet, you pedo…for police,” in a distinctly Italian accent. I said something like “These are my children.” She just shook her head and started to raise her camera again. I said, “You want police? You want to call the police?” She nodded. I said, “I’ll call police.” She nodded again and we stepped to the side of the pavement together. My children backed off a few steps, frightened by the obvious tension in our voices. I pulled out my phone, called my staff and asked them to call the police and I called the police myself as well. I told them where I was and asked them to come quickly.

We stood there uncomfortably for a moment. I considered grabbing the camera, but didn’t want to start a fight, especially with my children there. I motioned my children to us and told my daughter to explain who she was. I figured my daughter’s thick American accent alone should be enough. My daughter started to tell her name, age and such when the Italian woman cut her off. “No English. No English,” she barked. Startled, my children moved behind me.

We stood there another uncomfortable minute, waiting. The woman started to get nervous. She said “I go,” and tried to push past me. I said “No, we wait for police.” She repeated that she was going. I told her to either wait for the police or delete the photos. She said, “No, you pedo,” and tried to push past me again. I stood firm and told her we were going to wait for the police. She pushed me back but I stayed in front of her like a blocker. I didn’t touch her myself because she was a woman, but she pushed me back repeatedly. It became a jostling and yelling match, her pushing, me blocking, staggering down the riverfront back toward K-West. Khmers and tourists stood and stared at the commotion. I just kept repeating, “wait for the police or delete the photos,” as did she, “no, no…go, go.” 

Through all this her husband did nothing to help her. I kept expecting him to jump in. Rather hoping he would actually.  But he just looked uncomfortable, slowly, silently, wimpishly following behind his wife.

In front of K-West they jumped in a tuk-tuk. I thought about getting in too. Or perhaps grabbing a motodup. I saw my children standing about 15 meters away, wide-eyed. I didn’t want to involve them in a chase. This was already too much. I pulled out my phone and aimed it at the woman to take a photo. She screamed, “No photo! No photo!” and covered her face. It took a few seconds for my camera to work allowing her time to cover. I took several photos, all of her with face covered.

After they left, I called the police back and told them she was gone and to not bother coming.

My kids and I went into K-West, got some tea and sodas and we talked about what had happened. I tried to explain, leaving out the bit about pedophilia and replacing it with ‘she thought I was trying to steal you.’ “Why?” they asked. I could only say because I’m white and they look Asian. “But we’re a family,” they said. They know that their Mom is Asian and I’m a barang, but they haven’t yet learned that this is an important distinction in the minds of some.

I know there is more to it than that, but how do I explain that to a 7 and 9 year old?

In moments of silence, as they tried to comprehend what this woman had done, I tweeted about it. The whole thing left me rattled. Bitching about it on internet seemed to help relieve the tension a bit.

My daughter made an astute observation in the aftermath. Thirty minutes later, as we walked to the CD shop she said, “She knows nothing about Cambodia. Doesn’t she know that Asians and Americans can have children? She doesn’t know anything.”

I think my daughter is right about that, or perhaps even understated it a bit. The woman doesn’t know anything about Cambodia. She, in fact, probably only imagines she knows something because of what she has read in the western press, which is something less than nothing in many cases.

If this Italian woman isn’t simply a racist, her mind has probably been twisted by the constant stream of sensational, repetitive and often wildly-overstated stories of western pedophiles and abused children in Cambodia.  And not only by the western press but by NGOs that profit from it and feed the beast with exaggerated stats and a constant stream of rehashed horrors stories that keep the funds flowing and the presses humming.

Back in the US a few months ago I saw MSNBC playing their 8 year old ‘Children for Sale’ video yet again, about a brothel village that hasn’t existed in more than half a decade. Some NGOs are still pawning off the ’33,000 child prostitutes in Cambodia’ stat when there aren’t 33,000 prostitutes of any age in Cambodia (link). Some Christian NGOs tell their people that there are women chained to beds and being raped in hostess bars in the center of the tourist district on the Phnom Penh riverfront. Every westerner busted for pedophilia in Cambodia is repeated in the international press for weeks while the fact that they make up a tiny fraction of the pedos in Cambodia goes unmentioned. Nicholas Kristof parachutes into Cambodia to do a sensational live-tweet of a brothel raid, painting himself the cowboy hero riding to the rescue of women and children in the Wild West (link1 link 2). Some NGOs in Cambodia parade their rescued victims (link) of trafficking in front of an insatiable press and voyeuristic tourists to repeat their stories of victimhood again and again - donations accepted. Sex in Cambodia sells. 

Don’t get me wrong. Human trafficking and trafficking in children for sex is a real and present problem in Cambodia, and the rest of the world. There are pedophiles, especially amongst the Khmer and Asians, and certainly westerners too. It all needs to be addressed, there is no doubt about that. But the western press’s manic fixation on abusive sex in Cambodia has made the country name synonymous with pedophilia, unfairly and inaccurately so.

From her exposure to the press, tourists like this Italian woman think that pedophiles are as common as cockroaches, that any white man with an Asian looking child must be a pedo who can simply waltz through tourist areas in broad daylight with a prepubescent child on each hand. (And I can’t help but believe that if my children had been white, she wouldn’t have made this judgment about us.) Kristof’s sensationalism has 3-day tourists believing they too can play super-hero, identifying pedos at a glance, swooping to the rescue and saving a child in between their afternoon visit to the Royal Palace and authentic Cambodian Curry dinner on the riverfront.

Ultimately, as good as their intentions might be, as important as the problem is, the press, some NGOs and these misguided tourists are doing the country, the victims of trafficking, and yes, even little people like me a terrible disservice, while enriching and glorifying themselves in the process. This needs to stop. This isn’t a game or an action hero movie or an opportunity for tourists to feel righteous pity. The problems need to be addressed realistically and not in the context of sensationalism, mania, big-money, and dare I say, racism.

If, unlike this Italian woman, you have a reasonable, rational belief that you have seen a child in a risk situation, by all means, call the ChildSafe helpline, if possible keep the child in sight and wait until the ChildSafe team arrives to sort things out.

Anyway, I figure that when my photo turns up on some Italian website as another pedophile operating openly and with impunity in Cambodia, it will also include a story of my powerful police connections that were on their way to protect me and how she had to flee for her life. A narrow escape by our heroine, just like in the movies. Cambodia is a very dangerous place, you know. And her harrowing tale might even generate a few donations for some Cambodian anti-trafficking NGO.

Children Are Not Tourist Attractions

Tourists, listen up...

Today, Friends-International launched its new 'Children Are Not Tourist Attractions' campaign, including the article below, a new website and an ad campaign with banners on tuk-tuks in Phnom Penh, all to raise awareness about the orphanage tourism game and related child exploitation and voluntourism issues. The goal is to put an end to orphanage tourism in Cambodia. Such a campaign is long-overdue and sorely needed. The article and website are brilliant. I've been railing about this issue for years and it is very near and dear to my heart. (I only wish I could have been so eloquent as Friend-International has been in their website and article.) I wish them the greatest success in this endeavor. Please read, learn and heed their advice.

Photo by Friends-International from the

'When Children Become Tourist Attractions' article.

When Children Become Tourist Attractions

Posted on 20 October 2011, by Friends-International

Each year, thousands of tourists visit orphanages in Cambodia thinking they are helping some of the most vulnerable children in the world. Recent reports however have found their visits may be doing more harm than good.

Nearing midnight on Pub Street, Siem Reap is buzzing. Hundreds, if not thousands of tourists roam from bar to bar, looking for a good time after spending full days wandering through Cambodia’s spectacular Angkor Wat temples.

Beggars follow the travelers around, while other locals sell flowers, fake travel guides and postcards to unassuming customers. Through the mayhem, a small team of professional junior entrepreneurs make their way down the street pitching a different product to the hordes – a visit to a nearby orphanage...Continue reading here

Learn more at the Friends-International CHILDREN ARE NOT TOURIST ATTRACTIONS website.

Please, do not engage in orphanage tourism.

(If I may indulge briefly in a bit of selfish told-you-so righteous gloating...as I mentioned above, I have been on about the orphanage issue for the better part of a decade and the child beggar/vendor issue for a lot longer than that. As an old white male expat, I have been accused of being jaded, heartless, a cynical old expat and much, much worse, because of my views on this matter - all while the name-callers bought flowers from 8-year-old vendors in the bar in the middle of the night, doled out dollar bills to glue sniffing kids on the street and told teary-eyed stories of the orphanage at which they voluntoured [for a price] washing dishes and playing with the children. Tourists, most often young and more often than not female, with big hearts and very little thought, all knew so much more than this old male expat with 25 years in Asia under his belt. I am thrilled to see this long-established, trustworthy, highly credible organization saying basically the same thing, though of course in a more affable, organized, less curmudgeonly way. Maybe now people will listen.)

Floods, Helicopters and Priorities

Compare and contrast: 

Seven workers at Cambodian hydropower dam swept away by floods
Sep 15, 2011, 3:22 GMT

Phnom Penh - Seven workers are believed to have drowned after being swept away by floodwaters at a hydropower dam being built in southern Cambodia, national media reported Thursday.

The Cambodia Daily newspaper said the men had tried to swim to safety at the 540-million-dollar Tatay hydropower dam in Koh Kong province.

A monitor with local rights group Adhoc said they were in a group of 70 workers trapped for two days without food after water submerged a bridge connecting the construction site to the riverbank.

Adhoc's Neang Boratino was quoted as saying nine men had tried to swim to the riverbank on Saturday, but seven were swept away.

'(The workers) were afraid of dying because they were out of food,' he said. 'The company did not find a way to lift them out even though they have the equipment.'

He said the other workers had since been evacuated.

The provincial police chief confirmed the seven were missing.

The 246-megawatt Tatay dam, which is due to be completed by 2014, is being built by Chinese state-owned company China National Heavy Machinery Corp, which could not be reached for comment, according to the Phnom Penh Post...

In summary, 70 Cambodian workers at a Chinese managed hydro-electric project are trapped by rising waters for days without food. In desperation, some try to swim out and are swept away and killed, most of their bodies have still not been recovered.

Choppers rescue tourists caught by Cambodian flood
September 22, 2011

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Flash floods at a centuries-old temple in northeastern Cambodia stranded about 200 foreign tourists Thursday, forcing officials to use helicopters to evacuate them to a nearby town.

The group visiting the 10th century Banteay Srey temple included tourists from the U.S., South Korea, France, Britain and Russia, district official Mom Vuthy said. The flooding also forced thousands of area residents to abandon their homes for high ground, or to camp on roofs or in trees, he said.

Brittny Anderson, 26, from Oregon said she was grateful for local residents who brought food to the stranded tourists as they waited on high ground for the helicopter rescues.

"I am scared for the villagers whose houses were under water," she said in a telephone interview. "I heard that the villagers had climbed trees and I'm very worried for their safety."...

In summary, a couple of hundred foreign tourists visiting a old temple are trapped by rising waters for a few hours. The government sends 3 helicopters to ferry them out. All are safe, back in their hotel rooms in Siem Reap.

The way things are done

Riverfront pavement cleared of restaurant tables and chairs

Today the police made the rounds on the Phnom Penh riverfront, once again ordering restaurants and bars to pull their sidewalk seating back inside. This has been an on-going battle between the police and the riverfront cafés for several years. It's never made much sense to me. The riverfront is perhaps the most popular tourist area in the city. Many tourists and other diners prefer the sidewalk seating to being trapped indoors - to enjoy the view of the riverfront scene, the sights, the sun, the air, Sambo the elephant walking by. Presumably this clearing is done to keep the path open for pedestrians, though for years the restaurants have been particularly careful to leave at least half the sidewalk clear for passers-by. I walk the riverfront everyday and though there are plenty of obstacles I have never had my path encumbered by sidewalk seating. 

That aside, the police have cleared the riverfront sidewalk of all restaurant tables and chairs. Where yesterday there were happy tourists swigging mugs of cold Angkor beer, there is now enough space for a two-lane tuk-tuk highway. And what was left after they cleared the riverfront of this offending tourist draw?

 

 Motorcycle parking...

 

Luxury vehicles and tuk-tuks blocking the crosswalks...

 

Child beggars/vendors and more tuk-tuks blocking the crosswalks...

 

Luxury car parking...

 

Vans loading coffins...

More motorcycles and scaffolding...

Racks of clothes...

...and plenty of room to park your car.

But to be sure, there was no sidewalk seating on the pavement. Nor were there any tourists sitting in that non-existent seating spending their tourist dollars. If nothing else, the police accomplished that much. As for the luxury vehicles on the sidewalk, the motorcycles and cars, the exploited children, the tuk-tuks blocking the crosswalks and so on, well, the authorities have their priorities.