https://www.scmp.com/rss/324572/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com As far as bodies of water go, Cambodia is mostly known for the Mekong River. It provides fish and transport for millions of people and has become a romantic locale within Indochina. But there’s another body of water, 130km north of Phnom Penh, that deserves just as much attention. The Tonle Sap Lake, whose annual flood cycle is a crucial part of the Cambodian ecosystem, is buckling under the weight of climate change and unsustainable fishing practices. Water volume has fallen, leading... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2182891/cambodias-tonle-sap-lake-where-fishermen-have-no-fish-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2182891/cambodias-tonle-sap-lake-where-fishermen-have-no-fish-and?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Jan 2019 07:00:00 +0000 Phnom Penh seems to have all the trappings of a modern cosmopolitan city: towering skyscrapers, world-class restaurants and painfully air-conditioned shopping malls. But venture a few hours outside the capital and things become different very quickly. There is, particularly in rural provinces, a pervasive belief in the supernatural in Cambodia. Near the end of November, a couple was attacked in Pursat Province – about 200km northwest of Phnom Penh – by a small mob accusing them of killing... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2181970/sorcery-and-black-magic-are-alive-and-well-cambodia-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2181970/sorcery-and-black-magic-are-alive-and-well-cambodia-and?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Jan 2019 12:04:17 +0000 More than 1.27 million Chinese tourists visited Cambodia in the first eight months of 2018, a 72 per cent increase on the same period in 2017. But not all local business owners are happy. In Siem Reap, the tourism hub and launching point for trips to the famous Angkor Wat temple complex, some are quick to lament the shift towards a market based mostly on Chinese visitors. Channy Murphy, owner of Mad Murphy’s Irish Pub – a one-room bar situated not far from Siem Reap’s famous Pub Street – said... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2180257/they-only-go-chinese-shops-why-cambodias-influx-mainland-tourists?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2180257/they-only-go-chinese-shops-why-cambodias-influx-mainland-tourists?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Jan 2019 01:00:30 +0000 Chinese businesses are quietly expanding their footprint in Cambodia as relations between the Southeast Asian nation and Washington worsen and the din of anti-American sentiment grows louder. The United States and Cambodia have never been on the best of terms, with the small country’s long-time ruler Hun Sen rarely missing an opportunity to take potshots at the Western superpower. In recent weeks, the prime minister has unleashed a flood of conspiracy theories centred around the US – often... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2115277/anti-us-feeling-grows-cambodia-china-cashes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2115277/anti-us-feeling-grows-cambodia-china-cashes?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 15 Oct 2017 09:30:21 +0000 When US President Donald Trump met Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in May, he sent a clear message: by patting the backs of authoritarian leaders, the US is complicit in Vietnam’s rights abuses. Trump is no stranger to brushing shoulders with autocratic leaders. Allegations of cosying up to Russian President Vladimir Putin aside, he has praised Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Egyptian leader Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But Trump extending... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2111436/vietnams-cracking-down-dissent-so-why-trumps-pat-back?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2111436/vietnams-cracking-down-dissent-so-why-trumps-pat-back?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Sep 2017 07:30:40 +0000 When Chuck Searcy arrived in Vietnam in June 1967 as a US Army intelligence analyst, little might he have expected that nearly 30 years later he would return to live and work in the country he once swore was his enemy. But doubts about the war set in during his years of service – doubts that only grew after his return to home soil. Propelled by a niggling sense of guilt, Searcy returned in 1995 with a new job and a new mission – working to atone for his own country’s actions. Searcy now works... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2106460/trump-lays-time-bomb-vietnams-mine-clearing-efforts?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2106460/trump-lays-time-bomb-vietnams-mine-clearing-efforts?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 13 Aug 2017 09:00:15 +0000 When Cambodian actress Denny Kwan was banned from making films by the government, she faced an ultimatum: dress in a more traditional manner, or risk losing your career. In late April, the 24-year-old was barred from appearing in movies for a year after Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts deemed that her style of dress had violated a 2010 code of conduct relating to “virtue” and “ethics” in the Southeast Asian country. Kwan, who has appeared in many movies and has more than 300,000... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2103983/can-cambodias-censors-keep-lid-its-steamy-social-media?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2103983/can-cambodias-censors-keep-lid-its-steamy-social-media?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Aug 2017 11:32:16 +0000 For the past 20 years, Poch Naht has parked his tuk-tuk in the same spot on Phnom Penh’s bustling Sothearos Boulevard. He spends his days waiting to take passengers around the city, earning between US$5-US$10 a day, which he uses to support his wife and three children. “You can say it’s difficult,” Naht said of his work. “Some days you get some money, some days you do not.” In recent years, as Cambodia has emerged from economic obscurity and Phnom Penh has made progress towards becoming a world... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2097978/what-will-become-cambodias-endangered-tuk-tuk-drivers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/society/article/2097978/what-will-become-cambodias-endangered-tuk-tuk-drivers?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 25 Jun 2017 00:32:23 +0000