Local tourists (left) use binoculars to look out over the cliff at Preah Vihear temple toward a Thai military camp near the Thai-Cambodian border during the Khmer New Year holiday. Photo by Scott Howes Preah Vihear provinceAbove the din of military trucks and SUVs rolling past on their way to Preah Vihear temple, off-duty police merrily clanking beer cans shout: “Kampuchea! Preah Vihear!”Outside the restaurants, however, a quiet tension is...

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Bus scare brings lesson in a spirit of generosity

Khmer New Year falls around mid-April, and every year the people who live in Phnom Penh leave the city to their home provinces or get out of town to celebrate the three-day holiday. This year my girlfriends and I decided to take a trip to Siem Reap, the province where the Angkor Temples are located, about 315 kilometres from Phnom Penh.We chose to go on the Giant Ibis Transport, an affordable luxury bus in Cambodia, catering to passengers since...

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Tycoon turns wanted son in to court

A well-known property tycoon whose son is wanted in court turned him in yesterday on the advice of the chief of municipal police, according to officials.Oknha Duong Ngiep arrived at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday afternoon with his 20-year-old son, Duong Chhay, accompanied by Choun Sovann, the city’s Municipal Police chief, said Phnom Penh Municipal Court president Chiv Keng.Chhay is wanted by the court for allegedly causing injury,...

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The forgotten massacre Killing Fields in Vietnam recalled by few

Brushing the silver and black strands of hair back across the left side of her forehead, Ha Thi Nga exposes a light scar about an inch long. Her hand moves down to a fold of skin on her neck where she touches another mark left   from a bullet wound.She’s sitting outside her tiny roadside shop in Vietnam’s Ba Chuc commune, just over the southeast border of Cambodia’s Takeo province, and telling of how she – and just a handful of others...

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