Cambodia's desperate butterfly hunters

The ancient temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia's Siem Reap province is one of Asia's great heritage sites.

But despite the hundreds of millions of US dollars in tourism revenue it brings in per year, the province remains one of the poorest in the country.
 
Aela Callan reports from Siem Reap on how many children have to resort to hunting for butterflies to help scratch out a living.

[October 22, 2010]

Category:

News & Politics

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[errolmiranda]

what do they do with the butterflies in restaurants ?

Fry them, eat them or keep them in restaurants as attractions ?

[camae62]

why? Notorious corruption in Cambodia.

[fatrice217]

gotta catch em all

[angkortuktuk]

Excellent report! It is a travesty that so little benefit of the tourist boom is reaching the local population. What can you do as a tourist? Avoid the large foreign-owned hotels, stay at smaller Cambodian owned hotels and guesthouses. Check out the hotel or guesthouse you want to stay at and ask which community development projects they support or run. Eat at local own restaurants. Don't haggle so much over the price of a tuk tuk. Coupe dollars means little for us tourists but a lot for them!

[roguenation]

So the growth of opportunity where the tourist trade is concerned has only contributed to the exploitation of workers and peasants.

The proletarian patriot Comrade Pol Pot taught us that the Cambodian people could overthrow the figurative three mountains of the imperialist, feudalist, and bureaucratic capitalist oppressors by fighting long and hard.

[roguenation]

The Khmer Rouge taught us that the Cambodian people could overthrow the figurative three mountains of the imperialist, feudalist, and bureaucratic capitalist oppressors by fighting long and hard.

[hipp6y]

@xxjayfrostxx troll

[xxjayfrostxx]

@hipp6y shuthafuckup

[KriztofferKriztenzen]

I love Cambodia!

Buddha bless them!

[nealart]

Birth control.