The Best of Cambodia & Laos

the malarial mosquitoes are at their most
active. Use a good mosquito repellent with
DEET (or one of the newer eucalyptusbased
products) in areas where malaria is a
problem. Sleep under a mosquito net. If
you have air-conditioning make sure your
room is properly sealed.
Malaria is not a problem in major
towns and cities, and is restricted to
remote jungle areas. Unless you are traveling
to these areas you are unlikely to have
a problem. There is a very low malaria risk
in the more remote quarters of the Angkor
Wat complex, but not in Siem Reap town.
Though you are not allowed to be around
the temples at night (when malaria is a
threat), you should be protected with
repellent during your visit. As with land
mines, malaria is mostly a problem in areas
of former conflict such as Samlot or
Phnom Malai. Most places that tourists
visit are safe.
TETANUS Also known as lockjaw, tetanus
is a disease contracted through contamination
of wounds. It manifests itself
through muscle spasms. You should be
vaccinated against this and make sure your
booster is up to date.
DENGUE FEVER Like malaria, dengue
fever is a mosquito-borne disease. It is
found in some parts of Laos, particularly
at certain times of year. No vaccination or
prophylactic is available. Again the answer
is simply to avoid getting bitten.
HIV/AIDS AIDS is a very serious problem
in Cambodia, especially among commercial
sex workers. Some educated
Cambodia has a reputation for violence and
lawlessness. Some of that reputation is well
deserved, while some of it is simply history.
Only a decade ago, guns were everywhere,
city streets were dark at night, and robberies
were commonplace. Cambodia has moved
6 SAFETY
estimates put the percentage of sex workers
infected as high as 40%. Since the early
’90s, it has reached epidemic proportions.
Transmittal occurs through infected blood,
which primarily occurs from sexual contact,
blood transfusions, or shared syringes.
Avoid blood products unless absolutely
necessary and practice sexual abstinence at
best and safe sex as a next best.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU GET
SICK AWAY FROM HOME
Medical care in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap,
and Sihanoukville is rudimentary, to say the
least. Most hospitals are not very good.
There are private hospitals in Phnom Penh
and Siem Reap, and if you are not in a major
town you should head there. In both Phnom
Penh and Siem Reap, there are a number of
GPs and small clinics with a good reputation.
They are very familiar with all the ailments
common to Cambodia. You will have
to pay upfront, but they will provide receipts
for your medical insurance. Before your trip,
make sure that you have adequate medical
insurance that includes evacuation. Medical
care in Cambodia is quite medieval and
often overstretched, and you really don’t
want to be on the receiving end of it for very
long. If something seriously untoward happens
to you, then you will need to get to a
hospital in Thailand. Medical care in Thailand
is excellent and cheaper than the U.S. or
Europe. Even so, for anything serious, bills
can mount up to thousands of dollars quite
quickly and you will need to be able to cover
that. See the “Fast Facts” sections in each
chapter for specific hospital information.
on vastly since then, but robberies still happen.
Practice common sense and take the
same precautions you would anywhere else.
The Khmer Rouge may be finished, but
the land mines left over from the decades
of conflict are still there. The good news is
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PLANNING YOUR TRIP TO CAMBODIA 3
SAFETY