Dangerous Areas in Asia for Tourists
Authored by Anita Saran in Asia
Published on 09-30-2009
The world is full of wonderful holiday destinations, but some are best avoided despite the delights they offer. Here are three countries to steer clear of in Asia.
Cambodia
For 35 years, various conflicts have been raging in Cambodia over the control for its territories. It is crawling with Interpol’s most feared fugitives and riddled with millions of land mines and has suffered severe deforestation. Although the numbers of land mines have been greatly reduced, every month, more than 150 Cambodians step on land mines.
In 1978, some westerners were killed by the brutal Khmer Rouge along with the Americans, Michael Scott Deeds and James Clark. The two were captured by the Khmer Rouge when they had sailed mistakenly into Cambodian waters.
Suspected as spies for the American CIA and Vietnam, they were tortured for over a month with electric shocks. Wherever western tourists go, they are trailed by beggars: the impoverished and disfigured victims of Pol Pot’s savage regime.
The countryside may be beautiful, but in many places, the bones of the victims of the Khmer Rouge litter the earth.
Although the Khmer Rouge is no more and some semblance of peace seems to reign over this country, anything can happen. Most people own firearms and The Forbes magazine lists Cambodia as one of the most dangerous tourist destinations.
Iraq
Since the United States handed the keys of the kingdom back to Iraqi troops, places like Baghdad and Basra are said to be getting gradually safer. However, the Dutch expert on Iraq, Robert Soeterik says: “In general, the situation has improved, but Iraq remains a very dangerous destination, where people die or get wounded on an almost daily basis.”
He adds that tourists are still potential targets for terrorist groups in Mosul and the Kirkuk district.
Countries like Belgium and Brussels discourage their citizens from traveling to Iraq. In fact, the ravaged country is no longer a delight for tourists, having lost most of its rich heritage to the war. According to Middle East expert Robert Soeterik , only the religiously motivated may want to visit Iraq.
Pakistan
A severely impoverished country (even when compared with Africa), Pakistan is ruled by greed and politics. It is a lawless place where only five percent of the population is said to pay taxes; only 35% are literate and 30% live below the poverty line.
The gun culture in the country is almost as massive as the one in the United States, what with cheap weapons readily available from neighboring Afghanistan. The country is also the haven of terrorist groups like the Taliban and is thought to be hiding Osama Bin Laden.
Add to this frequent earthquakes and an estimated 4 million heroin addicts fostered by Afghanistan’s fields of poppy, yet Pakistan seems to feature on the travel itinerary of the adventurous – hippies, trekkers and mountain climbers.
But American adventurers are certainly not welcome in Pakistan. In 1999, they were proclaimed as fair game by the religious scholar Nizam-ud-din Shamzai who said: “the spilling of American blood is permissible.”
Besides, tourists are frequently injured and killed in the rapid fire between Sunni and Shia Muslim communities.
Dangerous destinations like Cambodia, Iraq and Pakistan attract those who like to live on the edge. But although these places are guaranteed to get the adrenaline pumping, they put lives at risk.
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The info on Cambodia is badly outdated or wrong.
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I was just in Cambodia last year. Judging by the teeming tourist trade there, I would hardly put it in the company of Iraq and Pakistan. You’re thinking Myanmar, perhaps? Or maybe India or Nepal, with their ongoing Maoist insurgencies? North Korea? Are you implying that maybe Afghanistan is safer? Shoot, Thailand is more politically unstable than Cambodia these days, though to be fair I wouldn’t endorse Hun Sen for a good governance award.
Cambodia does not belong on this list, period.
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Your comments about Cambodia are wrong. Your outdated statements make you look like a fool. Your words make your credibility vacant and makes EduBooks look like a vessel of trash information. Shame on you.
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Facts are facts. Here’s 2009 info on Cambodia:
http://www.smartraveller.gov.au/zw-cgi/view/Advice/CAMBODIA
Best
Anita
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Anita, the site on which you rely is a mere caution of a foreign embassy, which is not uncommon at all anywhere in the world. You cannot refer to such a source and jump into such a blind conclusion. Tell me every corner of Cambodia you want to go, I will show you around. You know nothing about Cambodia.
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Anita, have you ever been to Cambodia? This is really irresponsible writing. You should change your post for those who don’t look at the comments.
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Jeff,
In fairness to the author, there are quite a few online resources that caution people traveling in Cambodia. Maybe some of such authority online resources are outdated as pointed out here, but it’s not easy to cross check such info unless you are a local or travelers who have visited the whole country regions personally.
It’s easy for someone who happens to know a bit about Cambodia to attack the author who has done research to learn about the topic and write about it. But if that someone needs to do research himself on any unfamiliar topic, he will find doing research less easy than sitting here and personally attacking others.
If there are inaccuracies, you are welcome to correct them, but do not use bad languages like you did.
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Having just come home from a backpacking trip that included one month in Cambodia, I have to strongly disagree with Cambodia being on this list, especially among the ranks of Iraq and Pakistan.
Land mines are a serious problem there, but only in remote areas generally far from any tourist destinations. The Khmer Rouge should not even be mentioned as a threat to tourists now, considering that the regime lost its power years ago and no longer poses a present threat to anyone. This information is misleading and the author is severely misinformed.
Worse places for tourists in Asia include India along the borders with Pakistan and in Kashmir, the Southern Philippines, the militant Muslim areas of Indonesia…really Cambodia is among the least dangerous countries in Asia right now. Badly researched article.
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Indian Kashmir, Bihar State and all the northeastern states of the Union of India should be added to the list.
Extremely dangerous and hazardous to your health.
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Your comments about Cambodia are totally wrong! I lived and worked in Phnom Penh for 1,5 years from 2006 to 2007, and I had no problems! I travelled all over the country with no difficulties, in fact, Cambodians are very welcoming to ex pats and tourists! You cannot put Cambodia on the same list as Iraq and Pakistan!
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This is poor and sensationalistic journalism and writing. I’ve lived in Cambodia and walked large tracts of the country as part of an archaeological survey and NEVER seen these supposed bones of Khmer Rouge victims that litter the country. The Khmer Rouge have been out of power for years and there is no danger of them coming to power again (have you even heard of the ongoing Khmer Rouge Tribunal?). More people are killed by lightening strikes than landmines in Cambodia (see: http://www.camnet.com.kh/cambodia.daily/selected_features/cd-Sept-15-2008.htm)
Angkor Wat is a major tourist destination in the region and has had over TWO MILLION tourists a year. Do you really think Iraq and Pakistan get that many tourists a year? Besides that there is booming luxury tourism in Cambodia See, for example, this three-year-old article on luxury tourism in Cambodia from the NY Times: http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/travel/22cambodia.html
Did you use any sources in this article that weren’t at least 30 years old? I’d take this article offline, you’re just embarrassing yourself.
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I’d been living in Cambodia for more than 20 years. I traveled across the country to almost every provinces around the Tonle Sap rivers. I would say that Cambodia is pretty safe to travel around. Of course, even living in the U.S, I have to be cautious all the time to be safe. Safety precaution is everywhere.
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I have read a number of misguided pieces on Cambodia but this one definitely takes the cake for the reason of having the greatest amount of irrelevant and incorrect information in a single piece. Allow me to highlight the most glaring inaccuracies:
(1) I have never seen an authoritative report on how many Interpol suspects have been captured in this country; it is true that Cambodia attracts a crowd of shady personalities but there is no reason to believe they have committed crimes against other visitors;
(2) It is true that there are still landmines in Cambodia but the ones that are still there are far away from the main tourist destinations;
(3) Yes, that is true Westerners have been kidnapped and killed in Cambodia in the way described but last it happened was more than a decade ago when the remnants of the Khmer Rouge were still active; that’s no longer the case;
(4) You would really have to look to find those bones!
(5) There are people who own illegal weapons but they are definitely not “most” Cambodians; besides, there are far more weapons per capita in the US than there is in Cambodia. Does this make the US an unsafe travel destination?
(6) How does the claim that Cambodia “suffered severe deforestation” add weight to the claim that it is an unsafe travel destination?
There are real dangers in Cambodia of which the most glaring is the Cambodian road traffic which is one of the most ridicuously unruly I have seen anywhere in the world. There are bag snatchers who attack women riding on the back of scooters; these attacks are frequent and people do get hurt in them on top of losing their property. There are streets filled with garbage and ubiquitous beggars which are as annoying as this report claims they are (this is the single correct statement in this report).
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If it’s just a minor mistake, we’d be happy to help correct it. Yet, i don’t see we can really do anything about it as most of it, if not all, are just totally outdated and incorrect.
By publishing this, you’re in some way misleading bunches of ppl and potentially harming the country’s image. Those who have no clues about Cambodia would never even open their eyes to see the country after they read this post.
The country is struggling hard to improve its economy and one of the big chunks of it comes from tourism industry. Imagine potential tourists read your post, would they feel like going there at all?
Good try to come up with this list; however, I think you shd correct the mistake. Most of the comments here also suggest Cambodia be removed from the list.
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What about North Korea? Have the author been to North korea? or the author should travel to the south of Thailand. Does she think bomb attack in south of Thailand is ok? People are dying everyday and trust me you don’t want to be in the south.
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The description about Cambodia is completely wrong. The situation mentioned above was what happened in Cambodia during 1970s or 1980s.
Since 1990s, Cambodia have achieved significant development in all sectors, including political stability, economics, toursism, trading, international cooperation, and so forth. In 2009, there were more than 2 million international visitors traveling in Cambodia. Koreans, Chineses, Japaneses and Americans are among the top visitors who travel to Cambodia. In 2010, it’s forecasted that there will be about 3 million tourists visiting this country, i.e. 250,000 visitors per month.
Come and visit Cambodia, you will see the fact. Cambodia is a lovely country, and should be listed as one of the top travelling destinations in Asia.
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I am Cambodian person. i was born in Cambodia, and grown up. I believe everything Anita has said is totally correct for the PAST, but NOT today, Currently, Cambodia is totally different. we are now full of peace and Cambodian people are very delicate as well. we are living happily without killing each other. Cambodia is not the terrified place for people not to visit anymore. we have many different attractive places for everyone to visit such as Temples, Tonle Sap river, and so on so fourth. when talking about FOOD, it is unpredictable. Cheap and Yummy!
Please Anita, if you have summer vacation, you can make up your mind to come to visit and see what have been changed. you may like it, mayn’t you?
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I live in Cambodia and have the privilege to work with its people on a daily basis. I can only say that the article could only be written by someone who has never been to this fantastic country.
Having grown up in London all my life, I have learned wonderful new things from my 18 months in the country and strongly, strongly recommend anyone to visit it. I feel significantly more threatened in London than anywhere out here. Don’t believe this rubbish.
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