Cambodia arrests nude tourists
Print Edition
CAMBODIA’S most popular tourist attraction — the complex of ancient temples that includes Angkor Wat — is suffering from a form of overexposure: At least five foreign visitors have been arrested and deported this year for taking nude photos at the sacred sites.
Authorities have no tolerance for people stripping down at Angkor Archaeological Park, a sprawling, centuries-old UNESCO World Heritage Site that drew 2 million visitors last year. The incidents are also upsetting to ordinary Cambodians, for whom the Khmer-era complex holds enormous spiritual and historical significance.
“Angkor Wat is the most famous sacred ... temple in Cambodia, where everyone has to pay respect,” said Rattanak Te, an administrative assistant who lives in Phnom Penh, the capital.
“It upsets me ... because outsiders will think we are careless and do not take good care of this World Heritage (site) by allowing these tourists to do such an unacceptable act.”
This month, guards arrested two American sisters after seeing them snap photos of each other’s naked backsides in the temple of Preah Khan, said Kerya Chau Sun, spokeswoman for the Apsara Authority, which manages the temple complex in Siem Reap, in northwest Cambodia.
Lindsey Adams and Leslie Adams, both of Arizona, were each sentenced to a six-month suspended sentence, a fine of 1 million riel (US$250), deportation and a four-year ban from the country.
A message on a cellphone listed for Lindsey Adams said the voicemail was full and not accepting messages. She also didn’t respond to a Facebook message.
In January, three French men in their 20s were deported after they were caught taking nude photographs at Angkor complex.
Another photo showing a topless woman at the site has circulated on social media, but officials believe it is fake, according to Chau Sun.
Three tourists were also caught riding a motorbike naked near Phnom Penh in January, local media reported.
This year’s incidents were not firsts for the Angkor temples, but Chau Sun said earlier attempts by tourists to get naked were thwarted.
Signs at the temples and ticketing booths urge visitors to behave respectfully, and Chau Sun said the Apsara Authority plans to add posters warning them that taking nude photographs can lead to arrest and deportation.
“As a Cambodian, I am hurt ... I think especially to the poor Cambodians saving to be able to come across the country to pray at Angkor,” she said.
“They don’t understand why people could behave like that.”
The temples are more than stone ruins for most Cambodians, said Trevor Sofield, a tourism professor at the University of Tasmania in Australia. They are places of Buddhist worship and a symbol of Khmer heritage, he said.
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