Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (31) Sugary Imports

From 2003 to 2008 the importation of soft drinks into Cambodian rose 5,041 percent. Imported sweets rose, f the World Health Organisation is to be believed, by an incredible 24,334 per cent. 

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (30) NGOs

Cambodia has over 3,000 NGOs – the second most per capita, only behind Rwanda.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (29) Birth Certificates

Just 38% of Cambodians have birth certificates.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (28) Registered Vehicles

Cambodia has 2.36 million registered automobiles and motorcycles.

According to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport there are 377,660 registered cars, buses, and trucks, and 1.98 million registered motorcycles.

How many unregistered vehicles there are is unclear, although the World Bank took a stab back in 2003 when they claimed the number was between 20-30 per cent of the Cambodian fleet.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (27) Cambodian Housemaids

There are approximately 30,000 Cambodians working legally in Malaysia.

Most of those are Cambodian women working as housemaids.

A further 1,000 maids per month are likely to be sent to Malaysia once a memorandum of understanding between the two governments is signed in a few months.

The signing of the memorandum will result in the Cambodian government lifting the ban on its citizens working in Malaysia as maids. The ban was a result of some horrific cases of Cambodian maids being abused by their employers

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (26) Chicken Eggs

At the Market: Preserved Duck Eggs

It is estimated that there are 800,000 hens laying eggs in Cambodia.

The Cambodian egg market is still dominated by duck eggs though, with chicken eggs accounting for just 40% of the number consumed.

This is beginning to change however, as more efficient feeding methods and the milder taste of chicken eggs is seeing a rise in their popularity.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (25) New Car Sales

A burgeoning Cambodian middle-class is showing in new car sales; Toyota have announced that they sold 600 new cars in the kingdom, a 50% increase on the corresponding period last year.

It is estimated that 3,000 new cars will be sold this year.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (24) The Growing Middle Class

If you earn $4 a day in Cambodia the International Labour Organization considers you part of the middle-class.*

In 2004 the organization considered 9.4% of Cambodians to be middle-class on that basis.

This quickly grew to 16.1% in 2008.

And by 2017 the middle class is expected to almost double to 32%  of the population.

* This seems an extraordinarily low dollar figure when you consider waitresses and factory workers often earn around a $100 a month.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (23) First Cambodian Comic

A 1966 Cambodian Comic

Cambodia's first comic book- Neytung Neysang- was published in 1964. It was written and drawn by Uth Roeun.

Early signs for the comic weren't good:

"Frankly the illustrations weren't beautiful. I had no idea how to draw properly. When I’d finished illustrating the first one, no printers wanted to take it,” said Uth Roeun.

However once printed in was immediately successful, one run followed another, and Uth Roeun became wealthy.

 Others followed, as comics became hugely popular in Cambodia.

Their popularity fizzled out in the 1980s, though, as television quickly hooked the kids and plagiarism and illegal copying clawed at artists incomes.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (22) Cambodians Working Abroad

Poipet: Cambodian-Thailand border

Government figures show that the number of Cambodians legally working abroad has more than doubled  from the 2009 figure of 53,169 to more than 130,000 in 2012.

 Many more of course slip illegally across the border into Thailand. (the number could be as high as half-a-million) These numbers have been steadily climbing as the Thai government's decision to enforce a 300 baht minimum daily wage makes that country even more attractive to impoverished Cambodian workers.

Cambodian migrant workers sent home US$256 million in 2012 which is 1.8% of the country's GDP.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (21) Chinese Extortionists Arrested in Cambodia

Since the beginning of 2010 more than 500 Chinese and Taiwanese nationals have been arrested in Cambodia for extortion and attempted extortion of their countrymen.

Using the internet to make cheap calls they threaten and cajole folk back home into parting with their money, usually from Phnom PenhVillas.

500 is surely the tip of the iceberg...

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (20) Coconut Palms

It's estimated that there are more than 12 million coconut palms in Cambodia.

Or, to be more precise, a 2004 survey put the number at 12,337,000.

Kampot has the most palms (2,699,000), followed by Kampong Speu (2,536,000). 

Compare that to the remote Northwest province of Oddar Meanchey, which has just 24,000 palms.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (19) Car Import Duties

45% excise tax.

35% import duty.

10% added value tax.

And a host of other logistic fees and 'informal' costs.

Those are the costs that must be paid if you wish to import a car into Cambodia.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts(18) Cooking Fuel

It's not electricity or gas that most Cambodians use for cooking.

According to recent estimates 95% of the population burn wood and charcoal to prepare their meals.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (17) Slavery

Bas-Relief of Slaves, Angkor, Cambodia

Cambodia's population in the 1880s was approximately 900,000 people. It has been estimated that 150,000 of those were slaves.*

Some of that number were hereditary slaves while others became slaves to pay off a debt.

French efforts to stop slavery were stymied by the Cambodian attitude to slavery; since it had been part of Cambodian life from at least as early as the pre-Angkor era it was seen by most Cambodians, and even the slaves themselves, as a normal, natural part of life.

King Norodom Ӏ wouldn't initiate French calls for the abolition of slavery despite several times agreeing to do so, and it wasn't until early in the reign of the more compliant King Sisowath Ӏ (ruled 1904-1927) that the French colonists had their way.

* In A Short History of Cambodia, John Tully

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (16) Bicycle Exports

Cambodia is the second-largest exporter of bikes to the EU.

The Taiwanese export the most bicycles to the EU and they also operate 3 plants in the Kingdom of Cambodia.

Although Cambodia began by assembling cheap bikes using Vietnamese parts, the last year has seen an significant increase in price-per-unit exported, signaling a movement to the manufacture of more medium to top-end bicycles.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (15) Tennis Courts

Cambodia has just 29 tennis courts. That compares to Vietnam's more than 2,300.

Dunno why I find that interesting, but I do.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (14) Freshwater Fish

The Channa marulius or Great Snakehead

Number of species of freshwater fish found in Cambodian waters?

490.

Of these, 462 are native to the kingdom.

Polynemus melanochir dulcis or
the Lake Blackhand Paradise Fish

 One, the 'Lake blackhand paradise fish' is endemic to Cambodia's Tonle Sap lake.


The other 27 fish were either introduced or of 'questionable' origin.

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (13): Roads

Cambodia has less than 10 percent of its roads paved, according to Asean statistics.


And half those roads that are paved are riddled with potholes...

Slightly Interesting Cambodian Facts (11): Cyclos

There were an estimated 1500 cyclo-drivers in Cambodia in 2008. Today there are just 700 peddlers.

The cyclo was brought to Cambodia by the French during the colonization period.