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Dear Jonathan,

Feel free to use it. I have had another response to this item.  Someone I
knew from Cambodia but had not seen since contacted me after reading it. He
told me he had been lucky. He only caught amoebic dysentry. Of two other
mutual friends, one died, apparently from drinking too much cheap alcohol
and another contracted HIV. A third person we knew, I discovered
independantly, was shot and maimed by some crossfire. Not recommended for
first time teachers with little travel experience. 

Regards,
Adrian.

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Watch your health!

                                                       
                   My experience in Cambodia could hardly be considered 
up-to-date as I worked there during 1994-1995, however I doubt if there
has been much improvement in the level of hygiene in recent years, so I 
think my comments will still be relevent.

                   While I was teaching English there nearly everybody I
knew fell ill on a regular basis. This did not only include the common
Asian problems of diarrhoea and skin complaints, but things like malaria, 
dengue fever, hepatitis (the whole alphabet), amoebic dysentery and
blood poisoning.  

		   After six months in the country and after a couple of
very unpleasant bouts of severe diarrhoea I somehow contracted the last
of these. I will spare you the gruesome details of what a body looks 
like when it erupts all over in huge poison filled ulcers, watch a 
horror movie! I then developed pneumonia and a collapsed lung just to top 
it off.
                   Neadless to say I required a long period of
hospitalisation first in Cambodia and later back in the UK, with enormous
quantities of antibiotics. Of course I survived otherwise I wouldn't be 
writing this, nevertheless the doctor who treated me in England told me 
at my final outpatients visit that he had no idea why I was
still alive.

                   Please do not think that I am trying to put anybody off 
teaching in Cambodia. Even after my experience I still do not regret 
going there. In fact travelling to the temples of Angkor in 1994,
before there was any mass tourism there, and the place was still 
virtually deserted probably ranks as the number one travel experience of my 
life. The point I am trying to make is that serious illness 
represents a far greater risk to your health in Cambodia than the more 
commonly cited problems of guns and mines (although these are real risks 
too).

                   Take care, Cambodia can be a great experience but it is
not like working in Thailand.

                   Good luck.

                   Adrian Straw.
                   Phuket,
                   Thailand.
                   e-mail Adrian.iol.htm@Bob.psu.ac.th