For this course, I have decided to focus on Cambodia. Cambodia is located in southeast Asia; it is surrounded by three countries and a body of water. It looks small on a map, but there are tons of people that reside in this country and its population continues to grow every day. 

The growth in this area is mainly due to tourism, real estate, and agricultural needs. However, it is still one of the poorest countries in Asia due to their corruption, poor jobs and opportunities, limited resources, and unfair income inequalities. On top of the already listed challenges that Cambodia and its people face; they also are very undereducated. The population here is a 16.2 million people but sometimes fluctuates due to the various diseases, low life expectancy, and high death rates. These are just some of the health disparities that residents face daily as well as not being able to get the healthcare they need when they need it.  

Since Cambodia is a poorer country, they tend to “live off the land” as some may say. They are relying on the resources that they have present in their area to be able to live. It seems like it would be okay, however, they are not replacing the goods they are using so it is causing some major issues. For the country to regain its economic stability, they will have to be able to learn new skills and trades that allow them to have growth in their economy and to be able to get these resources from somewhere else or by using an alternative, more efficient resource that will get the job done in a better and safer way for the environment and its people. 

Although the people here have endured a lot of hardships, the Cambodian people are very welcoming and happy to have tourists visit their country. They appreciate that visitors try to make an effort in understanding their customs and beliefs even if they are not the same as their own. It shows respect and they take pride in their country.

While conducting this research, I did find some facts that I thought were very interesting. The two that I found to be the most interesting were that it is considered impolite to point to the bottom of your feet or someone else’s because after the day is over, they are considered the dirtiest and least sacred, so showing them to others or pointing at them is very disrespectful. They also only use the right hand to eat because they use the left hand to go to the restroom, so using it for anything other than that is also not proper etiquette.

Moody’s Analytics. “Forecast Change: Cross-Country – Global Macro Model [May 2019].” Cambodia | Economic Indicators | Moody’s Analytics, 16 May 2019, www.economy.com/cambodia/indicators.

“2019 World Population by Country.” 2019 World Population by Country, worldpopulationreview.com/.

“UNICEF Cambodia.” Home Page, www.unicef.rg/cambodia/.

Rodgers, Gregory. “The Top Etiquette Dos and Don’ts for Showing Respect While in Cambodia.” TripSavvy, TripSavvy, 26 June 2019, www.tripsavvy.com/etiquette-dos-and-donts-for-cambodia-1629160.