Siddharth Jain

A night in the life of Siem Reap's seedy side Face it. When you think of Southeast Asian sex tourism, you think of Thailand. But in neighbouring Cambodia, watching the sunset from the top of Angkor Wat isn't the only tourist draw. Five kilometres south of the ancient ruins at Angkor in Siem Reap, the oldest profession in the world is doing a roaring trade. And it's systematic. Once you're inside one of the neon-drenched bars and sufficiently liquored up, it's easy to be led through the motions that will lead to paying for sex.( great line) Tuk-tuk drivers know in which clubs to drop tourists of a certain ilk, and they take their cut. In certain karaoke bars, it's all you can drink and the bargirls hanging around are there for work. From there it's into a brothel. It's all been arranged.

That Cambodia is a poor country and Western sex tourists take advantage of this is well known, and for many Cambodians, prostitution is essential for survival. To imagine this industry would go away with a better economy is simply wrong, and being so close to arguably the biggest tourist destination in Indochina only perpetuates the cycle.

This nightly trajectory from tuk-tuk to club to karaoke bar to brothel will continue, and a good number of tourists to Cambodia aren't taken in by the scam as such they're there to actively seek it out.