Indeed Elizabeth a sad reflection of the times, made even more disturbing by those tourists who embrace & condone a gun culture. But onto better things... While you were there did you by chance hear anything of the Australian Eva Cox, a remarkable Adelaide women, who runs a much-needed orphanage for the Khmer kids in PP i think? Regards.

Sounds ghastly. But, there is obviously a market for such things or they wouldn't exist. It shows the difference between cultures, but it says far more about the tourists who take take advantage of such 'entertainment' than it does about the Cambodians.

A better question would be "Would we tolerate a shooting range at Port Arthur?"

Thank you, thank you, Elizebeth Asocroft for the information. If I am ever in Cambodia, I would just live to go shooting at this range. I have always wanted to fire an AK 47, just to check the recoil level, the trigger pull, and find out how bad the barrel climbs on full auto.

I still maintain that the 7.62x39 bullet in the AK 47 is a better killer than the Armalites 5.56 mm round. Especially since the Good Guys were dumb enough to replace the "tumbling" 55 grain projectile with that poncey, 62 grain SS 109 round with the hardened tip. I heard the yanks in Iraq had to shoot jihadis 20 times with SS 109 before the scumbags would drop. The damned SS 109 has no stopping power, it would not even make a good rabbit bullet, if you ask me.

Yep, the AK's 7,62x39 round really packs a wallop, and my bet is that sooner or later, the armies of the West will have to admit that the 5.56 mm is just no good and begin development of a round of at least 7mm calibre.

I have fired the .303 Lee Enfield, the Bren, the famous Australian 9mm Owen gun (another good weapon with a poncey round, it should have been made in .45 calibre), a Garand (nice balance, low recoil and good recovery) and the SLR (which kicks like a mule). But I am still sad about not buying a Springfield M-14 in 7.62x54 before the buyback, it would have made an outstanding pig gun.

If you don't like shooting, Elizebeth, then don't go shooting. I don't know what you do for kicks, but whatever it is, I am sure you would not like me looking down my nose at you with a solomn face and telling you that I don't approve of it. Playing the moral puritan has never made people popular, and such a role ill becomes you.

Sorry, Elizabeth. But my outrage meter is not even moving. When you have so many horrible things going on in Cambodia - a high rate of HIV, child prostitution (perpetrated not just by expats but also by Khmer men), mines in forests, and a corrupt and nasty piece of work called Hun Sen who runs the place - well, a firing range for bored foreigners doesn't even rank in the top ten.

The big question is: how do the Cambodians feel about it? That should be the dealbreaker.

Elizabeth: How bloody sanctimonious.

Firstly, people who want to fire a gun don't necessarily want to fire it at anyone, nor do they condone other people firing it at others.

Secondly, maybe it does provide money to the locals. Maybe it's a way of making the best now of something bad in the past. If you're so concerned about being so respectful, then why travel to any country that doesn't have a perfect history of government and human rights past and present? Otherwise, in some way or another, you're part of the problem too. I'm sure in some way the money you spent travelling in south-east Asia found its way into the coffers of the (present) local regime, but never let that get in the way of taking the moral high ground.

For the record, I've been to Auschwitz and I saw people eating potato chips on site. Tacky, yes, but I'm not the local sheriff. I also saw plenty of people then go back to Krakow and go out and get drunk and try to pick up later that night. Tacky at the best of times, yes, but I'm not the local sheriff. Where does the "look how pious I am" zone end and when do people get off their high horses? While we're at it, why don't we reintroduce some "standards" and "morals" back into society and wind back the clock? The irony about free choice is that people are free to make tools of themselves.

By the way, you forgot to mention how tourists are destroying local cultures (ie. your personal museum of quaint locals living in authentic squalour) and all those other perennial favourites that distinguish someone as a "traveller" not a "tourist". Gee, I seem to only remember having that conversation one million times.

A sophomoric article at best.

redneck: You might like The War Nerd (aka Gary Brecher) at exile.ru. I'd highly recommend that site in general. It's gonzo journalism at its best (worst?). The only media website I take seriously.