Nude photos at temple site spark anger

At least five foreign visitors have been arrested and deported this year for taking nude photos at Cambodia's most popular tourist attraction, the sacred complex of temples that includes the Angkor Wat.

Authorities have no tolerance for people stripping down at Angkor Archeological Park, a sprawling, centuries-old UNESCO World Heritage Site that drew 2 million visitors in 2014. The incidents are also upsetting to ordinary Cambodians, for whom the complex holds spiritual and historical significance.

"Angkor Wat is the most sacred temple in Cambodia. Not only Cambodians but also tourists have to pay respect," said Rattanak Te, a resident in Phnom Penh, the capital.

"It definitely upsets me and all Cambodians, because outsiders will think we, Cambodian people, are careless and do not take good care of this World Heritage (site) by allowing these tourists to do such an unacceptable act."

This month, guards arrested two US sisters after seeing them snap photos of each other's naked backsides in the temple of Preah Khan, said Kerya Chau Sun, spokeswoman for the Apsara Authority, which manages the temple complex in Siem Reap, in northwestern Cambodia.

Lindsey Adams, 22, and Leslie Adams, 20, both of Prescott, Arizona, were each given a six-month suspended sentence, a fine of 1 million riel ($250), deportation and a four-year ban from the country.

In January, three Frenchmen in their 20s were deported after they were caught taking nude photographs at Angkor complex. Three tourists were also caught riding a motorbike naked near Phnom Penh in January, according to local media reports.

Angkor is not the only world-renowned site that has had to deal with nude tourists. In 2014, officials at Peru's Machu Picchu said they were increasing surveillance after visitors were caught taking nude photographs or running through the ancient site naked.

(China Daily 02/28/2015 page11)