Pavlovs other pet

Good decision...never give to child beggars as it will not benefit them in any way, all the money goes to their handlers or parents, and it keeps them from attending school. Don't buy trinkets or books from the children selling them for the same reasons. Also don't give to the women who appear to be carrying an ill baby/toddler, they drug and or get them drunk in order to play the pity card. The more tourists continue to give money to these beggars, the more it will continue.

Elderly and disabled I have no problem giving them some KHR (riels), as there is no support system in place from the government as in developed countries, and many don't have families that are able to support them.

As a general rule of thumb, I tend to not give money to any beggars in the main tourist hot-spots. When children approach you begging, just say "A'tay oun" and they will generally leave you alone.

Along the riverfront I use to watch a guy wearing military fatigues running the trinket/book selling kids around on his moto. Not seen him for a while, but the same kids are still at it. Guess who'd be getting the cash in this little business venture???

There is a woman who begs in front of Chiang Mai restaurant regularly and uses a child as a 'prop'. She gets the child to pretend to be asleep and then hits on passers by. I watched her for a long time one night and know what the game is.

At Psar Kandal one day I watched an old, wretched looking lady who was badly stooped over begging from locals and tourists. I watched her as she worked the short stretch of street, got to the end and went around the corner stood up straight and walked off.

I spite of this, I'll give a bit to the oldies at times, and the limbless ones but it's usually 500 riel - it took me a while to arrive at this amount, but I soon realised that I couldn't afford to keep handing out dollars, this is enough for a feed of rice or a bottle of water. I usually ignore the ones who continually pester me when I'm eating though and never give to the kids or the ones using kids as props.

What, exactly, does that have to do with the new forum?

Must say I'm glad to hear that there is a new cambodia forum. I hope and trust this will be much better than that largely unmoderated piece of crap K***.

Good luck with the venture here, and I'm sure that you will take many of their disenchanted readers.