Houston,
we have a (gambling) problem

Charles Rollet, May Titthara and Vandy Muong

“Five…four…three…two…one!” a loudspeaker blares in Thai. Seconds later, an ear-piercing swoosh sweeps across the mountains as a 10-metre-long bamboo and PVC pipe rocket takes off and rapidly climbs into the sky.

Squinting past their wide-brimmed hats, hundreds of Thai gamblers eye the rocket as it travels up and eventually becomes just a tiny black dot, leaving a thick column of white smoke in its wake. At stake are substantial sums of Thai baht the punters have bet on how long the rocket will stay in the air, and how high it will go.

The rockets, which can ascend up to 2km, may excite the gamblers, but they terrify the Cambodian population living below. Homes and fields have been damaged by the dozens of missiles that land nearby every week.

Despite locals’ concerns, and a crackdown on the practice in Thailand, the operation is fully legal in Cambodia. The operators have even obtained a license from the Ministry of Interior signed by Cambodia’s top police official, although locals accuse authorities of directly pocketing funds made from the scheme.

But in this relatively remote part of Cambodia, where the closest town is the impoverished former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng, the complaints are ignored. And the rockets keep falling.

extremely long and funny article here:

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/houston-we-have-gambling-problem

Try that at the Chong Chom Crossing and the Thai army will more than likely fire one back up where it came from as they did in 2011.

Thai tea money hard at work. Somyot is enjoying his retirement.