 Siem
Reap, Dec. 5 (AP): Former U.S. President Bill Clinton played tourist on Tuesday
with a visit to Cambodia's Angkor temple complex, as he neared the end of an
Asian tour of programs to help victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and
HIV/AIDS.
Dressed casually in khaki trousers and a green shirt, Clinton was accompanied
by U.S. Secret Service agents as he toured the archaeological site 230
kilometers (145 miles) northwest of the capital, Phnom Penh.
Tourists from Asia, Europe and the U.S. expressed surprise to see Clinton and
took snapshots of the former president. Last year, about 700,000 visitors toured
the temples, Cambodia's biggest tourist attraction.
Onlookers cheered as Clinton climbed steep steps leading to the central tower
of Angkor Wat. From ground level, some French tourists clapped and clicked their
cameras when they spotted Clinton, who waved from a window at the top of the
monument.
``Here we are on the other side of the world _ we've bumped into the
ex-president,'' said Douglas Rubin, a 45-year-old American who works for a
security company in San Diego, California, and was visiting Angkor for the first
time.
Rubin said that he had heard Clinton was also in town but he did not expect
to find him mingling with ordinary tourists like himself.
``He came over and shook my hand. Then he came around and asked me where I
was from. I said I'm from San Diego, California, and he shook my hand again,''
Rubin said. ``It's great.''
The Angkor complex was the capital of the ethnic Khmer empire from the ninth
to the 15th centuries, serving as the administrative center and place of worship
for a prosperous kingdom stretching from Vietnam to China and the Bay of Bengal.
Later Tuesday Clinton resumed his schedule of highlighting humanitarian
issues, paying a half-hour visit to a children's hospital in Siem Reap.
Clinton was in Cambodia to tour AIDS-related projects and local organizations
supported by the Clinton Foundation's HIV/AIDS Initiative.
The visit came at the end of a tour of Asian countries devastated by the
Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004. The trip included stops in India, Thailand,
Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and is expected to wind up Wednesday in
Vietnam's capital, Hanoi.
On Monday, Clinton visited Phnom Penh, where he praised Cambodia's efforts in
fighting HIV/AIDS and pledged to work with the government to expand treatment
for children living with the disease. He signed a memorandum of understanding
for his foundation to continue support and expand pediatric treatment of
HIV/AIDS in Cambodia. |
Angkor
Palace Resort & Spa Siem Reap
