Amelia Bambridge missing

[angell84]

Amelia Bambridge has gone missing in Cambodia.

I really feel terribly sad for her, it is looking like another young life has been wiped out.

I am solo female travelling right now in Europe, and I was in Thailand last year.

Thailand really struck me as dangerous. I could immediately see the problems:
White foreign women are seen as incredibly exciting and glamorous. A local man told me that be wanted to "do a white" before he got married.
The extreme poverty means that people are a bit more reckless with their actions.

Women have been murdered in Thailand, now Cambodia.

I think that these countries are often advertised as a normal part of a gap year, as fairly safe.

Do you think that there should be more safety warnings to women? These countries are not safe at all. And I think that women should be at least be told of the many risks, bedore still making their own mind up whether to go or not.

It makes me so sad to see another life, presumably (she is still missing) gone

To put this in perspective, female tourists with different cultural backgrounds in most countries are of interest to local men. Anyone who's ever gone to Italy in their teens or twenties will have plenty of stories (I was once pulled into a moving car by a couple of young Neopolitans when walking along the seafront in Naples). Young backpackers have disappeared in Oz too. The reality is, when you have very little money and want to meet people and have a good time but you've little real life experience, you are going to be staying in places and mixing with people where there is a greater element of risk, whether that's having stuff knicked, getting ripped off, taking something that makes you ill right through to the very numerically unlikely fatal accident/attack. Add drugs & alcohol into the equation and judgements are even more off kilter. Just do a quick Google of female tourists murdered - incident after incident comes up from a Brit woman in a hostel in Oz, Scandanavian women in Morocco, a family attacked with machetes in the Bahamas, American female tourist killed in Cancun etcetc. There have also been a number of murders of foreign tourists in the UK.

On another note, Amelia's body has yet to be found so still unknown whether she drowned or was murdered by the people taken into custody. A heart breaking time for her family.

these beach parties are high risk events - drugs, too much booze, the sea and yes, probably a lot of predators both local and foreign. Trouble is that they are seen as 'must do's'.

I hope there is a happy outcome but it doesn't sound like there will be - in which case I hope they find the culprits.

sad news this morning. Maybe an accident, maybe not - I hope they find out.

I disagree with your statement that these countries are not safe at all and I think the risks are apparent to people with a modicum of common sense.

Some people seem to take unnecessary risks when on holiday - drinking to excess, taking drugs in countries with very strict penalties, not wearing a helmet when riding a scooter/motor bike - if you don't behave in this way in your home country, why take risks in countries which very often have lower standards of healthcare/emergency treatment. Lonely planet and the uk gov websites provide lots of information on crime levels, healthcare, risks for tourists so the information is available.
My comments are not about the Amelia Bambridge case, but general comments regarding the need to have a level of awareness before travelling to any new country. I have travelled extensively in Asia (on my own with children and with girl friends) and there have only been a couple of occasions when I felt uncomfortable and felt it was wise to return to the hotel.

@ShanghaiDiva I have been to India, and an English girl was murdered while I was there.

I am just trying to think compassionately of these young girls.

But it's a hard balance - I wouldn't like to stop some one from going somewhere.

I just think that I will tell my young female relatives, of the very real risks

There are very real risks everywhere sadly for women @angell84, our U.K. rape figures demonstrate that, it’s not just ‘these countries’. Rather disingenuous to think otherwise really but how seriously they are investigated does obviously differ. But I do wholeheartedly agree that we should teach our daughters not to put themselves at any risk, whether that’s wandering home by themselves from a club in Brighton through to taking drugs on a beach at night in South East Asia.

I was flashed at while walking to a yoga class in northern India. My daughter and my partner were with me on the trip, it was the one time I had ventured out alone and it was in broad daylight. I was 31 at the time. I can imagine young girls travelling alone are very vulnerable. It is such a shame. 😕