Nheb Thai, a Cambodian refugee who was deported from the U.S., serves a meal to other deportees in Battambang last year. Cambodia has taken in 566 deportees since inking a 2002 pact with the U.S. that opened the door for hundreds with criminal records to be repatriated. Tang Chhin Sothy /AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Cambodian officials discovered 1,026 pieces of ivory hidden among marble in an abandoned container shipped from Mozambique. Cambodia has emerged as an ivory trade hub in recent years. Ban Chork/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Khieu Samphan, left, former Khmer Rouge head of state, stands at the dock in a court room during a hearing at the U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Friday. Nhet Sok/AP/Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia hide caption
Chinese border patrol gunboats come downriver from the Yunnan province about once a month in a show of force to keep the Mekong River safe, as China's Xinhua News Agency puts it. Michael Sullivan for NPR hide caption
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen waves to supporters in Phnom Penh on Friday. Ahead of Sunday's elections, Hun Sen's ruling party has banned the main opposition party, jailed its leaders and other critics and shut independent media outlets. Opposition politicians in exile are urging a boycott. Heng Sinith/AP hide caption
Children and a woman sit on a locally made vehicle in Laos as they travel during flooding caused by the collapse of a dam in the Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy hydroelectric project in Attapeu Province. Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters hide caption
Monovithya Kem's father, Cambodian opposition leader Kem Sokha, was jailed in September, after his party fared better than expected in local elections in June. "Dictators see free, fair elections as a threat," she tells NPR. Claire Harbage/NPR hide caption
The Sardar Sweet Shop in Varanasi, India, was built around a neem tree considered too holy to cut down. Customers flow in and out, barely noticing the imposing tree. In rural parts, people use the neem tree's leaves to repel insects, the sap for stomach pain and the branches to brush their teeth. As for the candy shop sweets, Diane Cook says they were "fabulous." Diane Cook and Len Jenshel hide caption
Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen speaks to garment workers during a visit to a factory outside Phnom Penh on Aug. 30. His government has slapped the English-language Cambodia Daily with a $6.3 million tax bill and ordered it to pay by Sept. 4. If it doesn't, Hun Sen said, it should "pack up and go." Heng Sinith/AP hide caption
Villagers plant rice in Srekor village. Most residents of the village — which will be submerged when a new dam starts up — have been relocated. Michael Sullivan for NPR hide caption
A tuk-tuk speeds down an urban Cambodian road. One deportee used his English language skills — and sense of humor — to build a successful tuk-tuk tour business. Christopher Groenhout/Getty Images hide caption
Journalist Sydney Schanberg poses for photographers after speaking to reporters in New York in 1991. Mike Albans/Associated Press hide caption
Phan Sopheak, a rice farmer in Cambodia, rests shortly after a man wielding an axe attacked her. She had been patrolling the Prey Lang forest around her village with a volunteer group that is trying to stop illegal logging. Courtesy of Prey Lang Community Network hide caption
A tiger in a rescue center in Cambodia in 2011. Heng Sinith/AP hide caption
Yonta, 6, rests with her sister Montra, 3, and brother Leakhena, 4 months, under a mosquito bed net during monsoon season in July 2010, in Pailin province, Cambodia. Paula Bronstein/Getty Images hide caption
Lucky Iron Fish for sale in Phnom Penh. Michael Sullivan for NPR hide caption
Victoria, a 2-year-old rat, sniffs for TNT, sticking her nose high in the air to indicate she's found some. She works her way down a 10-meter line with a handler on either end, and is able to detect the presence of TNT at a distance of approximately half a yard. Michael Sullivan for NPR hide caption
When Cambodia's government closed the brothels, sex workers in Phnom Penh scattered to bars and entertainment venues. Steve Sapienza for NPR hide caption
Cambodian band Baksei Cham Krong. Mol Kamach/Courtesy of Argot Pictures hide caption
During the dry season, human waste makes the water putrid along the floating village of Prek Toal on Tonle Sap Lake. Courtesy of Taber Hand hide caption
Soum Rithy (center left), who lost family members during the Khmer Rouge regime, and Chum Mey, a survivor of the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, embrace after the verdicts were announced Thursday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Heng Sinith/AP hide caption
Nearly everyone fishes for a living on Laos' Don Sadam Island, near the site of the controversial Don Sahang dam. Locals and environmentalists alike are worried about the dam's effects on fish migration. Michael Sullivan/NPR hide caption
A Cambodian technician carries a backpack-mounted "Trekker" device housing 15 cameras as he demonstrates the technique used to digitally map the Angkor complex in Cambodia. Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
A worker throws a petrol bomb after clashes broke out during a protest Friday near Phnom Penh, Cambodia. At least four people were killed when police opened fire at the workers. Samrang Pring /Reuters /Landov hide caption