Long Beach now has Cambodia Town

There are only a few hundred Thai living in the Twin Cities, so I doubt very much we'll ever have our own business district. Not so in Long Beach where there is now a Cambodia Town. The Los Angeles Times has a nice write up including a picture gallery.

I promise I won't promote Cambodia very often, Thailand and Cambodia having a relationship much like that of Sweden and Norway. Both Thailand and Cambodia think of each other as the junior kingdom. In Cambodia's case that means a history going back to the 3rd Century AD; Thailand traces its development as a nation back to 1238, but archeologists say that people have lived in Thailand for 500,000 years!

There have been numerous wars between Thailand and Cambodia, but now Thailand is home to many Cambodian refugees as a result of their recent troubled history.

As a Thai I am happy to see Cambodians in American earn this recognition, much like the long-established Thai Town in Los Angeles. Southeast Asians may never come to dominate the United States like Germans and Italians have, but we promise keep working to improve the quality of American restaurant food!