Well, things do appear to have become stricter this year so I do not ridicule your caution. Having an onward ticket ticket now seems to be required (by the TDAC). But OP doesn't seem to be violating or abusing the tourist visa and I'm guessing she carries a strong passport. I think she'll be alright.
I would like to visit, but is it worth it? I've been reading up on it but that 's no substitute for going, of course. What do you recommend I see/do there if I go later this year? Thanks.
Yes, so I've heard. The Chinese-built casinos have been famously converted into "pig-slaughtering" centers. I briefly knew a Khmer girl who married into that. She shared a little about it, but not much. I suspect she was/is one of the scammers spamming dating sites. The central government used to be beholden to Vietnam but now is to China. There are lawless areas. The rubber plantations in the north are patrolled by the army to protect plantation hands from bandits. No normal communities with families live in that region. The southwest rural parts on the border with Thailand are apparently still controlled by remnants of the Khmer Rouge. Cambodia's poor, weak government has been a cakewalk for Chinese investment like the container shipping hub they built in Sihanoukville but also for the Chinese underworld.