A minor rant about PP in 2015 ...

[MrWorldwide]

Snookyville sucks more then pp, to be blunt. Siem reap was the only long term option i found in cambodia.

Sick of the food yet. That will get to you sooner rather then later. As will the touts and tuk tuk guys. I planned b it but did live there about 4 months. Could not wait to get out.

These nasty tuk tuk dudes will wait daily for you to exit your place with their s ** t eating grin, sometimes even coming into the restaurant while your eating to bother people about rides. Others will slowly drive behind you as you walk down the street. They will also grab bags as you enter and exit the hotel without asking.

Watch out for immigration at pp airport. They will ask for bribe money right out in the open even with other travelers around.

OK - had no problem with bribes at the airport, but the system they use to issue the VOA is a joke when you have a couple of hundred people to process : that said, I dodged the taxi touts and that part of the trip was OK.

The food here - on balance - is excellent. I prefer simple food done well over exotica like frogs legs, but I stand by that claim. I know it will get me eventually - been there, got the vomit-covered t-shirt on a previous trip - but right now I'm salivating thinking about my next visit to one of the restaurants back on the other side of the river. What this guy can do with a few vegetables and some chicken just blows my mind - my only complaint is that the sauce is so rich and the little potatoes so filling that you'd be a the size of a house if you ate it all the time. On the Khmer front, I could eat Beef Lok Lak until they prised my fingers from the fork - its just braised steak and onions done right, but I adore it. I also prefer their version of Tom Yum Goong to anything I've had in Thailand or Thai restaurants in Australia, but I expect that varies from restaurant to restaurant. Even the food court (ok, ok ...) in Sorya turned out something edible for $2.50 : I largely gave up on food courts in Thailand. I'm hardly a gourmand, but Ipoh is the last town where the food was such an unexpectedly pleasant surprise - major thumbs up to PP on that score.

And I did get a decent tuk-tuk driver coming back to the hotel this morning, the rooster stopped crowing and the next call to prayers is a couple of hours away, so perhaps things are looking up.

[phuketrichard]

Watch out for immigration at pp airport. They will ask for bribe money right out in the open even with other travelers around.

More than 100 entries through, and another 100+ departures through, PP airport immigration. Never once did this happen to me nor did I ever observe it happen to anyone else.

In fact this is the first time I have heard anyone report it....and I know a lot of people who regularly travel in and out.

So it is definitley not the usual occurrence.

most likely when the person did not have a photo and they ask for an extra $1 :-)

[LivinginKata]

Enough of the off topic posts not related to Cambodia or this topic. 6 posts removed.

[Sheryl]

Cease and desist the flamefest/quarrel, please.

Mr WW, sounds like you are over on Chuoy Changvar. It has its pluses but as you have noted, scarcity of shops (though over time this will change). As another poster said, plenty of places on the main side of the river that are free of beggars/touts but convenient to restaurants, shops etc. In fact, the whole city minus a few tourist enclaves. BKK1 and 2, Tuol Tum Pong are the most popular with Westerners (with the last being the least expensive rent-wise) but plenty of other areas as well.

Re the ATMs, the ones I use (FTB and ANZ) mostly dispense 20's and an odd $50. I don't think I've ever gotten a $100. Of course this is withdrawing from a local bank account, you may be using ATM to withdraw from a foreign account. If so, suggest you open a local account. Among other things, eliminates the ATM fee, and you can then withdraw smaller amounts more often. It also helps to always withdraw amounts that are not rounded to a hundred, e.g. $180 rather than $200, that way you are sure to get at least a few 20's or tens.

To break $50 and $100 bills, I just buy a prepaid phone card, as I'll need it sooner or later.

Agree about the food (though as a vegetarian I am not enthusiastic about the local cuisine). Western, middle eastern, south Asian and other foreign cuisines are fabulously made and at bargain prices, and usually authentic (in great contrast to Bkk where it is very, very hartd to get foreign dishes made authentically). Best pizza in SE Asia IMO (Brooklyn Pizza especially good). If you haven't discovered it yet, the online order system is well worth the $1 charge http://www.yourphnompenh.com/order/ You upload a map of where you are when you register and from there on, no hassles in explaining your location, and lots of great restaurants to choose from.

[Sheryl]

Watch out for immigration at pp airport. They will ask for bribe money right out in the open even with other travelers around.

More than 100 entries through, and another 100+ departures through, PP airport immigration. Never once did this happen to me nor did I ever observe it happen to anyone else.

In fact this is the first time I have heard anyone report it....and I know a lot of people who regularly travel in and out.

So it is definitley not the usual occurrence.

most likely when the person did not have a photo and they ask for an extra $1 :-)

My guess as well (or other lack of requirement, e.g. no free page in the passport - the Camb visas take up a whole page so you need an entire blank page) but as worded he makes it sound like simply getting stamped in or out results in a demand for a bribe, definitely not the case.

If you lack something required, you will indeed likely have the chance to get around it for a "fee". Same is true in my experience with immigration in Thailand and many other countries. Since the alternative is to be denied entry, most people don't mind this.

[MrWorldwide]

I'll definitely check out the pizza situation tonight - it's great to have options. Interesting that some slag off the restaurants along the riverside - I agree that they are a mixed bag but the Tikka Masala I had a couple of nights back was superb : I guess you pay your money and take your chances.

[CrummyJuggler]

hi,

Is the situation the same everywhere in Cambodia ? We can just ignore everybody but they stay around and follow you ?

Sianookville and Siam reap are better ?

Thanks.

Wherever there are barangs there will be beggars and scammers. They can stand and stare at me for as long as they like. they are wasting their time not mine. My opinion is that Siem Reap is closest to international standards on whatever level you want to compare. Probably because the development is more recent and planned. Cambodia will not change because Cambodians don't see any problems. They like it just the way it is.

[thailandforumaddict]

I also don't give a <removed> except when they are stinky, then I feel like to kick them.

So do you mean that at Siam reap I could avoid being stalked by anyone if I plan my trip first ?

Thanks again.

hi,

Is the situation the same everywhere in Cambodia ? We can just ignore everybody but they stay around and follow you ?

Sianookville and Siam reap are better ?

Thanks.

Wherever there are barangs there will be beggars and scammers. They can stand and stare at me for as long as they like. they are wasting their time not mine. My opinion is that Siem Reap is closest to international standards on whatever level you want to compare. Probably because the development is more recent and planned. Cambodia will not change because Cambodians don't see any problems. They like it just the way it is.

[Saastrajaa]

Watch out for immigration at pp airport. They will ask for bribe money right out in the open even with other travelers around.

More than 100 entries through, and another 100+ departures through, PP airport immigration. Never once did this happen to me nor did I ever observe it happen to anyone else.

In fact this is the first time I have heard anyone report it....and I know a lot of people who regularly travel in and out.

So it is definitley not the usual occurrence.

Agreed, this never, ever happens. The only people the immigration people try to get bribes off are overseas Khmers, never non-Khmer foreigners.

[fey]

Watch out for immigration at pp airport. They will ask for bribe money right out in the open even with other travelers around.

More than 100 entries through, and another 100+ departures through, PP airport immigration. Never once did this happen to me nor did I ever observe it happen to anyone else.

In fact this is the first time I have heard anyone report it....and I know a lot of people who regularly travel in and out.

So it is definitley not the usual occurrence.

most likely when the person did not have a photo and they ask for an extra $1 :-)

My guess as well (or other lack of requirement, e.g. no free page in the passport - the Camb visas take up a whole page so you need an entire blank page) but as worded he makes it sound like simply getting stamped in or out results in a demand for a bribe, definitely not the case.

If you lack something required, you will indeed likely have the chance to get around it for a "fee". Same is true in my experience with immigration in Thailand and many other countries. Since the alternative is to be denied entry, most people don't mind this.

True, they don't get everybody and the odds are with you. There was a minor error in my passport and it was left up to me what i wanted to pay, they mentioned payment but did not specify an amount.

However i was clearly asked for money and i found it intimidating because i did not know what my rights were and whether i would be allowed to board.

Never encountered this before or since in any other country. If you think corruption, bribes etc are not common there your either very lucky or in denial. One of the most corrupt countries around.

[MrWorldwide]

About to get on the plane to SR. Didn't fancy a road trip from reading various net rants.

[Dibbler]

Hey Mr Worldwide, you need to consider that people simply don't have change for large denominations like $5 or $10 so you need to have plenty of $1 and 1000 riel notes to be able to ride moto-duks and tuk-tuks. If someone can't give you change all you have to do is go change your $5 note at any of the hundreds of minimarts around town. Much easier getting around PP without getting ripped off than in Bangkok where moto-taxi drivers will try to get that last 10 THB out of you if they have the chance, even if you are speaking their language to them. Give me a PP moto-duk driver anyday!

[Sandman77]

I recognize that number of tuk tusk are riding in seam reap , 6 year ago visit first time less tuk tuk. Now terrible !

[MrWorldwide]

Not sure that the people who designed that t-shirt, nor the people willing to pay for it here in Siem Reap, spent too much time contemplating how many people in this country cant even read their own language, much less English. Just another day in Amazing Asia, but I cant recall the last time i met a Thai under 40 would couldnt read the Thai script and some English. Just one more thing I'll have to accept if I have any intention of living here.

(Yes, I do know the history, but there is an entire generation with no conscious memory of the genocide but I expect the scars run deep. Easy to talk school with a full belly etc - i get that - I just wonder where the billions in aid money went over the last 30 years)

[TheSiemReaper]

Not sure that the people who designed that t-shirt, nor the people willing to pay for it here in Siem Reap, spent too much time contemplating how many people in this country cant even read their own language, much less English. Just another day in Amazing Asia, but I cant recall the last time i met a Thai under 40 would couldnt read the Thai script and some English. Just one more thing I'll have to accept if I have any intention of living here.

(Yes, I do know the history, but there is an entire generation with no conscious memory of the genocide but I expect the scars run deep. Easy to talk school with a full belly etc - i get that - I just wonder where the billions in aid money went over the last 30 years)

I may live in Cambodia but I spend a fair amount of time in Thailand... Thais generally speak much poorer English than Khmer. No idea about reading it.

I live in Siem Reap, I think you must have tourist branded on your forehead because apart from in the Old Market area I am never harassed by tuk-tuks and that's my only form of transport...

And beggars only appear in the old market area too... the smartest beggars in town sit outside the enormous Chinese/Korean tourist restaurants on and near the Airport Road... because that's where the money is. Westerners are a minor irrelevance to the day-to-day of Siem Reap. It's the Koreans and Chinese who make up the largest volumes of tourists and they never go into town. Thus Westerners start to think that the town runs for them when really, nobody gives much of a monkey's.

[Sheryl]

Actually, I know a lot of Thais who can't read a word of English -- in fact almost all that I meet. That you experienced differently I think relates to where in Thailand you lived and the circles you moved in. The majority of the Thai population cannot speak or read English, and in fact I find the level of English speaking to be better in Cambodia these days than in Thailand (though only among the young people).

It is quite likely that T-shirt came over from Thailand, where its message would be every bit as applicable in tourist venues. Where they are, in my experience, even more aggressive than in Cambodia. The only place I have ever been that is as bad as the tourist straps of Thailand can be, is India.

I think a lot of your difficulty is that in Thailand you had carved out a resident expat life and in Cambodia you are still stuck in tourist ghettoes.

Learn enough Khmer to tell people you are not interested, as soon as you speak Khmer the touts will usually loose interest in you. There is a good sized resident expat community in Siem Reap.

[MrWorldwide]

I may live in Cambodia but I spend a fair amount of time in Thailand... Thais generally speak much poorer English than Khmer. No idea about reading it.

I live in Siem Reap, I think you must have tourist branded on your forehead because apart from in the Old Market area I am never harassed by tuk-tuks and that's my only form of transport...

And beggars only appear in the old market area too... the smartest beggars in town sit outside the enormous Chinese/Korean tourist restaurants on and near the Airport Road... because that's where the money is. Westerners are a minor irrelevance to the day-to-day of Siem Reap. It's the Koreans and Chinese who make up the largest volumes of tourists and they never go into town. Thus Westerners start to think that the town runs for them when really, nobody gives much of a monkey's.

Love your work, TSR, but how would I be anything other than a tourist ? Were you the all-seeing, all-knowing expat the first time you landed here ? Did you immediately settle in the right location, learn the language and begin levitating in perfect harmony with the chants from the nearest temple ?

Lets completely forget English - its a relatively recent introduction to the region anyway - why arent Khmers being taught their own language ? This is a documented culture that dates - at least - to the first century AD : what were our European forebears (my assumption) doing back then - cowering in hovels waiting for the Roman legion ? 15 centuries before the rise of the Incas and the beginning of European colonisation of Asia and the Americas, Khmer people had a working society in the middle of the jungle - I have no idea what relationship those people have to modern Khmers, but surely Cambodians want to preserve that heritage ...

I know - one white man out to fix the world from a keyboard - yada yada. Purely the opinion of an old bloke enjoying a couple of beers in a very nice restaurant, beggars and tuk-tuk mafia notwithstanding

Your Armchair Expert,

MrWW

[MrWorldwide]

Actually, I know a lot of Thais who can't read a word of English -- in fact almost all that I meet. That you experienced differently I think relates to where in Thailand you lived and the circles you moved in. The majority of the Thai population cannot speak or read English, and in fact I find the level of English speaking to be better in Cambodia these days than in Thailand (though only among the young people).

It is quite likely that T-shirt came over from Thailand, where its message would be every bit as applicable in tourist venues. Where they are, in my experience, even more aggressive than in Cambodia. The only place I have ever been that is as bad as the tourist straps of Thailand can be, is India.

I think a lot of your difficulty is that in Thailand you had carved out a resident expat life and in Cambodia you are still stuck in tourist ghettoes.

Learn enough Khmer to tell people you are not interested, as soon as you speak Khmer the touts will usually loose interest in you. There is a good sized resident expat community in Siem Reap.

Thanks, Sheryl - I think you've hit the nail on the head, even if I do seem guilty of making a mountain out of a molehill. I just have to sit further inside the restaurants with my back to the beggars and completely ignore everyone between the front door of this hotel and my intended destination.

[phuketrichard]

to all

give up the illusion u will ever be anything BUT a TOURSIT

speak the language, marry, have a family, job, build a home etc etc

ur still white an all they see is the color of your skin and with that they know ur not a local

as far as learning to speak khmer WHY??
less than 16 million ( or .24% of the worlds population speak it)

better off learning Chinese 14%

or English 5+%

[TheSiemReaper]

I can't speak much more Khmer than the day I arrived (thank you, count to five, and hello would cover my entire vocab in Khmer). I stayed in a hotel and it took me about a week to find the right place to live, a long way from the center. I sought out expat places as soon as I arrived to get the lowdown on what's what... that's the same way that I have approached every single place I've lived in my long life of travel. The whole Pub Street and Old Market area is pure tourist trap, though there are the occasional expats hanging around - they're few and far between.

[Sheryl]

to all

give up the illusion u will ever be anything BUT a TOURSIT

speak the language, marry, have a family, job, build a home etc etc

ur still white an all they see is the color of your skin and with that they know ur not a local

as far as learning to speak khmer WHY??

less than 16 million ( or .24% of the worlds population speak it)

better off learning Chinese 14%

or English 5+%

Simply not true. Of course, they know you are not Khmer, but they also know you are not a tourist. There is a category of "foreigners who really live here" and they are well accepted. In my experience, it is possible to integrate more completely in Cambodia than in Thailand.

As to why learn Khmer - obviously, only if you plan to live in Cambodia, but if so, this is crucial to the aforementioned integration, which in turn renders life vastly more pleasant and rewarding. Enables you to have genuine close Khmer friends and to communicate with the average person as opposed to only the subset who speak English well. Makes a huge difference.

The Khmer have an amazing radar for foreigners. Somehow, they can instantly tell a resident from a tourist, even before the person has said a word. I don't know how they do it, but they do. I walk into a shop or restaurant and they instantly speak to me in Khmer, knowing I will understand it, even though they have never seen me before. Touts, tuk tuks etc automatically ignore me. I don't find this to be true in Thailand.

[Sheryl]

....Love your work, TSR, but how would I be anything other than a tourist ? Were you the all-seeing, all-knowing expat the first time you landed here ? Did you immediately settle in the right location, learn the language and begin levitating in perfect harmony with the chants from the nearest temple ?

Lets completely forget English - its a relatively recent introduction to the region anyway - why arent Khmers being taught their own language ? This is a documented culture that dates - at least - to the first century AD : what were our European forebears (my assumption) doing back then - cowering in hovels waiting for the Roman legion ? 15 centuries before the rise of the Incas and the beginning of European colonisation of Asia and the Americas, Khmer people had a working society in the middle of the jungle - I have no idea what relationship those people have to modern Khmers, but surely Cambodians want to preserve that heritage ...

I know - one white man out to fix the world from a keyboard - yada yada. Purely the opinion of an old bloke enjoying a couple of beers in a very nice restaurant, beggars and tuk-tuk mafia notwithstanding

Your Armchair Expert,

MrWW

Take it easy, no one is criticizing you. We are just trying to explain that what you are experiencing is transitory and not indicative of what living in Cambodia will be like (and nto diofferent from what a new arrival in Thailand would experience).

I don't understand the "why arent Khmers being taught their own language" part. They are, of course. And levels of education, while still noton par with Thailandf, have skyrocketed in recent years; they are very close to achieving 100% enrollment through grade 6 and the government's target of universal education to grade 9 is not far off. BUT - these are comparatively recent achievements as there was no education at all during the KR years and the education system had to be rebuilt from scratch. It is only among the under 30'w (and especially the under 25's) that literacy and basic education are the norm, many older people are illiterate. (however the under 30's are about half the population...).

I think one has to know what it was like 5, 10, 15 and 20 years back to appreciate how very fast Cambodia has and is progressing.

[TheSiemReaper]

to all

give up the illusion u will ever be anything BUT a TOURSIT

speak the language, marry, have a family, job, build a home etc etc

ur still white an all they see is the color of your skin and with that they know ur not a local

as far as learning to speak khmer WHY??

less than 16 million ( or .24% of the worlds population speak it)

better off learning Chinese 14%

or English 5+%

Simply not true. Of course, they know you are not Khmer, but they also know you are not a tourist. There is a category of "foreigners who really live here" and they are well accepted. In my experience, it is possible to integrate more completely in Cambodia than in Thailand.

As to why learn Khmer - obviously, only if you plan to live in Cambodia, but if so, this is crucial to the aforementioned integration, which in turn renders life vastly more pleasant and rewarding. Enables you to have genuine close Khmer friends and to communicate with the average person as opposed to only the subset who speak English well. Makes a huge difference.

The Khmer have an amazing radar for foreigners. Somehow, they can instantly tell a resident from a tourist, even before the person has said a word. I don't know how they do it, but they do. I walk into a shop or restaurant and they instantly speak to me in Khmer, knowing I will understand it, even though they have never seen me before. Touts, tuk tuks etc automatically ignore me. I don't find this to be true in Thailand.

There's even an expat category in the cash register system in U Care (why I have no idea but they classify everyone as local, expat or tourist when they sell anything). I think it's hard to integrate into Thailand because the Thais have had enough of foreigners in general. The country is wealthy enough to do its own stuff without needing foreigners like it once did too.

In Cambodia, everyone's got so many of their own problems, that, unless you are Vietnamese, they don't give a monkey's about your presence - they are happy you're there spending money - though the poor Viets are considered to be the root of all evil...

I haven't learned Khmer but I very much enjoy the company of English speaking locals. It's an incredible achievement to learn another language with a completely dysfunctional education system around you. I admire their tenacity and dilligence. And it annoys me when people start spouting racist nonsense about locals being lazy. Yesterday, I was talking to a 29 year old female friend at breakfast. She works two jobs. She has just paid the loan off on her home 3 years early! In her spare time she focuses on teaching herself to read and write English. I wish the people back home had half the motivation she has...

[Sheryl]

And you'd be hard pressed to find a student who doesn't take private English classes after school. Even those with pretty poor parents. Private computer classes too if they can afford it. Cambodian students tend to be extremely diligent and motivated.

[thailandforumaddict]

So weird, I don't know any Thai who cannot read and speak English at good level.

Actually, I know a lot of Thais who can't read a word of English -- in fact almost all that I meet. That you experienced differently I think relates to where in Thailand you lived and the circles you moved in. The majority of the Thai population cannot speak or read English, and in fact I find the level of English speaking to be better in Cambodia these days than in Thailand (though only among the young people).

It is quite likely that T-shirt came over from Thailand, where its message would be every bit as applicable in tourist venues. Where they are, in my experience, even more aggressive than in Cambodia. The only place I have ever been that is as bad as the tourist straps of Thailand can be, is India.

I think a lot of your difficulty is that in Thailand you had carved out a resident expat life and in Cambodia you are still stuck in tourist ghettoes.

Learn enough Khmer to tell people you are not interested, as soon as you speak Khmer the touts will usually loose interest in you. There is a good sized resident expat community in Siem Reap.

[SoiBiker]

So weird, I don't know any Thai who cannot read and speak English at good level.

Have you been to Thailand at all?

[thailandforumaddict]

Maybe it is because I do not live in the sticks and do not talk to uneducated people ?

Even my maid speaks English !

So weird, I don't know any Thai who cannot read and speak English at good level.

Have you been to Thailand at all?

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

I'm agreeing with a lot of stuff posted by TheSiemReaper and Sheryl. I have lived in Cambodia and visited 4-5 times a year. And am looking forward to leaving Thailand and living in Cambodia again.

1. Money. I not only carry small stuff all the time and if I don't have it, immediately change some. I go so far as to pre-load my payment for most things. I don't like to stand on the street or market fumbling with my wallet or show what's in it. One thing you find is Khmers are nosy, staring inside your wallet and grocery bags. One time I and a foreigner who was selling his motorcycle to me huddled together on the sidewalk only to have a moto taxi guy jump right up beside us to stare and listen.

2. I like the Khmer people a lot. I find them curious, determined, hard working, friendly, willing to listen to instructions and the "why" of things, and polite.

3. I think it more likely I will make friends with a Khmer long before I could with a Thai. In fact, I think the latter is almost impossible because their culture precludes befriending foreigners and they don't understand what friendship means. To say nothing of the fact, their English is deplorable despite years of language "schooling".

4. Interesting theory about foreigner radar, Sheryl. I like it. I have been pretty much ignored by tuk tuk drivers and beggars now for the last couple of years. Of course, I never NEVER go the riverside. Once I'm safely on the west side of say, St. 13, I'm just another pedestrian. This mostly does not work in Thailand where I'm just another monied white face, hit upon by greeters and vendors.

5. I am astounded at how hard even poorer Khmer try to learn English or learn a trade. I second the details given above, but I knew a girl with three jobs AND learned English on the side. I'm not making this up.

6. I agree with Sheryl and Mr WW that the everyday western food in Cambodia is far superior to anything I've had in Thailand. It's one of the things I miss living (not by choice) in Thailand.

7. Last, I've never been asked for money by Cambodian immigration, direct or indirect, airport or land crossing. A couple of times on the Koh Kong/Chaem Yaek border point and the Mekong Cambo-VN crossover, I slid a bit of US money in my passport but both times it was returned without comment.

[thailandforumaddict]

You must be right ! This country is perfect and this is why it's the number 1 tourist destination in the region and where all foreigners living in South east Asia want to live ! So clear ! I should have been thinking about it before as millions others...

It's funny how people see and thing to understand what they dream about, but I prefer to just see the facts !

I'm agreeing with a lot of stuff posted by TheSiemReaper and Sheryl. I have lived in Cambodia and visited 4-5 times a year. And am looking forward to leaving Thailand and living in Cambodia again.

1. Money. I not only carry small stuff all the time and if I don't have it, immediately change some. I go so far as to pre-load my payment for most things. I don't like to stand on the street or market fumbling with my wallet or show what's in it. One thing you find is Khmers are nosy, staring inside your wallet and grocery bags. One time I and a foreigner who was selling his motorcycle to me huddled together on the sidewalk only to have a moto taxi guy jump right up beside us to stare and listen.

2. I like the Khmer people a lot. I find them curious, determined, hard working, friendly, willing to listen to instructions and the "why" of things, and polite.

3. I think it more likely I will make friends with a Khmer long before I could with a Thai. In fact, I think the latter is almost impossible because their culture precludes befriending foreigners and they don't understand what friendship means. To say nothing of the fact, their English is deplorable despite years of language "schooling".

4. Interesting theory about foreigner radar, Sheryl. I like it. I have been pretty much ignored by tuk tuk drivers and beggars now for the last couple of years. Of course, I never NEVER go the riverside. Once I'm safely on the west side of say, St. 13, I'm just another pedestrian. This mostly does not work in Thailand where I'm just another monied white face, hit upon by greeters and vendors.

5. I am astounded at how hard even poorer Khmer try to learn English or learn a trade. I second the details given above, but I knew a girl with three jobs AND learned English on the side. I'm not making this up.

6. I agree with Sheryl and Mr WW that the everyday western food in Cambodia is far superior to anything I've had in Thailand. It's one of the things I miss living (not by choice) in Thailand.

7. Last, I've never been asked for money by Cambodian immigration, direct or indirect, airport or land crossing. A couple of times on the Koh Kong/Chaem Yaek border point and the Mekong Cambo-VN crossover, I slid a bit of US money in my passport but both times it was returned without comment.

[Anthony5]

I'm agreeing with a lot of stuff posted by TheSiemReaper and Sheryl. I have lived in Cambodia and visited 4-5 times a year. And am looking forward to leaving Thailand and living in Cambodia again.

1. Money. I not only carry small stuff all the time and if I don't have it, immediately change some. I go so far as to pre-load my payment for most things. I don't like to stand on the street or market fumbling with my wallet or show what's in it. One thing you find is Khmers are nosy, staring inside your wallet and grocery bags. One time I and a foreigner who was selling his motorcycle to me huddled together on the sidewalk only to have a moto taxi guy jump right up beside us to stare and listen.

2. I like the Khmer people a lot. I find them curious, determined, hard working, friendly, willing to listen to instructions and the "why" of things, and polite.

3. I think it more likely I will make friends with a Khmer long before I could with a Thai. In fact, I think the latter is almost impossible because their culture precludes befriending foreigners and they don't understand what friendship means. To say nothing of the fact, their English is deplorable despite years of language "schooling".

4. Interesting theory about foreigner radar, Sheryl. I like it. I have been pretty much ignored by tuk tuk drivers and beggars now for the last couple of years. Of course, I never NEVER go the riverside. Once I'm safely on the west side of say, St. 13, I'm just another pedestrian. This mostly does not work in Thailand where I'm just another monied white face, hit upon by greeters and vendors.

5. I am astounded at how hard even poorer Khmer try to learn English or learn a trade. I second the details given above, but I knew a girl with three jobs AND learned English on the side. I'm not making this up.

6. I agree with Sheryl and Mr WW that the everyday western food in Cambodia is far superior to anything I've had in Thailand. It's one of the things I miss living (not by choice) in Thailand.

7. Last, I've never been asked for money by Cambodian immigration, direct or indirect, airport or land crossing. A couple of times on the Koh Kong/Chaem Yaek border point and the Mekong Cambo-VN crossover, I slid a bit of US money in my passport but both times it was returned without comment.

1. One thing you find is Khmers are nosy, staring inside your wallet and grocery bags. One time I and a foreigner who was selling his motorcycle to me huddled together on the sidewalk only to have a moto taxi guy jump right up beside us to stare and listen. Looks like Cambodia is really the place to feel comfortable,NOT?

2 . I like the Khmer people a lot. I find them curious, Yeah you made that clear in your first point.

3. I think it more likely I will make friends with a Khmer long before I could with a Thai. Can't really comment on that, because my experience is that itis an Asian thing, and last time I checked Cambodia was in Asia.

4. Really the place one want to live if you have to choose which side of the town you can go and which not, makes living there really comfortable. I can't remember when I was harassed by a beggar in Thailand last time.

5. It's a known fact that Thailand has the poorest English skills in the region, but I doubt that is a reason to move.

6. I didn't move to an Asian country because I wanted to eat Western food. however I also like Western food now and then, I know that wherever I move it will be eating the local kitchen or stay where I am.

7. I've never been asked for money on any Thai border either, but I know that people who put money in their passport voluntary have something to hide.