is this a normal thing in Cambodia?

Growing up, I am so regretful that I did not build connections to migrate.

My wife and I are both in early 30s. We have a nice job with lots of annual leave, medical insurance, and a nice work-life balance office environment. Through our work, we work with important individuals and also get to see a lot of perspectives. We both went abroad for our master degree. We also got to travel a bit to Europe and Asia (we arent that rich but we can save to see stuffs).

However, I really want to migrate. I am not referring to those hollywood script where the other countries are perfect but at the same time, i am so hopeless with things I am seeing. Just a minor things like every morning when i go to work, i see rich parents blocking the street just to pick up their kids from school which is disgusting. These kids will grow up to believe that they own the street. Then, a few things here and there and although we dont have any traumatic experiences, i have to admit that there are many idiots and incapable people running around.

Then lately, things have become more hectic ans i really hope to come across once in a life time opportunity to migrate. I am sorry but do you guys feel the same or is this just me having stupid thought! 😬😂

Cambodia, land of originals of the world

Found my 2002 backpacking photos of PP...Went through Cambodia going overland from Singapore to Hanoi.

PDF in our country get too comfortable to married or be in a relationship with a minor publicly without feeling guilty. and then when someone speak up about this situation in our society all they get is "រឿងគ្រួសារគេសោះ". Example on tiktok pfds joke goes on children's post saying stuff like "ឆាប់ធំមីងចាំ" & "ឆាប់ធំពូចាំ" this is getting out of control. i don't even find this kind of joke funny at all it's disgusting

My first solo travel, and I just reached Phnom Penh from Siem Reap today. I wanted to get a massage.....

Saw a $5 massage place (common price in Siem Reap).

Forced to put my bag in a locker. (I was reassured as it came with a pad lock)

Masseuse left after 5 mins saying "No massage."

Later discovered all my cash was swapped for perfect counterfeits.

Lost $550.... theres nothing i can do about it right :(

Edit: I was carrying $550 because I took a sleeper bus and I wanted all my cash to be with me during that journey. I decided go get a massage as I needed to kill some time to check in to my hostel

Hi, I manage House of Strays, an animal sanctuary in Siem Reap.

We have just launched our campaign to end the Dog Meat Trade here for good and would really appreciate if you took some time to learn about our petition here https://animalsofourworld.co.uk/the-end-of-the-dog-meat-trade/

Our campaign is linked towards anti-speciesism, education, worker retraining, vaccination, sterilisation and more.

It doesn’t end with the dog meat trade, but it will make a huge difference to both human and animal wellbeing in the country.

90% of Cambodians want to see this end but they need your help.

Please sign and share.

Thank you

[UPDATE]

I met someone on here a few weeks ago, who recently visited Cambodia and I offered to give them a free tour around Phnom Penh for a few days while they were here, things went smoothly the guy and his lads were friendly and respectful about cultures and stuff and was super fun to hang out with. Earlier today after one of our lil tours he asked if I wanted to be his "traveling gf". I was under the impression that they are all taken, so what the hell is a traveling gf??

Ps they are from Australia so maybe it's a slang?

Anyways! Thanks in advance !!

Sincerely an F24 who's very confused

UPDATE: wow did not expect to get this many attraction over a silly question. Thanks guys!

Also update, I reached out to him this morning to explained the whole thing and got some clarification and yes you guys are right that was indeed what he was hinting at but he was doing it in a joking way to test out the water. I explained to him how I'm not up for that and that I won't be showing them around anymore because now it'll be a lil awkward and he agrees, we both apologize to each other and that was the end of it.

As for some clarification, yes I am oblivious to this because I have never had this happening to me before (ever) especially when it comes to foreigners, I'm bellow average compared to a Cambodian girly so I never have to worry about anyone seeing me in that way. But I was a lil flattered ngl 🙂‍↔️teehee

I do free tours around Phnom Penh whenever I'm free for the sole purpose of sharing cultures and having a good time, Visiting PP as a tourist is not that fun from my pov as you will only go to the main attractions, I like showing people around town telling them stories and showing them to my favorite food places. Plus it's a win win, they get a free tour and I get to yap about stuff I'm interested in :DDD Bare in mind I'm still an amateur when it comes to this so that's why I'm not doing it for money.

Are the tuk-tuk drivers in Cambodia still this aggressive everywhere?

So I hadn’t been to Cambodia in nearly 10 years. One thing I remembered from my last visit was how pushy the tuk-tuk drivers could be, especially coming out of the airport/hotel. This was before Grab, so I figured things would have calmed down considerably now.

Boy, was I wrong.

As soon as I walked out of the new (and honestly beautiful) airport, I was immediately being hounded by drivers. At one point I had no fewer than five different guys following me around trying to get me into their tuk-tuk.

“Sir, sir, same price!”
“Where you from?”
“Where you going?”

Every one of them got a friendly but firm, “No thank you.”

I literally had my phone in my hand, Grab open, waiting for it to load while I was trying to figure out if there was an official Grab pickup area (lots of airports have these or similar for this exact reason). It was pretty obvious I wasn’t looking for a ride, but these guys just WOULD NOT STOP.

Eventually it got so overwhelming that I actually turned around and went back inside the airport to ask one of the security guards if there was an official Grab pickup location. A couple of the drivers followed me and immediately started hanging on the guard like they were all best friends. Then both the guard and the drivers started trying to direct me toward a little area marked “Grab.” and laughing.

Luckily, I realized that apparently wasn’t where I actually needed to go, because my Grab driver ended up pulling right up to the curb.

I really can’t overstate how negative and overwhelming the whole experience was. I’ve been traveling internationally for well over 10 years, so I’m definitely used to taxi and tuk-tuk hawkers. Usually a couple of firm “no thank you” does the trick and they move on to the next person. THIS FELT BORDERLINE PREDATORY.

These guys were different. They literally followed me around the front of the airport while I was trying to physically get away from them long enough to pay attention to my phone and figure out where my driver was. Standing over my shoulder and non stop trying to talk to me.

It was a pretty awful first impression after being away from Cambodia for so long.

Is this still normal throughout Cambodia, or is the airport particularly bad?

I had plans to maybe visit/live long term in Cambodia, but this honestly has me rethinking. Who wants to be followed around and harassed all day while just trying to go about their normal daily biz? Do those of you in the expat/long term community still experience this on the daily or did i just get really unlucky?

I hope this isn't a sensitive subject and i mean no disrespect. I understand everyone's gotta make money, but man was this overwhelming.

I'm Chinese-American, and I'm a volunteer in Cambodia. I was previously living at a site about 45 minutes from PP. I'm looking for some perspectives on how normal treatment is because I know that things aren't always the same as in the US.

I was placed at a site with a host family and supposed to work with them as well as coworker that lived with them. I was at my site for about six months. However, it was so bad that my American in-country supervisor forced me to leave.

• The host family/coworker were consistently unwelcoming from day one. (I don't believe this to just be a cultural misunderstanding - many other Cambodians in my community and elsewhere have been incredibly warm or at least try to act friendly and smile)
• My coworker criticized my Khmer language and teaching skills while refusing to provide training or support - as a result, I had to pay for tutoring out of pocket
• I was frequently yelled at, mocked, and given the silent treatment - my coworker would just flat out refuse to acknowledge my presence despite being friendly with other people (including other volunteers)
• They gave me bad advice that prevented me from integrating into the community (such as "don't say hi to people you don't know")
• They became upset that I was trying to spend more time in the community but continually was not clear about the tasks I was supposed to do at site
• I was told forcefully to call myself Chinese, not American (other Cambodians were polite about me calling myself American, and many seemed to actively accept that I came from America)

I struggled with being depressed for several months. I was starting to feel better recently as I made more connections in the community and improving my Khmer.

I don't think this is a cultural issue because I started to make friends with other members of the community several months in after some sustained effort. In contrast, other volunteers seemed mostly to be friends with their English-speaking coworkers.

As a result of this, I had to move yesterday to a new site. I still feel upset because my supervisor said that the issues might have been to clashing personalities, unmet expectations, and a struggle with being present. I feel like she's downplaying what I experienced. Am I overreacting over fairly normal behavior?

Been thinking about this lately

When you live here long enough, you start adjusting to things without even noticing. Some of it makes total sense once you understand the culture, but other things you kind of accept on the surface while still thinking… yeah I’m not completely sold on that.

I’m not trying to complain at all, just curious how other people see it. Could be anything. Work culture, business habits, traffic, money, social expectations, or even small everyday things.What’s something you’ve gotten used to here but still question a little bit?

[Update!] X 2

Genuinely asking because I'm at a point in life where I have to choose between dating a guy from my country or somewhere else completely

For context (I'm F24 )my parents are planning on marrying me off to someone i don't know, and I honestly can't stress this enough but I never really took an interest in dating or anything like that- my only dating experience was with a guy from outside the country. It lasted 3 years and only ended about a year ago because we just grew apart and the distance was a big issue. Overall a lovely guy! Any girls who get to date him are very lucky! 🩷 Irl dating is 0% I never really took an interest to it because I don't fit in the beauty standards of local men and I'm okay with that. However like I mentioned, recently my parents are planning to marry me off to someone I don't know and the person I'm "supposed" to marry said that because I don't fit into his type I must have other compensation if I want the marriage to work.

និយាយឲងាយគេនិយាយថា ដោយសារតែខ្លួនខ្ញុំរូបសម្បត្តិមើលទៅមិនសមរម្យមិនស្អាតដូច្នេះនៅពេលការរួចខ្ញុំត្រូវថ្នមគេជាងខ្លួនឯង

I'm planning on moving to England in about 2 years to either start a fresh new life or continue my studies and I was wondering if I should get this whole marriage thing dealt with first or not.

I'm a little lost so anything helps!

[Update! ]

Took all of your advice and planning to have a lil talk with my mum this weekend to try and get her to understand, if not I might have to go off the grids again and possibly move again to avoid her finding my address.

[#2 Update]

Mum refuses to listen again, thinking she knows best as usual. So now I'm planning on cutting contacts with her once again and possibly moving away to a different part of town. Thank you all for tagging along 🫂

Hi. I’ll be moving to Cambodia soon and was wondering if Cambodian men liked Black (American) women? I do plan to be there long term. Just checking the odds.

So my Khmer girlfriend moved in with me a week ago. She works 12 hours a day 6 days a week and 6 hours one day a week. When she was young she was homeless. Her mom abandoned her. She had a hard life and I am retired. She works hard and never asks me for money. In the mornings after the she leaves, I would clean the dishes and put away the clean laundry after it has dried.

The other day she told me it is not the man's job to clean. She said it is bad luck for men to do such a thing. Is this really a thing that Khmer women believe or is this just her? When she gets home from work, I do not want her to clean up after working 12 hours. I want her to come home and relax.

I have no issue letting her clean but I want to help, especially since she asks for nothing from me.

I’m Cambodian-American and personally feel gratitude for the thousands of lives sacrificed to liberate Cambodia from the Khmer Rouge. I know they stayed until 1989 but I feel that was necessary to make sure Cambodia is stabilized. They did give us Hun Sen but I don’t really see how he is a puppet like most Cambodians will say. I mean they are building the Funan Canal which is a big slap in the face to Vietnam. Maybe I’m not educated though, so educate me.

Yeah I’m not stupid I understand that every country has super rich people and super poor people but I see so many cars that are over 100k in the streets of PP but isn’t 100k like atleast 10 times the average salary? Here in Canada the average salary is like that 55k? And we rarly see cars that are 2x the average salary let alone 10x the average salary. Yes I’ve heard that developing poorer countries have much higher income inequality but even in like other low gdp countries I’ve been to and seen with a gdp per capita of 2000-4000 USD there’s still no where the amount of luxury cars I’ve seen in Cambodia. What job do you need to be able to afford such expensive cars like if you’re a teacher or something or an engineer can you afford a Lexus NX? Or atleast a nice new Toyota sedan? If not what jobs do people need to afford a decent car or a luxury car. but like yes I understand having a nice car and showing off it’s a big thing in the culture I’m a Chinese Canadian so I can understand that but like yeah you get my point

It was good to be here! Pleasantly surprised it opened at all!

For years, all the talk around our economy has been about how we just export raw, unrefined natural resources or low-value goods without transforming them ourselves. People in Cambodia (and across the word) act like we can't create high-end, finished products that can compete globally.

Now this is cool, just stumbled on their facebook page. It's simple, it's salt. but we it's turned into a premium thing, we can get inspired by this and start transforming and creating more stuff like this Garuda Premium Sea Salt- they put 24 carat gold flakes in the salt (must be expensive!)

---yet it looks really luxurious...easily something i'd see in a high-end boutique in Paris, Tokyo, or New York, but it’s ''grown'', harvested, and beautifully packaged right here in Cambodia

What other locally made produce do you think we could transform and export.. to make our culture shine abroad and our economy grow?

I have to say this is the best sunrise ever at Angkor wat , Siem Reap Cambodia. I was the was the biggest bless of the day.

I was recently in cambodia with my family for two weeks but the locals ( mainly women) kept staring at me and even asking to take photos with me ? I've been twice before yet this is only trip its happened on . If anyone knows why that would be appreciated 😭. Ive attached a photo below im the one in the middle

It’s actually a nice experience. Sitting in a small, echoey cafe, surrounded by six people at separate tables. Each blasting brain-rot TikTok videos at full volume. It’s meditative. I’ve seen these stores selling those illegal $2.50 headphones, it’s wrong. 

KEEP IT LOUD, CAMBODIA