Cambodia,

Post by **gooze** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:09 am

I have a friend here who due to the visa regs splits his time between LOS and Cambodia. Durring all his visits he says he has found the people to pleasant, helpful, and decent. However the subject of Cambodia came up the other night and three seperate parties said they had incurred some serious problems with mugging and theft there.

Does anyone have personal bad experiences of Cambodia that they can share?. Or positive experiences?.

Post by **darwinian** » Mon Jul 02, 2007 10:40 pm

I have been Cambodia about 10 times in the last couple of years.
I never had any problems.

Post by **Roel** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 8:59 am

I have been there and experienced no problems myself. Although I felt uncomfortable because I was warned at several different occasions by different expats who had been living there for many years and who tend to give me detailed instructions on how to act when robbed!! Also they advised me repeatedly to never walk the streets alone after dark but hire a 'reliable' taxi and make sure he waits for you for your return trip. Anyway like I said nothing bad happened but for me it was a completely different world than Thailand. Not relaxed, although my experience is restricted to Phnom Penh only.
The theory is: due to the Khmer Rouge weapons are easily available for everybody and people are 'used' to violence (every day murder and torture by the regime in the past has led to this attitude).
But I would not say this is sufficient reason not to go there. Just be prepared and use common sense I guess.

Post by **Bamboo Grove** » Tue Jul 03, 2007 9:14 am

I just went to Phnom Penh 10 days ago. Didn't feel insecure but then again I was with a friend and we used tuk-tuks in the evenings. What I didn't particularly like was the dirtyness. People just leave their carbage bags on the roadside and the do get smelly.
Otherwise, it was relatively cheap (the most expensive beers we had were 2 USD and the cheapest .75 USD. The people were friendly and it was more laidback than, for example Bangkok. It is not one of my favourite destinations but I will surely return there every now and then.

Post by **sandman67** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 2:12 pm

I was there in 2000 and 2001 so this is historical

I stayed in a backpacker hotel owned by an Oz guy, and there were several UN workers staying there full time. They said that PP was dodgy after dark, especially on the outskirts of the town centre - round by the old Palace was very dodgy when I was there.

What used to happen regularly was blocks would suddenly black out, and the police would then do rolls on all the bars on that block. The UN guy I drank with said this happened regularly for years.

As I left the first time the Oz guy who ran the place screwed up, forgot to pay his police dues, and ended up in the jail till he paid "a fine".

The second time I was there a mate got turned over on the border crossing by road route by a bunch of crims in a car that stopped the bus he was on.

Basically back then it was still piss poor, corrupt as hell and full o guns......when you mix that with "rich" westerners crime happens.....

Hope its got better since

Post by **Pagey** » Sat Sep 15, 2007 4:11 pm

Me and 2 friends from Saudi went last year. No problems and we went in a bar in PP called the Heart of Darkness I think, which the Lonely Planet warns against Westerners going in because of trouble. We had no probs with it and found the locals friendly.

Then in Siem Reap my 2 friends stayed in a different hotel for a day so as we were going out for the full day they had to check out and left their bags in my room. When we all returned at the end of the day the receptionist approached one of my friends and handed him his virtually brand new ipod which he had left in his room.

If you ask enough people some will have good experiences and some bad. We had no problems and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Post by **johnnyk** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 2:08 am

Yes, there are places one should not venture alone and after dark and rich guys have bodyguards with guns.
Exercise common sense and keep your eyes open and you should not have problems. The people are pretty nice and gentle, they have been through hell so cut them a bit of slack.

Post by **PeteC** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:16 am

Some enterprising soul has now launched a website. Pete

http://www.cambothai.com/

PS: With a similar forum style as HHAD. No registered users yet except Admin so apparently this site is very new.

Post by **Big Boy** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 1:30 pm

prcscct wrote:Some enterprising soul has now launched a website. Pete

http://www.cambothai.com/

PS: With a similar forum style as HHAD. No registered users yet except Admin so apparently this site is very new.

Wow!!! 3000 posts and you win 1 week for two in the idyllic Cambodian holiday destination of Sihanoukville, plus a lot of smaller prizes achieved on the way to 3000 - can't be bad. I guess they either have some very generous sponsors, or they tell lies

Post by **darwinian** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 1:54 pm

Second prtze is two weeks!