Asia Expats Forum

G-hunter · Joined: 16 Sep 2004 Posts: 9 Location:

For travellers to Cambodia, my view:

For those of you who know how wonderfully the Kingdom of Thailand welcomes its guests, I'd like to remind you, that Cambodia is not at all as civilized as Thailand. Manners are, of course, always on the top list of a traveller, but hospitality should be too.....

During my last (and probably only visit) to that country, my wife and me were robbed. We had planned a three day "exploration" of the world heritage at Angkhor Wat. Well, we never made it there. On the first morning, we lost...well, almost everything to street robbery.

I had to fly from Siem Reap (city close to Angkhor) to Phnom Phen and try to get new papers. I could not get papers for my wife, because her Crying or Very sad

embassy cannot do passports as express service. They gave me an accompanying letter instead.

With my new passport, my wifes letter plus the official police statement of the robbery, we tried to leave Cambodia via the same airport that we came in only 2 days earlier. The border police found our immigration registry within a few minutes. But they had already made up their mind to "earn" some extra money. Their line of argument was, that my wife cannot leave the country without a passport. I argued, that all the necessary supporting documents would be available. On top of that, my wife had been injured during the "lifting"of our valuables and I asked the police to show some mercy. After all, the problem came up, because their fellow countrymen had assaulted us.

The police showed no mercy and said, that they would have to charge some extra money for an "exit visa". I gave them the $$s. A receipt would not be able to be made, because there was no passport to print the visa in.

We accepted that and I swore never to return and spend money in such a rotten part of the world.

We bought a picture book about Angkhor instead....

G-hunter

tokyotom · Cohort Joined: 21 Sep 2004 Posts: 147 Location:

Was planning a trip to thailand, cambodia, and maybe laos. Cambodia seems kinda dodgy. How did they rob you?

G-hunter · Joined: 16 Sep 2004 Posts: 9 Location:

Hi there,

we were riding bikes on the way from Siem Reap up to Angkhor. A motorbike came alongside and just took our backpack, that was in a basket attached to my wifes byciles handlebar. It was a stupid mistake on our side, especially since we are already living in Thailand for 3 years and should know better.....
We just let our guard down a little and it happened. My wife fell off the bycicle and injured her knee on the tarmac.

I was actually not so very shocked about the robbing but about the fact, that the border police just wanted to make profit on our mishap when I would have expected a fair treatment, just a little more mercy.

G-hunter

21yearsinthai · Cohort Joined: 08 Sep 2004 Posts: 315 Location:

What a terrible thing to happen. I guess nothing surprising from a third world country. Crying or Very sad

Guest · Location:

But the same thing can and does happen in Thailand,,just depends on the official that you happen to encounter at the time.

and these same things happen all the time in 3rd world countrys,,just as had been said by 21yrs. And about half of all countrys in the world are classed there.

tokyotom · Cohort Joined: 21 Sep 2004 Posts: 147 Location:

That sort of thing does not happen too often here in Japan. They dont need to steal from you everything is so damn expaensive in the first place--you are robbed everytime you buy something.

Guest · Location:

So I have heard,,But as you know, I am not about to visit Japan.

As to the warm welcome in Thailand,,Yea they give you a warm welcome if you got the bucks up front, then they make sure you got plenty before they renew your visa,everytime a cop stops you,it is more under the papers, Just the other day there was a local policeman shot a couple of brits in cold blood and now the cops can't find him,,I hope that the kids parents in england file a suit again thailand in an international court,all cops are employees of the gov't and he pobly used a gov't issue gun to shoot them with.

Now Thailand is making you pack 10,000 TBH cash or you can not cross the border to get back in,,damn fine thing to do as then all the thieves hanging around the border crossings gonna know that you have at least that much cash,besides all them credit cards..

teame · Joined: 13 Nov 2004 Posts: 2 Location:

Sorry to here that you were robbed in Cambodia.......yes it can be dangerous.....remember that people are very poor, rule of law is almost nonexistent and only 30 years ago the whole infrustructure (which wasn't much before then thanks to the French!) was destroyed by one of the biggest evils of the 20th century!!!
I went just outside of phnom penh about a year ago and was shot at by a robber.....but 30dollars later he let us go...........and he was probably a policeman trying to earn some spare cash......
You have to realise that it's not that safe but I really hope that this experience doesn't put you off Cambodia for life......you just have to be careful!
Saying that, the country and the people are some of the most wonderful warm hearted souls you will ever meet......it's an experience that far outways the risks............

fishead · Cohort Joined: 19 Jan 2005 Posts: 321 Location:

Is it possible to go on a safe trip to Cambodia.How about spending the majority of your vacation in Thailand and going to Ankor wat through a safe package style tour
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Mike · Site Admin Joined: 07 Sep 2004 Posts: 4512 Location:

thachp · Joined: 16 Jan 2005 Posts: 3 Location:

Sorry to hear such things. I'm originally from Cambodia. Before the 80s, Phnom Penh was known as Paris of Southeast Asia by Western nations. It was known for many western style buildings and city layout. 1/4 of cambodians living in Phnom Penh speak perfectly in French.... all due to the French colonization. My dad told me... in that era, robbery was a very bad thing. Cambodian's civilian could have their hand chop off for doing such thing. Anywayz, because government instability and civil war... Cambodia is now down to dust... the Cambodian government is doing as best as it could to revive the country. Having more tourists is one way to help Cambodia under its redevelopment stage. I hope, what i'm saying is understable to you.

Cheers
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Mike · Site Admin Joined: 07 Sep 2004 Posts: 4512 Location:

I think cambodia is doing just fine and will one day emerge as a very popular tourist destination.

How old were you when you left Cambodia?
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eslHQ · Novice Joined: 04 Feb 2005 Posts: 28 Location:

Hewer · Centurion Joined: 30 Sep 2004 Posts: 545 Location:

Hi there guys,

I'm sorry for what happened to you G-Hunter. It's especially frustrating that you got attitude from the officials banghead

. The experience is enough to make anyone cautious.

The last poster makes a very good point, though. Being cautious is one thing, but the talk of package tours is getting a bit carried away, don't you think? If the same logic applied everywhere, then there wouldn't be anywhere else to go Confused

I too went to Cambodia and travelled overland from Phnom Penh to Angkor Wat. I had my share of late nights and wandered around by myself a bit. The only place I sensed anything danger-wise was along the river in Phnom Penh at night, but nothing ever happened. G-Hunter was very unlucky, and rightfully is embittered by his experiences:

G-Hunter wrote:
"For those of you who know how wonderfully the Kingdom of Thailand welcomes its guests, I'd like to remind you, that Cambodia is not at all as civilized as Thailand. Manners are, of course, always on the top list of a traveller, but hospitality should be too...." (and) "We accepted that and I swore never to return and spend money in such a rotten part of the world".

But such emotional (dare I say rude and baseless?) comments indicate that while we should take his story on board, his beliefs and opinions are his alone.

Hewer walk

G-hunter · Joined: 16 Sep 2004 Posts: 9 Location:

Dear Hewer,

after being absend from the forum for such a long time, I saw, that quite a bit of discussion was added to my initial posting.

Well, right, my opinion and beliefs are mine. But they are not rude at all.

Just remember, you have not been in this situation. If an official border police lets me and my wife (remember, she was injured) sit at the airport until he gets his bakshish, then I cannot do but post my beliefs. My beliefs are not rude, but the behavior of selected subjects in Cambodia is.

Also, remember the hostage taking at the Siem Reap international school a couple of weeks ago which left (I think to remember) 2 CHILDREN dead.
This was neither politically motivated nor was it mentally ill people. This was about MAKING MONEY.

Any more questions, sir?

G-hunter