Impressions from Second Trip to Cambodia
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Impressions from Second Trip to Cambodia
I first visited Cambodia in early 2017 but had an undecided impression, so I decided to give the country another chance and recently returned for 10 days. This time, I traveled with a lady that I originally met through an online dating site. I made Cambodia the second leg of a longer trip, with time in South Korea and Singapore as well.
Phnom Penh
My first impression from the plane was, "Wow, is this Phnom Penh?" In comparison to my 2017 visit, there were tall buildings, holograms, even a gold-covered casino. Leaving the airport, I took a taxi into the town. In 2017, this was a dusty dirt road, but it had been paved. We drove over the air bridge, passed beautiful government buildings, and darted past coffee shops and Master Suki type fancy-ish restaurants. However, this impression was a bit short-lived. When I got to my hotel on the waterfront, I realized it was all a bit of putting lipstick on. There was still the same underlying messiness and dudes yelling, Kdawl! Kwadl!. This was especially true for the provinces.
This time, I noticed more foreigners, especially around the riverside. But, again, their presence was immensely concentrated, like coming to Flushing and concluding that NYC is all Asians. The foreigners' numbers went down precipitously with every meter out of the riverside. Even in Aeon 2, I only saw a few.
Finally, after another year and a half of regularly studying Khmer language videos with my teachers, my Khmer ability had improved. I had mostly focused on listening comprehension and especially in PP, I could pick out a lot of words and conversations when Khmer spoke with each other. When they spoke to me, it was also no problem, but that was always the easier part -- it is much harder to comprehend them speaking normally to one another than speaking slowly and formally to a foreigner. But once in the provinces, my ability wavered. Some of the people in the provinces, like Koh Rong, were hard to understand.
Itinerary
I took the lady friend on a long trip, starting with Kampot. I had read about drownings in the river and it immediately caught my attention. Some of the local Khmer referred to it as not a river, but a ព្រែក, which is a bit smaller. It truly is a seductive, slow-moving river that would tempt any swimmer. We chartered a trip up the mountain and it was well worth it, from the large Buddha statute to the scenery to the haunting abandoned church, it was one of the most beautiful places in Cambodia. We also spent a day in Kep and went to the Koh Donsay, which had basically nothing on it but a clean-ish shoreline and some hammocks.
Sowm was a different story. Cambodians had warned me that it was filled with Chinese. Lots of signs were Chinese/Khmer only and I almost got run over by a huge SUV driven by a bunch of Chinese dudes within 5 minutes of arriving. (I am usually loathe to stereotypes, but there were rude drivers.) What surprised me is how many were groups of younger dudes. It would be one thing to see families or kids, but walking along the beach, many of the tables were like a Big Ten dormitory.
Koh Rong was also a disappointment. I expected quiet and beauty, and there were some of that, but also many spring breakers. Any site worth visiting becomes a tourist trap sooner or later.
After that, we returned to Phnom Penh, but not before running into the most horrific traffic accidents I had ever seen. On the National Road No. 4, a truck had apparently stopped suddenly and thrown its passengers through the windshield. Their mangled bodies were sprawled over the road. As our bus slowly went past, all of the Khmer went to the windows as if there was something to see. I asked my lady friend about an ambulance but she just mumbled that it would take too long to get there, anyway. A minute later, we saw an ambulance racing toward them.
On the second to last day, we went to Phnom Oudong, the most beautiful place in all of Cambodia. There were only a few tourists and the view is spectacular. There were monkeys, temples, and kids pointlessly following me probably because I was a foreigner. At the bottom of the mountain, we rented hammocks and ate various Khmer pastries. I recommend this place most of all.
Lady Friend
We had a great time, but she continued the streak of Southeast Asian women not asking me any questions about myself. She didn't ask where I lived, what I did, what I thought about Cambodia, anything. Granted, we had chatted for months and she knew some of that information, but still. She also seemed to expect me to pay for everything, from hotel rooms to restaurants. She did pay for the taxis on a rideshare program and paid for cheap snacks. I couldn't fault her for not paying, but it was different from sharing expenses with the average American girl.
I found myself falling for her. She was beautiful by our standards (perhaps too swarthy for theirs), carried herself in a feminine way, and we had good conversational chemistry whenever I asked the questions or we flirted. I am cautious of running to the altar so quickly (or the carpet, as the Khmer call it), but I felt like some part of my heart, long covered in ice, had melted a little bit because of her. I have feelings for her and am mulling over whether to bring her to my country and on what visa.
Overall
My second impression of Cambodia was more favorable. I found Phnom Penh to be quite liveable, like the Cincinnati of Southeast Asia towns (if Bangkok is the NYC and Singapore is the San Francisco). It is not a world-class city but, like Cincinnati, it has most things that one could want. Moreover, my Khmer lessons had paid off in that I enjoyed interacting with people and felt at ease. When I returned to the USA, jetlagged out of my mind, a homeless man immediately cursed me out and I opened the phone alerts to realize that someone had been shot only a few blocks from my work. There is some reason that I live here but it will take a few weeks to figure out what that is.
Phnom Penh
My first impression from the plane was, "Wow, is this Phnom Penh?" In comparison to my 2017 visit, there were tall buildings, holograms, even a gold-covered casino. Leaving the airport, I took a taxi into the town. In 2017, this was a dusty dirt road, but it had been paved. We drove over the air bridge, passed beautiful government buildings, and darted past coffee shops and Master Suki type fancy-ish restaurants. However, this impression was a bit short-lived. When I got to my hotel on the waterfront, I realized it was all a bit of putting lipstick on. There was still the same underlying messiness and dudes yelling, Kdawl! Kwadl!. This was especially true for the provinces.
This time, I noticed more foreigners, especially around the riverside. But, again, their presence was immensely concentrated, like coming to Flushing and concluding that NYC is all Asians. The foreigners' numbers went down precipitously with every meter out of the riverside. Even in Aeon 2, I only saw a few.
Finally, after another year and a half of regularly studying Khmer language videos with my teachers, my Khmer ability had improved. I had mostly focused on listening comprehension and especially in PP, I could pick out a lot of words and conversations when Khmer spoke with each other. When they spoke to me, it was also no problem, but that was always the easier part -- it is much harder to comprehend them speaking normally to one another than speaking slowly and formally to a foreigner. But once in the provinces, my ability wavered. Some of the people in the provinces, like Koh Rong, were hard to understand.
Itinerary
I took the lady friend on a long trip, starting with Kampot. I had read about drownings in the river and it immediately caught my attention. Some of the local Khmer referred to it as not a river, but a ព្រែក, which is a bit smaller. It truly is a seductive, slow-moving river that would tempt any swimmer. We chartered a trip up the mountain and it was well worth it, from the large Buddha statute to the scenery to the haunting abandoned church, it was one of the most beautiful places in Cambodia. We also spent a day in Kep and went to the Koh Donsay, which had basically nothing on it but a clean-ish shoreline and some hammocks.
Sowm was a different story. Cambodians had warned me that it was filled with Chinese. Lots of signs were Chinese/Khmer only and I almost got run over by a huge SUV driven by a bunch of Chinese dudes within 5 minutes of arriving. (I am usually loathe to stereotypes, but there were rude drivers.) What surprised me is how many were groups of younger dudes. It would be one thing to see families or kids, but walking along the beach, many of the tables were like a Big Ten dormitory.
Koh Rong was also a disappointment. I expected quiet and beauty, and there were some of that, but also many spring breakers. Any site worth visiting becomes a tourist trap sooner or later.
After that, we returned to Phnom Penh, but not before running into the most horrific traffic accidents I had ever seen. On the National Road No. 4, a truck had apparently stopped suddenly and thrown its passengers through the windshield. Their mangled bodies were sprawled over the road. As our bus slowly went past, all of the Khmer went to the windows as if there was something to see. I asked my lady friend about an ambulance but she just mumbled that it would take too long to get there, anyway. A minute later, we saw an ambulance racing toward them.
On the second to last day, we went to Phnom Oudong, the most beautiful place in all of Cambodia. There were only a few tourists and the view is spectacular. There were monkeys, temples, and kids pointlessly following me probably because I was a foreigner. At the bottom of the mountain, we rented hammocks and ate various Khmer pastries. I recommend this place most of all.
Lady Friend
We had a great time, but she continued the streak of Southeast Asian women not asking me any questions about myself. She didn't ask where I lived, what I did, what I thought about Cambodia, anything. Granted, we had chatted for months and she knew some of that information, but still. She also seemed to expect me to pay for everything, from hotel rooms to restaurants. She did pay for the taxis on a rideshare program and paid for cheap snacks. I couldn't fault her for not paying, but it was different from sharing expenses with the average American girl.
I found myself falling for her. She was beautiful by our standards (perhaps too swarthy for theirs), carried herself in a feminine way, and we had good conversational chemistry whenever I asked the questions or we flirted. I am cautious of running to the altar so quickly (or the carpet, as the Khmer call it), but I felt like some part of my heart, long covered in ice, had melted a little bit because of her. I have feelings for her and am mulling over whether to bring her to my country and on what visa.
Overall
My second impression of Cambodia was more favorable. I found Phnom Penh to be quite liveable, like the Cincinnati of Southeast Asia towns (if Bangkok is the NYC and Singapore is the San Francisco). It is not a world-class city but, like Cincinnati, it has most things that one could want. Moreover, my Khmer lessons had paid off in that I enjoyed interacting with people and felt at ease. When I returned to the USA, jetlagged out of my mind, a homeless man immediately cursed me out and I opened the phone alerts to realize that someone had been shot only a few blocks from my work. There is some reason that I live here but it will take a few weeks to figure out what that is.
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Huh?merchantsmutual wrote:. There was still the same underlying messiness and dudes yelling, Kdawl! Kwadl!. This was especially true for the provinces.
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- Lucky Lucan
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You have to be kidding, Russian Federation Boulevard has been paved for decades.merchantsmutual wrote: Leaving the airport, I took a taxi into the town. In 2017, this was a dusty dirt road, but it had been paved.
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
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I think he means the roadworks at the Psar Dey Hoy flyover. The road was pretty messed up and dusty for over a year.Lucky Lucan wrote:You have to be kidding, Russian Federation Boulevard has been paved for decades.merchantsmutual wrote: Leaving the airport, I took a taxi into the town. In 2017, this was a dusty dirt road, but it had been paved.
It certainly wasn’t a dirt road though.
Your wealth and obvious powers of deduction must have dazzled her instantly.She also seemed to expect me to pay for everything, from hotel rooms to restaurants. She did pay for the taxis on a rideshare program and paid for cheap snacks. I couldn't fault her for not paying, but it was different from sharing expenses with the average American girl.
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How dare she only pay for the cheap stuff. He expected a girl making Cambodian $200 a month to go halfsies on the hotel.
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If you invite a lady along for your hoildays than you should not expect her to pay for hotels,transport foods ect.
Also not sure why she would want to live in America,maybe ask her first,Going from a virbrant SE Asian country to America would be one of my worst nightmares.
Also not sure why she would want to live in America,maybe ask her first,Going from a virbrant SE Asian country to America would be one of my worst nightmares.
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wtf:
....I took a taxi into the town. In 2017, this was a dusty dirt road,
Funny, a few years ago a Khmer friend asked me why I chose to live in Cambodia rather than Australia, when all the Khmer friends he knew wanted to go to Australia. I said the reason was that I have lived in Australia, they haven't.tarariverboat wrote:If you invite a lady along for your hoildays than you should not expect her to pay for hotels,transport foods ect.
Also not sure why she would want to live in America,maybe ask her first,Going from a virbrant SE Asian country to America would be one of my worst nightmares.
To the OP,
I struggle to understand as to why you believe your mid life insecurities would be of interest to others.
I also question your mental stability in that you need to post on several forums about your recent activities and seek support for your decisions.
If I was to condense your post into pertinent facts,
It would be along the lines of.
I revisited Cambodia because I hooked up with an unknown woman on an internet dating site.
We had fun together but she could not afford to go dutch with me on the entertainment expenses, and I was offended.
But I'm still considering marrying this woman because she is Asian and I am not Asian.
End of story.
I struggle to understand as to why you believe your mid life insecurities would be of interest to others.
I also question your mental stability in that you need to post on several forums about your recent activities and seek support for your decisions.
If I was to condense your post into pertinent facts,
It would be along the lines of.
I revisited Cambodia because I hooked up with an unknown woman on an internet dating site.
We had fun together but she could not afford to go dutch with me on the entertainment expenses, and I was offended.
But I'm still considering marrying this woman because she is Asian and I am not Asian.
End of story.
I refuse to go out with nothing more than a whimper followed by a small farting sound and a shit stain on my bed sheets..
Just thought I'd share that with you.
Just thought I'd share that with you.
I think it is a fun story the OP wrote. Next time add some pictures and more details, like age of involved parties, what your Cambodian date does for living, does either of you enjoy drinking a lot, what was the cost of the trip, etc.
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Way to encourage posters Mr Shareholder.scoffer wrote:To the OP,
I struggle to understand as to why you believe your mid life insecurities would be of interest to others.
I also question your mental stability in that you need to post on several forums about your recent activities and seek support for your decisions.
If I was to condense your post into pertinent facts,
It would be along the lines of.
I revisited Cambodia because I hooked up with an unknown woman on an internet dating site.
We had fun together but she could not afford to go dutch with me on the entertainment expenses, and I was offended.
But I'm still considering marrying this woman because she is Asian and I am not Asian.
End of story.
Here’s a consideration - count the number of responses to the post. Clearly some people are finding it interesting enough to reply and comment on. Even if some are mocking.
Maybe you prefer the tumbleweed.
Stopped reading after he made that claimLucky Lucan wrote:You have to be kidding, Russian Federation Boulevard has been paved for decades.merchantsmutual wrote: Leaving the airport, I took a taxi into the town. In 2017, this was a dusty dirt road, but it had been paved.
I'm not a negative person, I encourage people all the time...it's usually to f**k off! But, whatever.
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