On the streets of Cambodia you'll most often see some mopeds. Lots of Mopeds! Cambodia is motorized! Not many Cambodians use the bicycle anymore. Which is a shame in my opinion. followed by Tuk-Tuks (at least in Cities6zgg and touristic places) and every now and then you'll see some big SUV. Often driven by some Japanese or Chinese tourists. But not only tourists rent big cars. It's not as rare as you might imagine, there are many Cambodians driving them themselves. These are the rich people of Cambodia.
The traffic rules in Cambodia are that there are none. Well maybe except for one or two rules of the thumb. First: In Cambodia you drive on the right side of the street. second: Keep an eye on the one driving in front of you! You'll find the traffic in Cambodia chaotic when you come from a western country with strict trafic rules. There are also some traffic lights at some juctions, however, not everyone sees it neccessary to stop when the lights are red, so be careful while crossing a street, even if there is a traffic light.
The positive thing is that they drive reaaally slow in town. So, compared to Bangkok, you can get chances to cross the streets. You'll see that you'll get used to it and sooner or later cross the streets without worries.
At least I haven't seen or heard of any accidents during my stay.
Going out at Night in Siem Reap
In the evenings the 'Nightmarket' of Siem Reap opens where you can buy souvenirs and other stuff. It's open every day of the week and is located next to the Siem Reap River close to the old market. It stretches from the south side of the River to the old market area. Here you can find lots of restaurants and bars where you can spend your evenings and the nights and have some fun. My hostel was really close by so I spend most of my nights in Siem Reap strolling in this area. There is always party on Pub Sgghhgtreet for those who like to drink alcohol and make party.
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When walking along the streets of the old market area, the two most common sentences you will hear here are "need a Tuk-Tuk" or "want a massage". Indeed, you'll hear it so often that you'll wish that they would just shut up and just leave you in peace, so you can simply enjoy your holidays. But the good thing about Cambodians is that they are very nice folks. A simple "no" is more than enough to make them stop bothering you. And they don't get aggressive when you reject their offers. I had some unpleasant experiences in certain countries in the past, so I find Cambodians quite pleasant. Nevertheless, at the end you will just pass by ignoring them as you will definitely be annoyed after a while. Avoiding eye contact is usually enough.
After a long day at the temples you might want to get a massage, as I already implied, massages are offered everywhere. There are dozens in the Old Market area and they are cheap enough to give it a try once in a while to relax your strained muscles.
There are lots of people offering "foot massages" by Turkish doctor fish. It only tickles a little while they nibble at the dead skin of your feet. This costs US 1$ per 10 min. I can't say if it is really good or bad as I've heard controversial things. I don't see any harm in it, however, you should not put your feet in the tanks if you got open wounds, as I'm not sure of how often they exchange the water.
The dark side of Cambodia
The Tuk-Tuk drivers not only offer transport, especially at night they are gonna ask "want cocain", "want lady". Trying to sell you sex and drugs. If there wasn't a market for this stuff, in other words 'money' in it, they probably wouldn't to this kind of business. That means that quite a lot of tourists must be accepting, must be demanding it. As in Thailand, a real sex tourism has developed in Cambodia which affects the lives of many women. Check this reportage out to learn more about it:
I'm afraid, even though Cambodia is a really nice country with mostly really nice people, it's also a place with high corruption. There is a high chance that some police man are also involved (But let's be fair in which country are all policeman incorruptible).
You'll also see some children begging on the streets. Luckily, there are not that many of them. Most of them are the children of some scammers who use the children to get money. They apparently made begging their profession. And it appears they produce one child after another to do their dirty work. I'll just assume that those are really the parents of these kids, but who knows. One of the ploys they use is that they send their children, as young as 5 to 6 years old, to the streets. These children themselves carry a baby with them, and the babies, to my impression, all looked kinda drugged to keep them quiet. Now, these children don't beg for money. Instead they'll ask you for food. So far so good, you mighy think. I'm one of the people who fell for this scam. 'Ok', I said 'let me buy something for the kid' even though I knew better (I don't like giving money to beggars, as I regrettably know that most of them use it for Alc and if it's a kid who is begging then it usually takes the money to its parent, who usually doesn't care for the kid). But in this case it was actual food what the kid wanted. So we went to the next supermarket. I thought I would buy him just some cake or so. But of course, that wasn't the thing he was sent to get. He took me to the shelves with the babymilkpowder and wanted me to buy him two big boxes of it. Why you ask, well, as I mentioned he was carrying a baby with him to make me feel guilty and it was supposed to be for the baby and his other siblings. At the end I got him the cake I was willing to give him from the beginning and said my goodbyes. Later I saw the kid with other tourists, who got him what he wanted, which he carried to his 'mother'. This woman was sending at least 3 kids out to beg for milkpowder. All of them carrying a baby. One of the following days I saw him again, as he asked me again to get some food, not realizing it was me again. The milkpowder is not really for the children. They get it to their 'parents' who sell it afterwards to get the money. So be aware of this kind of scam.
And a shocking sight for animal activists is the fact that crocodile leather is sold pretty much every corner. There are big stores selling, leather bags, shoes and even stuffed crocodiles of all sizes.
The positive aspects of tourism
Yes there are positive aspects of tourism, which should not be neglected. When you arrive by plane in Cambodia, you first see some spots of lush green when you look down from your planes window. However the more you see of this country while flying over it, the more destruction and devastation you'll see. As in many parts of the world, Cambodia is currently doing the same development as Europe did in the past centuries. Cutting down all of its forests and turning them into fields. It's really a sad sight, as Cambodia has really beautiful forests. In the near future most of the remaining forests could be gone, too.
Cambodians don't care about their heritage. Neither about their natural nor about their ancient cultural. The old ruins and temples are just a source of money to most of them and just some old piles of stone. The same applies to their forests. Understandable as these people have other worries than us privileged westerners. Trying to survive the day is their only . They can't afford it to think about the future.
The only thing that keeps the forests alive and the temples in tact are the tourist who pour money into this country. The famous temples of Angkor belong to the UNESCO World Heritage.
Gap between rich and poor
As in most countries, especially in most developing countries there is a vast gap between poor and rich. The average monthly salary of an unqualified Khmer worker is approx US 50$-80$. That shows how much the dollar is actually worth in Cambodia and how much the tourists get ripped-off. By selling only 1 bottle of water to a tourist they already make a huge profit compared to regular workers. That's why many Khmer move to the touristic centers like Siem Reap in order to make good money.
I have met a Frech Cambodian, who gave me some insight to the life of the a Cambodian and the social discrepancies in this country. He comes from a privileged family, having wealthy relatives in Cambodia. Ironically, his parents who have moved to French aren't that rich. He told me that his wealthy Cambodian relatives treat their fellow coutrymen as if they were slaves, so much that he feels ashamed when being around. Understandable when you grew up with European ideals of equal rights. But to his relatives it's very normal and they pay their 'servants' less than what a tourist would give a beggar.
In the section with the supermarkets I wrote that you can get everything you know from home in these shops and a that there are lot's of restaurants in Cambodia. But those are actually only visited by tourists and the wealthy Cambodians. The average Cambodian can't afford this stuff. They can't afford to go out and have dinner somewhere. The average Cambodian doesn't go out to eat something. They cook most of their food at home and eat it at home. Rice in the morning, rice at lunch and rice in the evening. Plain and simple.
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