I feel like the "Kingdom of Wonder" doesn't get talked about much here, why? Cheap visas, quieter than its neighbors, most lax country for TEFLfags, people seem friendly enough. I know there's sexpats and third-world bullshit of course, but that's almost everywhere in SEA. What's the catch?
>>2872917I've spent probably a year total of my life in cambodia (phnom penh/kampot) so I feel qualified to give you a tl;dr.Tl;dr - basically a worse Thailand in every way, with awful infrastructure/amenities, with no comparable savings for putting up with said awful amenities. The only draw is availability of drugs/prescription drugs, so the expat crowd is really fucked up. Phnom penh is one of the worst cities in SEA for pollution and traffic.Thailand, Vietnam mogs it. Laos affordabilitymogs it. The only reason young people ever went to Cambodia in the first place was for weed, and thats no longer exclusive.So yeah. Its stuck in the past but with shit prices. You cant even be a pedo there anymore since the government is paid by the UN and NGOs to crack down on it. So no 'anchor' industry of any type to keep expats coming back, except for pillheads, who just od and die after a year or 2.>why were you thereI went for two weeks initially, found the hottest woman I have ever seen in my life, then dropped everything else to play house with her for a little while, before it eventually blew up in my face. It was worth it. She was/is so hot that even thinking about her gives me a hard on to this day. Its happening right now.
I cant knock it too hard, but that's essentially it. You will spend some time there and just wonder why you arent in Thailand instead. Petty crime is also rampant. So many scams and so much bullshit. You've got to be a lot more careful than in other countries, khmers are just ruthless and desperate.
>>2872958>>2872959Cambodia literally has the hottest women in SEA.Viet and Thai are too light skinned, might as well just go to Japan, and Filipinas are mostly goblins. Khmer's are brown perfection.
>>2872917A lot of people are terrified of going today because of the kidnappings and enslavement in spam centers. As an American, I'm probably safe from that, but why risk it when Vietnam is right next door and doesn't have that problem?
It's alright, Angkor is 100% worth seeing, a true marvel of engineering and all the surrounding ruins are worth seeing as well. That's about it, Phnomh Penh sucks and the food isn't quite as good as all the countries around it. Worth seeing but won't top your favourite country lists
Does Cambodia deserve to be visited? Its natural landscapes are mediocre and underwhelming, perhaps the worst of any Asian country. Most of the country is a plain of heavily degraded scrub forest crossed by dirt roads, though there are a few pretty spots - beaches and hills. You think poverty means your money goes farther, but this is not the case. Lack of investment/prosperity means fewer and shittier opportunities to spend your money, with quality dining & lodging offered for a premium due to its scarcity. Khmer men are smol and not much of a physical threat to a 6' white guy in decent shape, but they don't have any strong traditional culture governing their behavior like most Asian countries, so they do seem more feral and unpredictable, doing shit like driving off instead of handing you your change. Many of the young guys resent you for your whiteness and get an ego boost by screwing you over knowing you can't do shit. That being said, if you just want to pop pills and rot in your apartment all day for dirt-cheap, you can do it in Cambodia. I fail to see any real reason to visit the country.
My plan when I was waiting for my social security was to move to Cambodia cause it's the only place I could afford, but then I found out you can only leave the country for 30 days a year on social security so that never came to fruition. But damn I learned so much about Cambodia in that time, I really want to go to siem reap and just chill bros. Anybody else ever watch no joke howard?
I could go for some tramadol and Xanax right about now
>>2872958Hahah with a claim like that I've got to see her now. Other than pills I guess lower tourism is the selling point then. Well it would be for me anyway
>>2872959People always say this. What is so much better about Thailand though? I've never been but I can imagine the nature is similar, maybe transportation infrastructure would be better in Thailand. But other than that what is there? Cheap, crappy tourist entertainment, "luxury shopping centers" that I don't know why you'd want to go to, tourist traps, fancier crappy souvenir shops to buy your junk from that you'll friends will put in a draw and never look at again. I can't think of anything meaningful that would be way better. maybe the food. But again I haven't been so feel free to enlighten me
>>2872958They do have an anchor industry. Anchor Wat. Billions of people will always come for it
>>2873077> I've never been but I can imagine the nature is similar, maybe transportation infrastructure would be better in Thailand. You can tell the difference between the two countries as soon as you cross the border, particularly at Poi Pet. Everything in Thailand is cleaner, it’s more developed, and most importantly, the people don’t seem like feral fucking animals. Even in the smallest towns and villages in Thailand there is a sense of order and structure and people seem relatively happy. In Cambodia, the same type of areas are filled with trash, despair, and as I said before, fucked up people. If that appeals to you, then by all means, go for it.
Looks mad dusty
>>2873077Thailand has been developing tremendously over the past few years, particularly in the rural provinces. Newly paved and widened roads, electricity that never goes out, fast Internet and cell service, hotels with three-star amenities for a one-star price, fitness parks, fine dining and tasty treats, daily trash collection, etc. And a portrait of the king in every prominent place; he has continued his father's program of improving the livelihood of outlying areas in order to maintain social stability and prevent the possibility of revolt. >the nature is similarThe diversity of birdlife in Thailand is so much greater than in its poorer neighbors. Even crossing the Mekong from Laos, one of the first things I noticed was how many birds were calling and flying about. On the Lao side, the forests are so degraded (basically monocrop treefarms) that birds avoid them. Roosters are the only birds that thrive.>>2873079And that kind of touristcattle lure is where you're most likely to be ripped off or scammed at every turn. It's like the pyramids; you go once for the experience, but then you leave and never think of returning.
>>2872917> CambodiaIsnt this the country that all the white dorkus go to to do things that are illegal in other countries? you know exactly what i mean...
>>2873103Other than improvements to internet, electricity, bin collection, those are not pros for tourists like myself. Shame about the nature though. What happened there?
>>2873085I wonder if the difference is genetics too. Can it really be all social standards
>>2873198Less development means less effective farming, so you need to use more land and degrade the environment further.
>>2873198It's mostly a burgeoning population of poor villagers needing to exploit their environment to the max. Chop down forests for cookfires, graze livestock in the resulting open areas, breed hordes of chickens to eat everything on the ground, churn up dust on every road, kill any sizable wild creature for food. Before you know it, there is nothing left across entire landscapes but humans, livestock, chickens, cats and dogs.
>>2873223>>2873265Bloody hell, this is bleak
What's the electic grid in Phnom Penh like? Do I have to worry about regular brown outs if I'm staying at a nice, new hotel in the middle of the city? I work remotely and am thinking about doing an online Master's program. Would be nice to go somewhere and settle down for 2 years without much visa hassle
>>2873085>>2873199Southern part of Isan has 1 million ethnic Khmer. That's the sad irony of the war, that the Khmer were bombing their own people on the other side of the border.
>>2873275Laos is the very definition of hell
>>2873383Well that's a pretty common thing I'm civilization, up until today>>2873384Come on, don't say that. It's really nice, maybe just not the best of everything
>>2872968> and Filipinas are mostly goblins.I know this is gonna make me sound like a butthurt peenoy, but please stop saying this. I know what you mean by goblins and don’t disagree that they exist, but a significant amount of the girls here are genuinely pretty.Coming from Japan yesterday, it was a great juxtaposition of the ratio if attractive women, and honestly the average nip woman was way less attractive than I expected. In fact I’d argue the ratios of attractive nip and flip women are roughly the same. Sure some of them are a bit cute I guess? But that’s cute in the same sense a pug is cute, but not really an attractive dog.Pic attached as reference of my recent stay in Nippon. Breddy good country.Spending just a few hours on Boracay white beach today I saw plenty of attractive bikini girls. The only reason I didn’t end up talking to them is because I’m married…
>>2873412btw I’m white if you couldn’t tell
>>2873383Thai Army brings soldiers from elsewhere in the country to fight, just like they do with the southern insurgency.>>2873106About all that would happen nowadays to a stranger looking for some jb is a case of sextortion. Very common in the Third World.>>2873412>he goes to a sugar daddy destination>omg, teh girls all wear teeny weeny bikinis and look like models!Not surprising.
>>2873412I think you're right. Filipinas are cute. However, they've also been corrupted heavily by having so many boomer expats moving there looking for wives. Cambodia is a lot more low key and you're probably more likely to find an honest girl
>>2873199The Siamese (Central Thailand), apart from the Chinese immigrants who came mostly in the 19th century, were always known to be genetically a mix of Khmer and Mon. Their civilization emerged out of Lopburi (Ayutthaya), firmly in the Khmer empire, and only gradually there were enough Thai speakers there to break away from it. Fun fact, recent genetic studies show the Khmer on average to be anywhere from 9-15% Indian.And in island SEA, Indian genetics go all the way out to the Philippines.
>>2873485That's not a fun fact at all.Anyway how do you know so much about ethnicity and genetics? I've searched and searched for books in the subject but they don't exist. You have to to have got your knowledge from somewhere though, excluding doing every study yourself
>>2873485I love SEA culture and history, like whenever I talk to a local about they always give me a dumb stare like I'm an autist (understandably) or something because they have no idea what I'm talking about. They all think they have always been there and were the original niggas, but in reality, and as a racist white man, it hurts to say this, pretty much everything of their culture originated from influences from India. Still, throughout the years, they obviously made their own spin on it so that today it's completely different. Mostly, it makes me wonder, actually, what happened to indian culture to make a country full of street shitters. They indians of way back must have been of a much higher caliber compared to today to have spread so much of their culture.
>>2872917Cambodian gangs frequently kidnap foreigners to work in their scam call centers. For example, they are currently missing Japanese students in Cambodia who are feared of being enslaved by local gangs.>Around 10 Japanese men in their 20s-30s from Fukuoka Prefecture are missing in Cambodia, suspected of being lured by high-paying, fraudulent "telemarketing" jobs on social media. These individuals, including students, went missing after traveling in 2024-2026, with some feared to be held captive in scam compounds
>>2872917>most lax country for TEFLfagsYou got me. I was actually considering a position in an """international school""" in Cambodia. I wanted to go with Vietnam after I got my certs, but it seems like their salaries took a shit during COVID and never recovered. Even the decent centers are only paying $19 an hour. Meanwhile, I've gotten offers for up to $30 an hour in Cambodia, I guess because there are few qualified teachers there in a sea of high school dropouts and ESLs working illegally. Why is a country that is apparently a dump the only one in SEA offering above $2k/mo with insurance? Am I just not looking hard enough? Is Cambodia just that lame that they have to throw extra money to get white monkeys to bite?Also >>2873074 RIP No Joke Howard
>>2872917HOLY SHIT GO SOMEWHERE BESIDES SOUTHEAST ASIA
>>2873074>>2874046>No Joke Howardhe was a cool guy
