Lil Me wrote:
TB- would you recommend Cambodia to the rest of us travellers with no family/friends there? Personally I think all the foreigners (me included) should stay the hell out and not soil their country. I cringe when I see other American or European tourists there- most of them are loud, crass, and offensive to the core. Ugh.
However, it's a
very cool place, a visual feast for the eyes, and the people are extremely open and friendly. I've never gotten a harsh look or an unkind word there and I feel safer walking in downtown Phnom Penh at night than I do here in Seattle.
Hotels are very affordable ($10 to $20 a night for nice rooms) and the food is varied and inexpensive. Shopping is like the Wild West- anything goes and prices are fluid. NEVER pay the listed price on anything, normally after a little haggling you'll pay 30% to 50% of the marked price.
Male visitors will find that the country is home to millions of genuinely lovely ladies who are fascinated by foreigners and find them handsome to a fault. (Soooo many women there told my fiance that I was handsome that I halfway started to believe it myself.) Be nice to them and they'll be nice to you, but these are "good girls" so don't expect any hanky-panky without a wedding.
However, that said, I'd probably marry half the ladies there without a second thought. They're just that nice. And this is coming from a (formerly) sworn-to-the-death bachelor.
Female visitors are, by and large, out of luck in the romance department. Cambodian men will probably disappoint most western-minded women. In fact most western women would find Cambodian men annoying and/or insulting to say the least.
Interseting places to see abound and the beaches and resorts are gorgeous.
So, yes, I'd recommend it as a vacation or travel spot, but I'd also hate to see the country overrun with people like me.
