Insight from an expat

Sousdei backpackers (Hello backpackers)

I am Jeff and I am a canadian living in Siem Reap since August 2013.

After backpacking in Asia for months, I decided to start to stop here being tired of not finding decent places to work comfortably as a digital nomad. (mixed with the frequent power outages and poor Internet). I've created a Coworking Space in the heart of the town named AngkorHUB. I am my first client :)

Back to the main subject : Insights.

I wanted to make a short list of things to do and not to in Siem Reap, the Temple Town.
Because many tourists are falling for it, thinking they help. I almost felt for it in my first week in Siem Reap.

• Don't buy powdered milk to begging children, it is a scam, they bring it back to the shop and cash half of it. http://www.friends-international.org/blog/index.php/the-milk-of-human-kindness-the-siem-reap-baby-milk-scam/
• Avoid buying rice and pens on the floating village tours, if you want to understand why, stay there for an hour and watch the amount of rice and pens coming in. (For the same reason as the milk kids)
• Monks will never ask you money
• Don't buy many plastic and say no to plastic bags, if you like your Starbuck style coffee in a plastic glass, with a plastic lid with a plastic handle, keep in mind that this is easy to find everywhere in Asia, but the plastic will end up burning at the local landfill, with all the health issues you can imagine.

There is NO recycling facilities in Siem Reap and a lot of businesses don't care. Just go on the country side and you will see where the plastic goes.

If you are the responsible buyer type, I invite you to Google Search where your money goes in popular attractions in Cambodia or in S.E Asia in general. There is a lot of precious information on this forum as well and I invite you to do a quick search.

In Cambodia, you will see the richest rich and the poorest poor. Siem Reap is one of the poorest province in Cambodia with a growth in tourism of 30% per annum and millions of dollars of profits, get informed, do the math and make the difference :)

And a positive note, DO discover real people, honest Khmer and the country side, Cambodia is an amazing country and Khmer are great people with the values at the right place. You will never forget their smile and will want to stay another day. I have no regrets to leave here and I hope you will have the chance to visit this country and it's wonderful culture and people.

Jeff

Siem Reap gets the most foreign investment of all the provinces in Cambodia and it is also the poorest province in Cambodia. Siem Reap is a shining example of how tourism can be done wrong and does not help local people.

Agreed #1, it would be good to see organisations promoting tourism in other provinces in Cambodia, but then they would loose many of their home comforts...

mangoholic: Tourism in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh or wherever does bring work to hundreds of locals who would otherwise be unemployed. The fact that many of them are exploited, long hours/short pay, is not the fault of the tourists, but those who employ them, usually locals or Orientals.

No re-cycling in Siem Reap! Don't tell that to the street kids or the folks with the bin liner panniers attached to their bikes.!!! Im sure they'd feel insulted.

REP seems to have more Tex-mex restaurants than anywhere else. Exactly what is Khmer- tex-mex fusion?
Pub St was pretty wet last night so punters were rained in to whatever bar they could squeeze into.
None of the businesses are owned by genuine locals and that is the problem. The asset owners are just interested in prolonging the cash flow and turnover not in long term local development or investment. it's amazing how the whole place survives by milking foreign punters but that is not unique in SEA.

Frankly, I didn't find much insight; all of the "warnings" you proffer are profusely covered in all travel forums and travel guides. All of which leads me to believe that your main goal was to promote your so-called "co-working space." Fortunately however, the answers introduced topics worthy of consideration.

While I agree with poster #1, it does seem fair to balance with #3's observation that"The fact that many of them are exploited, long hours/short pay, is not the fault of the tourists, but those who employ them, usually locals or Orientals." And finally #4's final paragraph also includes elements of truth, "None of the businesses are owned by genuine locals...etc."

The failure of employers to pay a "living wage" is ubiquitous in Cambodia. Such wage slavery smacks of 19th century capitalism and is deplorable. There will be no solution to this problem until Cambodians in a position of power change their way of thinking-something that does not seem likely to happen soon. As I wrote in another post to #1 "Money is the new Buddha and has been for a while now." There is little, if anything at all the foreign visitor can do except remember kindly those who served you well and let it reflect in an appropriately generous gratuity.

Most businesses I know are owned by locals. They are usually also the ones that pay low salaries and exploit the staff as they can circumvent existing laws.

I very much doubt that SR is still the poorest province; plenty of money here. I just have to look at our staff parking lot. When the hotel opened 10 years ago, it was mostly pushbikes. Now the lot is full with motorbikes and cars.....

Yes, street kids taking the plastic, going to local depots (private), then they fill a truck who go to thailand.
They are not taking all the plastics and especially not outside of the town. I went myself cleaning at a floating village with a group of hundreds of volunteers (200 locals from the village as well), trust me, plastic is not recycled and goes into the fish bellies. There is NO garbage trucks who go there as well. Ok I am far from the topic of Siem Reap, but it's still in Siem Reap Province.

mangoholic: Tourism in Siem Reap, Phnom Penh or wherever does bring work to hundreds of locals who would otherwise be unemployed. The fact that many of them are exploited, long hours/short pay, is not the fault of the tourists, but those who employ them, usually locals or Orientals.

No re-cycling in Siem Reap! Don't tell that to the street kids or the folks with the bin liner panniers attached to their bikes.!!! Im sure they'd feel insulted.

You said is much covered everywhere but every 5 minutes I see a tourist going to buy powered milk. This is a VERY ACTIVE subject upon expats here and a rising results in scam in Cambodia Google Search for travellers who search before going. I am involved myself to find solutions with other people and the first thing is tourist awareness.

Siem Reap is beautiful town and tourism can help a lot, but as travellers, we need to know where our money goes.
There is many good business, local or foreigner owned that do really good thing and pay decent wages.

I am not a big poster in this forum and sorry if my writing style is not "a part of the top posters". Yes, I talk about my "so-called-business ?" and this is the real history of why I stopped here. I will not put links, but do the searches before judging my motivations.

Frankly, I didn't find much insight; all of the "warnings" you proffer are profusely covered in all travel forums and travel guides. All of which leads me to believe that your main goal was to promote your so-called "co-working space." Fortunately however, the answers introduced topics worthy of consideration.

While I agree with poster #1, it does seem fair to balance with #3's observation that"The fact that many of them are exploited, long hours/short pay, is not the fault of the tourists, but those who employ them, usually locals or Orientals." And finally #4's final paragraph also includes elements of truth, "None of the businesses are owned by genuine locals...etc."

The failure of employers to pay a "living wage" is ubiquitous in Cambodia. Such wage slavery smacks of 19th century capitalism and is deplorable. There will be no solution to this problem until Cambodians in a position of power change their way of thinking-something that does not seem likely to happen soon. As I wrote in another post to #1 "Money is the new Buddha and has been for a while now." There is little, if anything at all the foreign visitor can do except remember kindly those who served you well and let it reflect in an appropriately generous gratuity.

To clarify, I did not blame "tourists" but tourism, and the way it seems to be done in SR.

2 quotes out of Elizabeth Becker's Overbooked published in 2013 by Simon & Schuster about Cambodia:

"Tourism brings in $2 billion each year, but it enriches Cambodia's elite rather than helping the underprivileged. Poverty and unemployment is worse around tourist areas, especially Angkor."

"In the 1960s, before all the war and genocide, Siem Reap was the richest per capita province in the country, famous for its rice fields and fish. Today with its' multibillion-dollar tourism business it is the poorest per capita. The promise of tourism to raise the livelihoods of the poor has failed miserably in Siem Reap. The "leakage" of money out of the province is among the highest in the world, according ot Douglas Broderick, the UN resident coordinator in Phnom Penh."

Actually it was the late and legendary TT poster Henning who told me about SR being the poorest province, and he also worked in the tourism business in Cambodia. Everyone I know in Ban Lung has a scooter or car but they are still quite poor.

I am a supporter of grassroots ecotourism. Both the Virachey rangers and the indigenous guides get paid $15 per day on treks, which range from 3-14 days. I have not met one who was not happy to do this job. I am not sure how ecotourism works out in Mondulkiri or the Cardamoms.

"Everyone I know in Ban Lung has a scooter or car but they are still quite poor."

?????

By which standard?. By western standards maybe, but by local standards a car owner must be really wealthy. In 1% highest earning bracket for sure.

"?????"

They could have sold a few pieces of wood or a couple of pangolins to Vietnam and they took all the proceeds and bought a used scooter or a used car. Very easy to figure out. Top 1% ! Hahaahaa!

Yeah Mangoholic, it is pretty easy to spot posters with no in-country experience. Mere possession of a vehicle does not admit you into the fraternity of Oknyas. Those vehicles would would look silly parked next to the shiny new Masserates, BMWs, and other high end vehicles. The top 1% are all personally acquainted with HE and not without reason. And furthermore it is silly to talk about an earning bracket in a country where corruption is not viewed as a problem, but a system, hence most wealth is hidden and revealed only in ostentatious gestures toward the hoi poloi.

And as for "You said is much covered everywhere but every 5 minutes I see a tourist going to buy powered milk. This is a VERY ACTIVE subject upon expats here..." Look the topic has been covered extensively in travel forums everywhere, especially in tripadvisor.com. Simply because other people do not know about it does NOT make your observation "insightful." Sorry that you guys in SR don't have more interesting topics to dwell on.

I really wonder why you are mean to for free like this with people ? Did I attacked you ?

I did my best, I am not a native english speaker and I thought the word insight was correctly used, but I was wrong. Because if for you it is stupid, I think that for many people who aren't reading, searching enough or are not tech savvy, this can perhaps be valuable information.

Recently, somebody told me he didn't his trip to Cambodia, was proposing a common friend to travel somewhere else instead, having being scammed during his trip.

Living here, I don't see this in my daily life and Khmer people are amazing people, worth being known and I try to make people enjoy their trip if I can. I could list several tour companies, that they will keep you out of scams and make you discover the real Cambodia, but it will be a biased comments. I let Lonely Planet do it by naming the right ones. But per example, the café with underpaid staff is listed everywhere as a place to go for peaceful veggie travellers.

Cambodia NEED tourism, but my point was that people (including myself) need to know more and ask questions when we travel. I don't have all the solutions to find the perfect places to go, sorry.

On a positive note, speaking of the Khmer people, they will never insult you freely and will offer a sincere smile.
Maybe you should come outside your lonely planet Sanityclause and discover other humans in the 3D life.

You have my business address, my name is Jeff. You are welcome to pass by and say Hello, but please don't destroy my whole business if the coffee is too cold using your online nickname. Just ask and I will make a new one ;)

I hope I will be able to contribute in other topics, like here about tips for digital nomads, I keep the faith about the community :)

Jeff

Yeah Mangoholic, it is pretty easy to spot posters with no in-country experience. Mere possession of a vehicle does not admit you into the fraternity of Oknyas. Those vehicles would would look silly parked next to the shiny new Masserates, BMWs, and other high end vehicles. The top 1% are all personally acquainted with HE and not without reason. And furthermore it is silly to talk about an earning bracket in a country where corruption is not viewed as a problem, but a system, hence most wealth is hidden and revealed only in ostentatious gestures toward the hoi poloi.

And as for "You said is much covered everywhere but every 5 minutes I see a tourist going to buy powered milk. This is a VERY ACTIVE subject upon expats here..." Look the topic has been covered extensively in travel forums everywhere, especially in tripadvisor.com. Simply because other people do not know about it does NOT make your observation "insightful." Sorry that you guys in SR don't have more interesting topics to dwell on.

"Maybe you should come outside your lonely planet Sanityclause and discover other humans in the 3D life."

First, you recycle well-known facts and present them as "insights", then you pretend to know about me. So, here is the truth. I have lived in Cambodia for 18 years-eleven of them rurally. I am married to a Cambodian and have two children. I speak fluent Cambodian and understand the social issues. Is that "3D"enough for you?

And again, "On a positive note, speaking of the Khmer people, they will never insult you freely and will offer a sincere smile." Well one could frequently question the sincerity of their smiles, but you should hear what they say about you in Cambodian. Have no fear over coffee that is too cold, you are not a person I wish to meet, quite the contrary. Get a life, then get some credibility.