Even price for everyone

You have to live with it, it won't change. E.g. in Thailand foreigners pay 10x the entrance fee to National parks that Thai people pay....

I found two ways to live with it, without getting annoyed.

1. Consider the lower price that Khmer pay a discount, they pay less than the normal price because they are poor.
2. Let a Khmer friend buy things, alone. I have a Khmer friend who buys things for me that are more than $10, she gets the Khmer price, I stay away because if they see the foreigner they will charge more anyway. So by letting a Khmer friend buy, you pay the same low price.

Just the way I cope with it.

I will take note on your idea.

thanks
Tala

Generally speaking , most of the foreigners in Cambodia have more money than locals, a few more bucks to go around doesn't seem like much to be welcomed here , this is such a beautiful place, go to USA, everybody tries to rip you off all the time, really a few more bucks to enjoy this country, which by the way is not ours, but theirs , seems ok to me , just a question, how much is cost of living in your home country? A nice thought about charges for your classes, although I doubt many local Khmers will be taking yoga classees, I've heard this since the day I arrived, dual pricing , although it's usually just a small fee , not too sure about all the fuss?

As a Cambodian American expat who has been at some times mistaken for a local and at others for a "light-skinned Asian" foreigner, I don't think the practice of charging foreigners more than locals is that big of a problem.  If you don't like getting ripped off at the market, don't go there (I personally don't for that very reason).  Go to supermarkets where items ring up the same prices for locals and foreigners alike. If you book a hotel online, you might even get a better deal than a walk-in local customer.  As for housing costs, locals might rent a place for around $100, but it's nothing compared to the posh Western apartments that foreigners rent for $800-$1000 a month.  There are restaurants catering primarily to Westerners that charge a bit more than the local eateries, but the food, portions, and especially the service won't be the same.  Generally, you get what you pay for. 

If I remember correctly, foreigners get charged $20 a day at Angkor Wat, whereas locals get in for free.  I can guarantee you that if locals were charged even $5 to enter, there would be very few local visitors there.  I know many locals view the Angkor Wat as little more than a "pile of rocks," and the only reason that they give them any value at all is that many foreigners consider it a world wonder.  Even in the absence of an entrance fee, there are relatively few locals visiting the temples.

As a  dual citizen I don't have to deal with too much VISA costs and restrictions that other travelers encounter.  What I do have to deal with are the goons at the airport who see "Cambodia" as my place of birth on my passport as a greenlight for a serious shakedown. 

One time after an airport official discovered that I had two laptops in my carry-on, he had a couple of thugs escort me to a special room where I was interrogated by one of his superiors, another uniformed officer who appeared to hold some rank.  He accused me of trying to smuggle into Cambodia commercial goods without paying the proper taxes on them.  I explained to him that I needed both laptops (a Mac and PC) for my IT work, but he wouldn't hear of it. He insisted that I was breaking the law (that he apparently made on the fly) and threatened to have me arrested and hauled off to the infamous Prey Sar prison. To make the long story short, it turned out to be just another one of those good-cop/bad-cop deals where one guy would try to scare you senseless and another would come in and offer to "help" you out, for a price of course. 

I would have happily paid ten times more than the Westerners paid in VISA fees to avoid such situation.  To be sure, this happened many years ago and things have improved significantly at the airport, but I still sense a bit of fear and trepidation every time I go through the airport.  Nowadays, I just hand my passport to the official with a folded $10 bill already inside to avoid trouble.

At any rate, Cambodia is a backward, third-world country, and it's not because the folks here espouse  first-world values and mindsets. Otherwise, you would not be working at the NGO to help alleviate some of the sufferings that are very much the outgrowth of such mentality.

twinsguy20 wrote:

Generally speaking , most of the foreigners in Cambodia have more money than locals

Look at the drivers and passengers in all the Lexuses and Landrovers, and you'll know that's at least partly untrue.
There are also many foreigners who can't afford a $500 apartment or a car, who pay their local taxes (probably more diligently than most locals do), and don't enjoy the benefit of all the various "Cambodia citizen discounts".

Let me also remind you of the strike at Caltex, last year I believe. When the union leader was asked the question why the Sokimex workers weren't striking as well, he said that the Caltex owner was a foreigner, and could therefore afford to pay more.

If the "Cambodia citizen discount" would largely befefit only the poor Cambodians, I would not complain about it with a word. However, those who are already super rich benefit the most, and that irritates me.

Still there's nothing we can do about it.

Yes there are many nice cars in Phnom Penh , but your mistaken , these are mostly Chinese busismen or other rich Asians, yes of course some Khmers are rich to , good for them , but you will see the average Cambodian is not that wealthy ! I totally and  Happily pay the BIG extra price, recently on a trip to Siem reap, my Khmer friend bought a ticket for 8$ , they charged me 10$ really this topic needs to be shut down , us tight ass westerners need to get our heads out of our ass and appreciate these 3 $ Tuk Tuk rides, and fantastic meals in a beautiful ac resturant , for a whole 5$ get real people a fancy drink at Starbucks will be the same in us and uk as a fine seafood dinner here, if you can really argue any of my points here , then you need to check yourselfs and what brought you here anyway, I left Manhattan beach California, where I had a studio apartment, I could hear the ocean at night , but just a faint sound of waves crashing if the surf was big, hell I was so lucky to get a cheap place there, and it's nothing compared to my luxury apartment in down town Phnom Penh that is costing me a whopping 400$ a month , oh yea my mahatten beach apartment , was a deal at 4500$ a month studio, my neighbors were so impressed I got such a good deal , yea dual pricing so terrible here , and last note go to mahatten beach they are honest ,( not like these dual pricing Cambodians ) they will charge you the same 4500 a month no matter what color you are, hey sounds like you complainers need to go there ,no please don't thank me for this great advice, it's free on me , hope you like mahatten beach California , irs really beautiful!!

Very well said and very well put. I am an ex long Beacher from Cali.

Yes unfortunately , well I can be pretty opinionated ! One of my many downfalls, but I just love these Khmer people, yea long beach, but you know as well as I do , in this area of Cali all they do is rip you off, I was formerly in the hotel business , and I'm not rich but doing ok, and frankly I'm retired and could go anywhere I want , but choose to give what little money I have to these wonderful people, thanks for your support ! My next rampage  will be about these western men my age hanging with little girls!! God. Hate this! I'm a 59 year old retired man with 5 kids and if I saw my 30 year old daughter hanging on to a man my age I would want to kill him ha, oh don't get me wrong , I love,,,,,,,,, women and would love to find a 45+ year old woman myself , I see so many women 45-60 that are gorgeous ! And if anyone out there knows one available let me know ha ha , enjoy Cambodia , I mean who can't love it here, thanks again Rod 
Ps. Says  I'm a uk man , but I'm all a USA  citizen ,

The most funny of all is that foreigners pay a higher price than locals for visiting those Satanic pagan temples in Angkor Wat, where they will be duly cursed by the insidiously evil pagan idols over there, in the largest accursed, devil worshiping house of Satanic whores ever constructed in the history of mankind. I have even seen pregnant women heading in that direction, unbeknownst to them that they will give birth to a vicious metaphysical snake in their womb if they do that. People who enter these Angkor Wat temples of doom, are begging for metaphysical evil itself to come into the world and to become flesh.

Your kidding right , you need to go back to your radical Christian church and leave for good , I thought we took care of all of you crazey fools in Waco Texas , hey news flash David koresh is dead along with your freaking radical Christian views are what ever you want to call your selfs, really temples are doomed , oh don't get me wrong my mother is Christian , she supports blacks gays and Jesus , your a nut please leave !!wow but I do want to thank you I thought I was the most out spoken idiot on this sight at least I know there is one more crazy person than me here , thank you for that , you stupid idiot

Even though I was born into the Holy Apostolic Church, I am also quite influenced by the Quranic scriptures nowadays that you can probably almost consider me to be a Muslim, without officially being one. Until further notice, I have not completely repudiated Catholic things entirely. I still like some elements in ways.

I just happen to have downloaded the digital files of the Islamic religion from the internet and perused the scriptures at my leisure. I am really impressed by its consistency.

In fact, my views are very well protected.

As you know, with all the shootouts and suicide bombings, the arrow of enforcement is rather pointing in your direction than the other way around. We have had San Bernardino and Orlando this year. Therefore, I think that it is more or less 2-0 for the religion. Furthermore, I somehow suspect that your gang will be subjected to additional enforcements in the not so-far-away future. Getting arsefucked is part of life for you now.

As you know, our beloved Micah "Cop Slayer" Xavier Johnson has just set the tone by organizing a long-overdue killing contest amongst the Dallas police force. It was an impressive fuck-fest. He managed to knock out 12 Satanic whores, of whom he terminally cluster-fucked 5. You can most likely expect copycats to imitate our beloved hero and martyr. Your gang had better be prepared to risk their lives and die for what they believe in, because either you fight and die, or else you just die.

Yes you and I agree on one thing , these cops in USA needed a wake up call , I have two black children, and cops in USA are out of control . And even though I don't believe in violence , sometimes it's all we have left , look no hard feelings just we don't agree, this is the problem people don't agree so we think we should kill one another because of difference of opinion , please except my apologeys , for use of bad words , I agree to dis agree , but as far as bad cops in USA , we agree

These cops are never prosecuted , but we have something called due process , the courts needed to decide mr johnsons quilt or innocence , yet after only two hours with him in this parking garage they brought in a bomb robot and killed him , yet these policemen get a vacation with pay , then always found innocent , is this justice ??  I see it this way , no hard feelings I think we can both agree on this?

If you read your amercian the colonist in 1776 , just like mr Johnson were also called murders and killers today we call them heroes ,

I also enjoy philosophizing about these things. It is indeed quite a bit of fun to try to place them into a consistent framework of thinking.

Yes, they unceremoniously robot-bombed Mr. Johnson. This pretty much means that they will just kill you, no questions asked, if you shoot at them. Therefore, the islamic view that you should not even try to get out of this alive, but effectively choose to die, and take as many adversaries as you can with you, makes quite a bit of sense. It also makes the enemy feel more powerless. They cannot kill the person anymore, because he chose himself already to die. Furthermore, if there is no requirement to survive the standoff, it opens all kinds of possibilities that would not exist otherwise. Therefore, I think that Mr. Johnson would have made even a larger splash, if he had detonated powerful explosives by himself, and had taken his assailants with him.

In terms of justice, all these persons will be heard anyway on their Last Day. Therefore, we do not have to worry about the administration of justice, since it will be dispensed directly by the One God. Mr. Johnson does not have to worry about this. He did a great thing. He will certainly be given access to paradise, while the 5 Satanic whores that he has duly terminated, will simply be sent into the possession of their master Satan.