Why is it in Phnom Penh that everything north of street 178 is the """tourist area"""? Its the WORST part of the city by FAR. I swear it seems like street 178 is the last line of defense before you go north and see the whole city turn to shit. The buildings are old as fuck and not in an endearing way, more in a "god they just gotta tear this shit down at this point" kind of way. The poorest of the poor live north of 178. Thugs everywhere. It smells like FUCKING SHIT. No seriously, what the fuck is that smell near the red light district? You can't even enjoy the girly bars because you're constantly looking over your shoulder. Cockroaches and rats galore at and near the hotels and restaurants. Trash is horrid even by Cambodian standards. Do people just like the wat phnom area for the prostitutes? And if that's the case, why are literal tourist families staying in this shitty area? I stayed in this area twice before and it gave me a bad taste in my mouth for Phnom Penh. Ventured to the south part of the city on my third trip to Phnom Penh and it was like night and day. Way better down there and more beautiful with well adjusted locals that don't look like they're about to murder you. Why isn't the southern part the tourist area? I don't fucking get it. It literally feels like the depths of hell in the wat phnom area. Its like international tourists visiting LA just to stay in Compton. Makes no sense..
Congrats, you discovered that tourist areas in developing countries are in cheap "old towns" with "charm" while locals move to new, modern areas that aren't falling apart.
>you discovered that tourist areas in developing countries are in cheap "old towns" with "charm"
Wrong. There is no charm in this case. Its the literal ghetto
hence the quotation marks
It's the same shit with Khao San in Bangkok.
That said, PP is awful in general. You will not convince me it's not a shithole. Even the "fancy" areas stick to this vile brown-gold color scheme.
Agreed. The one thing I can appreciate about Phnom Penh though is the population density isn't ridiculous like every other Asian capital city
> population density isn't ridiculous like every other Asian capital city
is that a defense of genocide ma dude?
Phnom Penh in its entirety is trash. Forget you ever visited it, will be better for your mental health.
Welcome to Pig Pen. Literal hell on earth. Not even plentiful and cheap bareback 18 year old pussy was enough to get me to stay.
I feel you on the euro tourist families in the red light district bit. Seeing these turds stumbling around in shocked awe at 1am as they scurry back to their guest homes was really annoying. Totally clueless people spending $30 a night to stay in short time hotels that punters use to fuck teenagers, and thinking they got some sort of cultural experience.
Wondering why the city is such a shithole is a waste of effort. The adult entertainment district around 136 was once upon a time a Big Deal. Then it declined hard as Thailand + shainoukville become an even better destination and slurped its milkshake. It's been decaying hard for the past 10-15 years. Finally, Covid caused a near catastrophic collapse and the whole area was completely shut down for a year which wiped out many businesses and caused many expats to leave.
It struggled back to life somehow. Lots of Asian tourists go there now as you may have noticed from the ktv style venues but it's looking real grim.
Wtf, 3 years of this and I still find experienced sex tourism boomer articles amusing
It's not even worth going now. 90% of the good looking prozzies won't go with whites since they are just holding out for a rich chink or korean. You will see gorgeous little whores prancing around the red light district but they won't even talk to you.
They act like they are too good for you, downright snobby. It's amusing at first, then you find out the behavior has become endemic thanks to the phenomena of the loaded Koreans spending 5x as much during short trips, compared to the cheap charlie lifestyle whoring of western sex pests. They just have no reason to lower themselves to fucking for cheap when think all they need to do is just be patient for some money tossing retard with a bowl cut, and they are right.
Only losers buy diseased whores
kwabmao, the utter state of sexpats
>Why is it in Phnom Penh that everything north of street 178 is the """tourist area"""? Its the WORST part of the city by FAR
Is this a bait thread? Isn't that were all the prosties are?
not friendly
Where can I buy acid and ketamine in siem reap?
is Siem Reap something like a completely artificial town that exists only to support tourism or are there local people from different social classes living normal lives there?
Cambodia keeps coming up with their long visa options and low prices but PP seems fucking awful and I'm not sure about Siem Reap, I hate that 100% touristy shit
Pub Street is essentially the only "artificial" touristy sector of the town. The rest is as you can expect from a third world town.
I've seen tuk-tuk drivers having lunch at food centres at large or playing volleyball in a small lot, drove through shacks huddled together and into the country where you see people tending to rice fields and their oxen
I was initially worried that Siem Reap had absolutely nothing outside of the ruins and pub street, but it is a fully functioning town