hmmm only time i had trouble was back in the 80's when i ran a disco an the thai mafia wanted control.
they sent out 3 guys for me at the disco, the 2 thai cops we had as security, disappeared. nothing new there.

Took a beating but got them all kicked off the island,
since than nothing

thais, asians in general don't fight fair, ( except maybe in the ring, Right Jamie?)

I've been in Asia for 14 years. Had a few punch ups with drunken white folks... and one drunken Hong Konger (Honkie) who might as well be a white dude (he lived in the UK and taught at Imperial College for 30 years...) never had so much as a minor altercation with anyone from South East Asia or East Asia for that matter (though I did once have an over the hill hooker, in a nightclub, start screaming at me for not wanting to take her home in Bangkok - the Thai folks around me dragged her outside, apologized for the appalling image of Thailand she was creating and then bought all my drinks).

Every white guy I've seen scrapping with a Thai or Khmer has brought it on themselves. Every single one. There's still a snidey shitty colonialist attitude towards the people who live in SE Asia displayed by some Americans, Brits, and Aussies in particular (Canadians not so much for whatever reason). Throw a few beers on top and they start acting like the local people are shit on their shoes; I've always thought it a bit of a miracle that there aren't more dead white folks in this part of the world - I've seen plenty who deserved a good slapping when interacting with locals.

TheGrinchSR wrote:Every white guy I've seen scrapping with a Thai or Khmer has brought it on themselves. Every single one. There's still a snidey shitty colonialist attitude towards the people who live in SE Asia displayed

Exactly my experience.

I know I haven't been in Cambodia for as long as almost everybody on this forum board (only 10 months). However, I've spent the last year and some touring around SE Asia prior to living in Phnom Penh.
I come from a very sketchy part of Canada (can Canada be dangerous?)
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia ... lent-crime
Things have only gotten much worse since then. A lot goes unreported because it's just so common. If I wasn't woken up at least once a night by gunfire and Sirens I was shocked. Random gang beatings daily etc.

I try to get along with everyone and I mind my business and I think perhaps that may be the key.
Don't be a dick, and generally bad things won't happen to you.

I generally feel very safe in Cambodia.

Luckily avoided a nasty brawl in the Square in SHV last year, I was on a pub crawl with some resident expats and there seemed to be a bit of history between one of the guys and a youngish khmer guy drinking at the particular bar we went into. Something else was said by one of the guys regarding the price of his drink to the female owner of the bar who immediately took the visible hump. I didn't like the way things were going so finished my drink and strolled across to one of the other bars to relax. Sure enough barely 5 minutes later all hell broke loose, with one of our number leaving covered in blood pursued by a group of khmer armed with chains and sticks. This followed an argument earlier in the evening on Victory Hill over the price of the taxis to go downtown, which again was right on the verge of turning nasty. I've never put myself into a position like that for the sake of a measly few dollars and it seemed to me the way the whole thing played out was a classic example of how to escalate trouble rather than avoid it.

I think the Thais are in the main remarkably restrained given some of the drunken idiots and their behaviour you see in Walking Street regularly. I did enjoy the case of 3 louts from my home town in the UK who came over to celebrate the release of one of them from prison, predictably they spent all day getting pissed harassing innocent drinkers and ended up getting chased by a group of Thai security guards, jumped off the pier into the water off Walking street which was not a good idea when you can't swim. The recently released convict drowned. Ain't karma a bitch.

TheGrinchSR wrote: Every white guy I've seen scrapping with a Thai or Khmer has brought it on themselves. Every single one.

Utterly wrong. I'll tell you why when I get back from work later.

juansweetpotato wrote:

TheGrinchSR wrote: Every white guy I've seen scrapping with a Thai or Khmer has brought it on themselves. Every single one.

Utterly wrong. I'll tell you why when I get back from work later.

agree; I did not bring it on myself
i have seen over the years a few times when Thais have jumped Farangs,
many times it was related to the farang was with the thai's GF who happened to be a bar girl in the bar she worked and the thai went off

CowshedCowboyRedux wrote: I've never put myself into a position like that for the sake of a measly few dollars .

That's what I mean about learning to be their bitch and you will have no problems. Gotta learn to turn -off the moral outrage, but unlike yourself, I rarely hand over the extra dollars, I don't want to corrupt the place any more than it is already. Any other place outside of East Asia and you would probably find the locals lining up to give them a tongue-lashing for being a greedy cnut.

BTW violence is never the way to sort something out like someone way over-charging you and most people in the world know this. Unfortunately no-one seems to have told some of the business men here that it is also way out of order when they are the one doing the over-charging. They mainly only do it because they know they can get away with it. I learnt fairly quickly it's best to just walk away. I don't like violence and I found the two situations I was in pretty f'in ugly.

story making the rounds here in phuket,

a Russian went to the local market an asked the price of a fish, the fish seller told him and the Russian paid with a 1,00 baht note an he said the seller did not give him his change , fight broke out ( wheres jamie when u need him)
the seller threw his knife at him and sliced off his ear

http://www.thephuketnews.com/russian-ma ... -56217.php