Digg3r wrote:If you think the standout of battambang is the "French colonial buildings" you have either never been there or just regurgitating comments from guidebooks where the authors have never been there.

Battambang is one of the worst cities in Cambodia. An absolutely depressing city.....terrible.

Kep (Best crabs ever) ???? Yeah, if you like eating baby blue swimmer crabs (and the odd baby muddie), where you need a toothpick to get the meat out of the claws, let alone the legs. Most of them are less then 1/2 the legal size that is allowable in Oz. OK, if you are Cambodian and trying to feed your family, absolutely fukn shameful as a tourist/expat to even contemplate supporting this industry.

Francis wrote:

Digg3r wrote:If you think the standout of battambang is the "French colonial buildings" you have either never been there or just regurgitating comments from guidebooks where the authors have never been there.

Battambang is one of the worst cities in Cambodia. An absolutely depressing city.....terrible.

I don't know if you would call it a city, but Kratie would beat Battambang hands down.

In the past 3 weeks, naked foreign ladies, and drunken fights.

I'm still not put off by these things. Although a few nights back, a friend and I were walking back Shanghai Bar on st.51, and some woman held out a small brown plastic package and dangled it in my friend's face asking him to buy.

That's one small part of the Country though.

good topic.....stereotypes work for me, in most cases in regards to countries and their people....Cambodia does get it rough lately ....the likes of Gary Glitter and kin have made given Cambodia a bad stereotype ...but this is fairly recent...the stereotypes of old was a land of wonders with beautiful woman and wonderful treasure ...and if you look it's all still here ....
Ps Taabarang you seem fairly negative most of the time....cheer up old chap

do you folks NOT read the whole post or what?
taa, he said he AGREED. Damn.
PR, he said "Battambang is one of the worst cities in Cambodia."
he did not say THE MOST or anything of that sort. I'd be willing to bet he's been thru Poipet (rhymes with toilet) and would agree that IT TOO is one of the worst...

So is the best thing about Cambodia being a combative SOB online?
Is this really the best way to contribute to a forum about Cambodia? HO! Wait! maybe this is NOT a forum about Cambodia?
That's why no one really posts photos of neat stuff in their daily life, or little stories about smiling Khmers who they deal with in daily business or errands.

I do think the OP is onto something. But instead of saying YEAH! and listing things you like, you flamed him for not being in a place he mentions, for being WRONG about it. Guess it has no cool french colonial architecture. Cracked on each other for one thing and another. All we need now is a spelling and grammar nazi.

I like Pursat, despite someone I know telling me it's shit
I actually kinda like the dusty roads. Looks kinda like the red clay roads back home. I like how there's so much room for improvement in anything Think of the potential !

"is the best thing about Cambodia being a combative SOB online?" Sometimes the choice is that you can be a disgruntled Socrates or a content pig. I've lived here for many years and seen that the mania for improvement, misnamed development, has destroyed many aesthetically pleasing things and subsequently lives and livelihoods. Anyway, I'm not only here because of the people, I'm here living with with them. They are resilient in their daily lives of hardships and for me the rest is unimportant but worthy of passing albeit "bitter" mention. Most of you are still tourons and not because I disagree with you but because you still cannot get a correct balance between your selfish needs and human development which helps you applaud the misdirection of this country

Taabarang's speech projected this image in my mind;

taabarang wrote: Sometimes the choice is that you can be a disgruntled pig or a content Socrates .

+1