clutchcargo wrote: ↑Sun Jul 28, 2019 10:37 am Had an immigration guy at the airport ask me: 'you like Cambodian girl?'

Was he just curious coz I have a lot of visa entries or does it say something about the stereotype khmers have about barangs?

This morning I bumped into a neighbour I had recently met. He asked "You have girlfriend? I have sister, she very beautiful". Maybe your immigration guy was going to set you up.

Like in Bali I was always asked "You have girlfriend?", "You want girl?", "You want boy?" in that order.

Standing at a urinal at a bus stop in the Himalaya an Indian passenger noticed my red pubic hair and without averting his gaze said in mild wonder "We don't see that here."

Why your face look like not happy all the time?

Years ago I was on the top floor of the Soriya shopping mall looking out at the skyline.

I ducked into the bathroom for a squirt. There was a Khmer male at the sink washing his hands.

Upon completing his hand washing he proceeded to walk over to the urinal right next to me.

This was weird because there were only the two of us in there and the bank of urinals must have had something like 7 or 8 urinals.

So him choosing a urinal right next to me was already causing my spidey senses to tingle.

Completing my piss, I zip up and turn to walk to the sink. Where upon the skeevy gentleman turns and asks me "Why foreigner have the large penis?"

Being, at the time, relatively new to the country I politely demurred as I cleaned up and made my awkward exit.

He was still in there after I had left. I wonder if he just hangs out in mens rooms. Do gays in Cambodia troll for encounters in restrooms like they do in the West?

That's how George Michael got busted in California. He propositioned an undercover cop in a public bathroom.

Anyway it was an odd event for me and considering my lowered tolerance for Khmer male bullshit, I can say that had this happened recently, it would not have ended as peaceably.

I have been spending a lot of time with Cambodian people, most of whom dont speak English. I joke a lot with them, and have a lot of fun.

If it is someone you just met and dont want to talk to them, I find if you just nod your head and shake your head, they soon come to the conclusion you cant speak Khmer, and leave you alone.

If it is someone you are happy to talk to, play the game with them. They normally tell you one of the old ladies is a widow, and ask if you like her. I say she is married. Often she is, and they were lying. Then they will ask about one a bit younger. I say she is married too. Eventually, if there is a beautiful young girl around, I will say she is beautiful. If the girl hears, she may suddenly turn shy, and go somewhere out of sight for a while. If one of the ladies is her mother, she would normally be happy if you really wanted to marry her daughter, as foreigners normally have more money.

I ride a fat bicycle. People sometimes ask if it is fast or slow. They mean compared to other bicycles. I say it is slow uphill, and fast downhill. They enjoy that type of humour.

People often ask me if I am scared cycling out to villages alone. I sometimes say scared of what? Scared a beautiful girl might kidnap me?

"Do you have clouds in your country ?"

"Where do you come from ?" -> as in "just before meeting now", not just the country of origin.

And all the nosy other questions related to marital status / money / sex.

Indonesia....they're not sure about having a cloud monopoly, and about a lot of stuff, but they would like to know though.

How many kilos are you?

How many boyfriend do you have?
How many kids do you have?

Why are your boobs so big (not in those exact words) and... did you go to Thailand to make them big.

I get asked the most amazing things by Khmers, I just love their honesty.

I enjoyed the questions, they actually seem interested instead of going through the motions.

I really like the Cambodian people. Think I might come back for a few weeks around Christmas / New years

I don't suffer from this issue so much these days, I think I take a fairly no BS approach:

Speak competent Khmer
The most common questions will be your nationality, or "joonjiet" and marital status. Always oblige
Don't get more than shallowly involved with strangers although always be polite in small talk
When asked about salary always answer by not mentioning your salary but the current economic difficulties you face
Luck out on the women questions, because am happily married with a wonderful wife and we have a child, so no advice there sorry
Leave the scene. Be in a hurry. You're a busy person with a life to lead. You don't have time to spend on talking to strangers, you came here to buy bong dia goan, that's it. Nothing wrong with being politely abrupt.
Don't forget to recongise the fantastic Khmer people you will meet randomly and form great relationships.

Now, if it's a Cambodian you know well, just be er.. prudently.. honest. There is no privacy here, so no need to worry about that.