Great posts Samouth.

Great posts indeed +1

Just one question, How do they justify getting annoyed if asking a price sometimes as high as 4 times more? Surely it's the customer who should be getting pissed. After all if they gave a reasonable price to begin with the customer would buy and they would get good luck. What does good luck mean to them? Getting 4 x more all day? I know that in Vietnam the old way was for women to trade small goods outside the village compound. They used to make very small profits and were apparently happy with them. Was it the same in Cambodia I wonder, and if so what changed the mentality. Sino-Khmer have been here a long, long time.

StroppyChops wrote:Great posts Samouth.

You are welcome.

juansweetpotato wrote:Great posts indeed +1

Just one question, How do they justify getting annoyed if asking a price sometimes as high as 4 times more? Surely it's the customer who should be getting pissed. After all if they gave a reasonable price to begin with the customer would buy and they would get good luck. What does good luck mean to them? Getting 4 x more all day? I know that in Vietnam the old way was for women to trade small goods outside the village compound. They used to make very small profits and were apparently happy with them. Was it the same in Cambodia I wonder, and if so what changed the mentality. Sino-Khmer have been here a long, long time.

They would be so pissed off and said you asked for the price in the early morning and you didn't buy it. This is a really bad sigh for us and we would have bad luck for the rest of the day. I have witnessed this, the vendor got in argument with the customer as she didn't buy if after she asked for the price. This is really common in the kingdom. It is better to buy stuff in the mall or supper market. i think vendor always says that this is the best price they can offer, but it is still higher and they still want rip off us no matter during the morning, afternoon or evening. However, it is okay put the price down into half during afternoon or evening. Don't do it in the morning. On the other hand, as you are barang, you would be fine to do it in the morning as khmer vendors don't expect that you know this kinda belief.

Sorry i have never heard about that (Vietnam). What is Sino-Khmer ?

Samouth wrote:

juansweetpotato wrote:Great posts indeed +1

Just one question, How do they justify getting annoyed if asking a price sometimes as high as 4 times more? Surely it's the customer who should be getting pissed. After all if they gave a reasonable price to begin with the customer would buy and they would get good luck. What does good luck mean to them? Getting 4 x more all day? I know that in Vietnam the old way was for women to trade small goods outside the village compound. They used to make very small profits and were apparently happy with them. Was it the same in Cambodia I wonder, and if so what changed the mentality. Sino-Khmer have been here a long, long time.

They would be so pissed off and said you asked for the price in the early morning and you didn't buy it. This is a really bad sigh for us and we would have bad luck for the rest of the day. I have witnessed this, the vendor got in argument with the customer as she didn't buy if after she asked for the price. This is really common in the kingdom. It is better to buy stuff in the mall or supper market. i think vendor always says that this is the best price they can offer, but it is still higher and they still want rip off us no matter during the morning, afternoon or evening. However, it is okay put the price down into half during afternoon or evening. Don't do it in the morning. On the other hand, as you are barang, you would be fine to do it in the morning as khmer vendors don't expect that you know this kinda belief.

Sorry i have never heard about that (Vietnam). What is Sino-Khmer ?

Thanks for clarifying Samouth, I have heard the first customer of the day is lucky many times before, but never had so much detail on it from a Khmer perspective. I have observed that if you are barang, they get pissed at anytime of the day. lol.
Of course, you also find the shop keepers that charge the correct price at any time of the day too. Are they pure Khmer? Or is it something else that distinguishes them?
I would like to know how pure Khmer used to trade in the 15-1600's, and how this changed with the greater influx of Chinese.
As far as Sino- Khmer and what it means. It's a general term for at least 2 groups that in Cambodia you would call Khmer kat Chen (ខ្មែរកាត់ចិន) plus Khmer Chen (ខ្មែរចិន). Read the wiki link for more detail of Sino Khmer history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Cambodian#History

imo, they get angry because they've been seen through, the luck story is a cover. I don't care if they get angry, offer a fair price, I'll accept. Try to scam me, I walk away. Really dislike this aspect of culture, it doesn't reflect well on Khmers.

What a great link. Thank for sharing juansweetpotato. I learned more about my maternal root. My maternal is Hainanese. My great grand father is originally from China. However, my mom, her relatives and my grand parents speak both Hainanese and Teochew. Most the time, they speak Teochew as it is widely spoken in my village. I understand Teochew, but i couldn't speak it.

Of course, you also find the shop keepers that charge the correct price at any time of the day too. Are they pure Khmer? Or is it something else that distinguishes them?

No matter if the vendor is pure Cambodian or Chinese-Cambodian, both do the same thing. They would try to rip off from the customer. I would say because the vendor is honest and good people that's why she or he doesn't try to rip you off. There are bad and good people out there.

I would like to know how pure Khmer used to trade in the 15-1600's, and how this changed with the greater influx of Chinese.
As far as Sino- Khmer and what it means. It's a general term for at least 2 groups that in Cambodia you would call Khmer kat Chen (ខ្មែរកាត់ចិន) plus Khmer Chen (ខ្មែរចិន)

+1 awesome. You know how to write khmer.

Samouth wrote:What a great link. Thank for sharing juansweetpotato. I learned more about my maternal root. My maternal is Hainanese. My great grand father is originally from China. However, my mom, her relatives and my grand parents speak both Hainanese and Teochew. Most the time, they speak Teochew as it is widely spoken in my village. I understand Teochew, but i couldn't speak it.

Of course, you also find the shop keepers that charge the correct price at any time of the day too. Are they pure Khmer? Or is it something else that distinguishes them?

No matter if the vendor is pure Cambodian or Chinese-Cambodian, both do the same thing. They would try to rip off from the customer. I would say because the vendor is honest and good people that's why she or he doesn't try to rip you off. There are bad and good people out there.

I would like to know how pure Khmer used to trade in the 15-1600's, and how this changed with the greater influx of Chinese.
As far as Sino- Khmer and what it means. It's a general term for at least 2 groups that in Cambodia you would call Khmer kat Chen (ខ្មែរកាត់ចិន) plus Khmer Chen (ខ្មែរចិន)

+1 awesome. You know how to write khmer.

Thanks Samouth your a real gem. Sorry don't write Khmer, but I can copy paste
I need to settle somewhere and learn the language.

juansweetpotato wrote:

Samouth wrote:What a great link. Thank for sharing juansweetpotato. I learned more about my maternal root. My maternal is Hainanese. My great grand father is originally from China. However, my mom, her relatives and my grand parents speak both Hainanese and Teochew. Most the time, they speak Teochew as it is widely spoken in my village. I understand Teochew, but i couldn't speak it.

Of course, you also find the shop keepers that charge the correct price at any time of the day too. Are they pure Khmer? Or is it something else that distinguishes them?

No matter if the vendor is pure Cambodian or Chinese-Cambodian, both do the same thing. They would try to rip off from the customer. I would say because the vendor is honest and good people that's why she or he doesn't try to rip you off. There are bad and good people out there.

I would like to know how pure Khmer used to trade in the 15-1600's, and how this changed with the greater influx of Chinese.
As far as Sino- Khmer and what it means. It's a general term for at least 2 groups that in Cambodia you would call Khmer kat Chen (ខ្មែរកាត់ចិន) plus Khmer Chen (ខ្មែរចិន)

+1 awesome. You know how to write khmer.

Thanks Samouth your a real gem. Sorry don't write Khmer, but I can copy paste
I need to settle somewhere and learn the language.

I hope you will be succeed with your endeavour, however learning how to write khmer ain't easy. It will take a lot of effort.