I feel sad for any children caught up in these raids, but they are already in a terrible situation with fucked-up junkies and glue-sniffers as guardians abusing them and anyone nearby. Anyone who has been near the riverside would recognize this, these are screwed-up people who need to be taken away and helped. They horrify locals and tourists alike and give the city a bad name. We had a similar problem with glue-sniffers in my home city in the early 80s. One minute you'd be walking along the quays feeling fine and the next you'd feel like you were on the set a zombie movie. They would regularly jump into the river and drown, which was sad for their families but nobody else gave a fuck about the violent deranged stoned fuckers.
Back in the "good old"/ "bad old" days in Phnom Penh there were gangs of amputees and glue-sniffers who would swarm on anyone nearby who didn't have their guard up.
People come here on a visit and then encounter these people in popular tourist areas, and they go away thinking that the whole country is like that. It's not, begging is very rare outside tourist areas. It certainly exists, but not to the extent you would imagine by observing the riverside. Old ladies/ blind musicians etc wander by the odd time and I chuck them a few riel but that relentless shit on the quays is just annoying and not representative of the whole country. My mother visited here in 2006 and was horrified because she was pursued by beggars with kids whose heads looked like televisions etc. She wasn't at all bothered in the Bronx or Brixton but this place got to her and she wanted to leave prematurely and that saddened me. It worked out in the end, she liked Siem Reap a bit but couldn't wait to get back to Singapore.
That said, there are about a million times more beggars in the west than here. Any time I visit my home city in Europe I am shocked by the amount of beggars/ blaggers. Because smoking is banned inside pubs they have these areas outside with awnings. tables, fans and a barrier etc. Even though you might be deep in conversation with some friend you haven't seen for years, there is a constant stream of idiots trying to tell you some BS hard-luck story about needing a fucking hostel when they are obviously gouged out on smack and you can see their track marks and abscesses. Either that or some annoying Romani gypsy with a kid hanging off her flabby tits shaking a can at you.
I suppose I have to laugh at the irony of living in Cambodia and then returning home and having someone who is likely on a whole lot of benefits checking you out and thinking you're someone rich who is going to listen to their garbage.

Where is stylish when you need her?

That guy with the red shirt was pissing me off yesterday. The ATM I went to had a window where you can see straight through to the 2 machines. He was standing with his face to the window staring through. I had to get out a few hundred and didn't particularly want anyone to see, and he's standing about 2 feet behind me so I felt a bit uncomfortable. When I went outside I asked the guard about it and he just shrugged like as if it wasn't his problem. The nutter turned around and just gave a big toothless vacant laugh, and I figured then he was more likely just mentally deranged or on glue than particularly dangerous.