Is it dangerous for white people outside of a main road?

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Jerry Atrick
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Re: Is it dangerous for white people outside of a main road?

Post by Jerry Atrick »

Amerik wrote: Mon May 11, 2020 8:40 am So my wife (khmer) and I (white American) have been looking at land to buy for farming, and twice now we've gone to an area which was off the main dirt road on one of the smaller dirt roads and someone warned us (not someone who lived there) of danger. Either the people are violent or they are ex-Khmer rouge who would kill me for being white or they are drug users. We bought land in a new area in Pol Sat where we were warned of Khmer Rouge people, drug users and people who don't care about their lives living there. We've visited it 3-4 times now and haven't had any trouble but we usually enter the land with our Uncle who lives there and supposedly we need to notify the chief of the village when we go, just in case. This last one, near the reservoir in Battambang that the Sangker river goes through, we visited with our friend who was a retired soldier and had a big military coat on, which is why it may have been safe for us. But a friend warned us to never go alone because he heard this area was violent.

I've heard a lot of rumors while being in Cambodia, and so my first instinct is to think these rumors came from exaggerated stories. Perhaps a guy murdered someone for sleeping with his wife and so the rumor spread that this place is violent or something. But actually as long as I don't sleep with anyones wife or get involved with anyone I should be as safe as I was anywhere else in Cambodia. So I was wondering what experience other white expats have had with being off of main roads. Has anyone bought land? Did anyone hear similar rumors and find them to be true or false? Has anyone had any personal experience with being attacked while checking in on their farmland? Also do you have any tips for protecting yourself when visiting land off the main roads? We only have a motorbike.

By main road I mean large cleared dirt road. So though being off the main road might be "remote" it's not the freaking jungle.
Sounds like superstitious bullshit to me.

I've been in some strange places and circumstances all around Cambodia, and never had to fear being killed or similar.

This sort of tale sounds like something a wife or girlfriend or old bat granny would dig out for sake of drama or to steer you where they want you to buy.

In fact, I remember advertising some land that I own nearby Sambor Prey Kuk for sale on here and some posters wife told him "no, no this area is very dangerous, lots of bad people etc" - actually a complete fabrication.
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Kammekor
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Re: Is it dangerous for white people outside of a main road?

Post by Kammekor »

Weird story, doesn’t match my experience.
Whose idea is it to buy land for farming? You know the land won’t be in your name, but in your wife’s name?

Making serious money with farming is difficult, unless you can scale things up seriously.
Electric Earth
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Re: Is it dangerous for white people outside of a main road?

Post by Electric Earth »

I've only been in Cambodia for about six months, so I can't offer a lot there, but I'd suggest to slow down on the land buying in a country that you're new to/not familiar with. That goes for Anywhere you may move to.

Alternatively - New sock?
Do you think the parents of baby boomers whined so much when the boomers started changing society? And yet the whiney ones like to call young people "snowflakes." Hmm...
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siliconlife
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Re: Is it dangerous for white people outside of a main road?

Post by siliconlife »

Garbage! Everywhere is dangerous in Cambodia. :stir:
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Yobbo
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Re: Is it dangerous for white people outside of a main road?

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Element6
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Re: Is it dangerous for white people outside of a main road?

Post by Element6 »

I have been in some very remote areas when off roading on the motorbike and apart from being eyed with some suspicion by illegal loggers as they thought we were NGO's, once they realised we were not all was ok.

For the rest it has been a mixture of friendliness, curiosity and laughter with people being very warm and welcoming.

Even had a logger put me and my friend up for the night in his cabin deep in the cardomons and feed us frogs and rice and litres of hot sweet tea. He even gave us half of his remaining gasoline to get us home, all with zero expectation of anything in return (but we gave him $100 as he literally saved our lives)
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Spigzy
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Re: Is it dangerous for white people outside of a main road?

Post by Spigzy »

I've been to every province & just about every district in the country in my time here, never heard such a story. Twenty years or more ago perhaps.
Meum est propositum in taberna mori,
ut sint Guinness proxima morientis ori.
tunc cantabunt letius angelorum chori:
"Sit Deus propitius huic potatori."
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Jerry Atrick
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Re: Is it dangerous for white people outside of a main road?

Post by Jerry Atrick »

The most dangerous place to live in rural Cambodia is nearby in laws who have a grudge (known or otherwise) against you.

Google the case of Laurent Vallier
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AndyKK
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Re: Is it dangerous for white people outside of a main road?

Post by AndyKK »

Amerik I used to live up along dirt roads some years back, over one hour on them from any tarmac road, also being on the edge of the border, very remote you could say. No problems once people got to know me. Even immigration came from one of the major cities to copy my passport details, and asking of my intentions in the area and so on. The closest village was about 15 minutes ride away to get a few provisions, and also that was the nearest doctors.
Although I once had an invite, you could say to a somewhat sensitive area where even our governments at the time had warnings of a no go area. There was plenty of army personnel also at this event, and I knew of two of the officers on arrival, their answer was to put an armed guard with me for the period of my visit, and I had no choice or say about it, he chaperoned me all day. This was exceptional.

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Marty
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Re: Is it dangerous for white people outside of a main road?

Post by Marty »

It is totally more dangerous off a main road. And the more off the road you are, the more dangerous. And the whiter you are, the more dangerous.
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