Are Cambodians really bad at "preparation"?

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Sweet Lemon
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Are Cambodians really bad at "preparation"?

Post by Sweet Lemon »

A few weeks ago I was visiting an old friend back in Cairns who has spent a lot of his life in Cambodia and Southeast Asia. He had a job for a few years managing facilities or construction or something like that in Cambodia. He told me that when he left the job, a Cambodian subordinate thanked him for teaching him an important job and life skill - PREPARATION.

I've thought about that comment and it made me reflect on my own experiences. I have been involved with a number of Cambodian women, and I find their lack of preparation to be frustrating. I'm constantly saying to them, or muttering to myself "Why didn't you do this before?"

My Cambodian ex-wife and I traveled to a number of countries, and it was very common that we would arrive in a country and shortly thereafter she would want to buy tampons or pads or whatever women do when they get their periods. So I'd often spend part of my vacations wandering the streets of Hong Kong or Indonesia with her looking for a place that sells that stuff. Stuff that she or we could have bought much more conveniently in Cambodia.

I actually took her to the USA on a spouse visa and two days after we arrived she had some stomach trouble and declared "I need to buy some Benda 500 to kill parasites, I take it every three months." Well, that shit isn't just sold over the counter in the USA. You've have to see a doctor, have him do a specific blood test for it, then if the blood test is positive for parasites, get a prescription issued and buy the medicine. So it's hours of time and many hundreds of dollars in the USA to get albendazole if you're not insured. Something she could have bought for 75 cents and taken the day before we left Cambodia.

I have a new Cambodian girlfriend now. Whenever we go anywhere it's VERY common that she wants to use the restroom. So we'll leave the house, go to Aeon Mall, and five minutes after arriving, she wants to use the restroom. Then I've got to spend ten minutes standing, waiting, doing fuck all, just seething "Why the fuck didn't you go at home before we left the house? And what are you even doing in there for ten minutes?"

Or we'll get on an airplane, get to our seats, sit down, and as boarding is going on, she wants to use the toilet. What the fuck? Who does that? Why didn't you go in the departure lounge?

She's an experienced traveler now too. Earlier this year we took a one hour flight to Bangkok. She announced 40 minutes into the flight, as the plane was beginning its descent and the fasten seat belt sign was on, that she desperately had to pee. Why didn't she go in the departure lounge? Why didn't she go during the first 40 minutes of the flight? The pilot actually aborted the first landing attempt due to air traffic instructions and landed on the second attempt, adding an additional 15 minutes to the flight, and as soon as we heard the "ding" after landing she had to jump out of her seat and rush against the flow of traffic to the back of the plane to pee. No preparation.

I set her up with an important appointment in Phnom Penh last month and told her where to go for it, giving her a week's notice. She uses Grab to get around. A week later, she calls me ten minutes before the appointment. She's frantic because the place I directed her to isn't listed in Grab. Is it too much to expect that, during the course of the previous week, she would have checked whether the place was listed in Grab, eyeballed where it was, and how to get there? No preparation.
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Re: Are Cambodians really bad at "preparation"?

Post by taabarang »

My experience has been that in general they are lost in time and space or else inhabit a different dimension. My biggest gripe with their cultural values is ORDER. Robiap Khmer=chaos.
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Re: Are Cambodians really bad at "preparation"?

Post by DaveG »

Preparation !!!!!!!, Lol

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explorer
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Re: Are Cambodians really bad at "preparation"?

Post by explorer »

You are right. They dont understand the concept of planning ahead.

This is also true of other cultures where people are not so well educated. Other cultures where they have no concept of efficiency.
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The Seawolf
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Re: Are Cambodians really bad at "preparation"?

Post by The Seawolf »

"Time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted."
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Kung-fu Hillbilly
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Re: Are Cambodians really bad at "preparation"?

Post by Kung-fu Hillbilly »

It's not just Cambodia. Many people in the region have the same inability to plan leaving one to scratch their head at times. I was helping a family in Nepal when shortages of bottled gas wasn't uncommon. I bought two cylinders of gas for the family explaining why one bottle should always be left unused in readiness for when there's next no supply available. Sure enough, as soon as one bottle was emptied the spare was immediately put online and of course when the next shortage of bottled gas occurred they had no spare and ran out, the family then having the inconvenience of cooking over a wood fire outside.
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Re: Are Cambodians really bad at "preparation"?

Post by Clutch Cargo »

It's interesting really coz not just Cambodians but many Thais and Filipinos I've come across have this attitude of 'live for today and let tomorrow worry about itself' whereas Westerners are more into preparation and planning...or could be put another way, focus more on the destination rather than the journey.

Yet, in the west many people have serious issues of anxiety, stress and sometimes leading to depression. And what are the causes of anxiety? As I understand it...unmet expectations. Over the years I've seen a lot seminars spruiking the 'set your goals' then 'set your strategies' and then implement mantra. And so it can be the case too that this sets people up for disappointment if they don't achieve their goals and furthermore, overlook the little day to day things that can make life enjoyable.

Not necessarily condoning how Cambodians et al think but it is an alternative view of life..isn't a lot of that to do with Buddhism? Anyway, I'm no expert on these things but what I've observed.
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Sweet Lemon
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Re: Are Cambodians really bad at "preparation"?

Post by Sweet Lemon »

Kung-fu Hillbilly wrote: Tue Sep 03, 2019 2:08 pm It's not just Cambodia. Many people in the region have the same inability to plan leaving one to scratch their head at times. I was helping a family in Nepal when shortages of bottled gas wasn't uncommon. I bought two cylinders of gas for the family explaining why one bottle should always be left unused in readiness for when there's next no supply available. Sure enough, as soon as one bottle was emptied the spare was immediately put online and of course when the next shortage of bottled gas occurred they had no spare and ran out, the family then having the inconvenience of cooking over a wood fire outside.
Is that just a symptom of living in poverty though? Like how in the developing world many taxi drivers perpetually run on near empty and they will only top up $2 in gas at a time. Because why fill up the tank, you might need that money to buy food instead.

Do Cambodians ever buy foodstuffs and household goods in bulk? I notice that it's really easy to buy tiny shampoos and lotions at Lucky Market, whereas in the USA the supermarkets mostly sell big bottles of the stuff. I guess when you're poor you live day by day and buy a little bit at a time but of course you end up paying more over the long run.
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Re: Are Cambodians really bad at "preparation"?

Post by Clemen »

Have you ever seen anyone at a moto repair shop having maintenance done? Like normal routine maintenance, not putting on blue lights or some junk. They only go when somethings broken.
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Re: Are Cambodians really bad at "preparation"?

Post by Clemen »

They buy those little shampoos, but I've often seen them buy a strip (10) at once.
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