The Wanderings of busman7

Haven’t had that scam tried on me in a while. Just goes to show what affect too many tourons have on a place. As I hypothesized more tourists the more money hungry & in your face the local vendors & beggars become. That is proven in spades in Siem Reap where the multitudes go to stare at the stone piles of Angkor.

The polar of Phnom Penh, where the natives are friendly & people can’t do enough for you, Siem Reap is a tourist jungle with substandard service (at least that’s the case  when comparing The King Guest House which has locations in each city) extremely pushy, in your face vendors this includes the children that should be in school & the woman with the fat baby & an empty bottle in hand playing the milk scam.

The touron is a herd animal that travels in large groups with their photo entry tags hanging from their necks & roam all over while following a guide who either speed walks like he is practicing for a marathon or stops so the group is blocking walkways, stairs etc. These are the people that tend to over tip & through their money around indiscriminately causing hassles for the travelers trying to enjoy the same sights.

The only way to get a few pictures is to try & position yourself between the herds so you might be able to get a couple of clear shots without somebody in the way.

Yes the temples are worth $20 US for a days visit for the ordinary person or the $40 for a 3 day pass if you are really into that sort of thing. Go early as it gets hot after lunch, have a rest then take in the buffet & show at the cultural center in the evening then leave in the morning for Phnom Penh or Laos or Thailand or anywhere that isn’t called Siem Reap.

Off to Pattaya (my 3rd entry to Thailand) manana for a couple days to check out Thailand’s “Sin City” before moving on to Phuket.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 04:12 and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.