Cambodia... is shit.

Specifically Serendipity Beach in Sihanoukville.

After a few beers around 1am I went for a paddle in the sea. Found a quiet spot on the beach, took off my shoes and shorts, hid them under a sun lounger and waded in up to my calves. The sobering cold water made me realise it was a dumb idea so I turned back. Must have been in the water all of 45 seconds.

When I came back my clothes had been stolen. So thats my iPhone, all my cards, all my cash and my room key all gone at 1am. I had to walk back to my bungalow in my boxers.

As I'm looking around for my belongings thinking maybe the wind just blew them away I see a silhouette of a young boy about 30m down the beach come sprinting out from the closed bar front grab a stack of clothes off the beach and sprint back disappearing into the black lightless bars that lead to the shanty town of shacks and dump sites just behind the beach bars.

A moment later 3 Danish girls come out of the water screaming "no, come back, you have our passports!!". The kid is gone and not coming back. Any Cambodian bar owner or staff we can find didn't see anything and has no idea who took our stuff. We link through the back and find some tuk-tuk drivers who want to give us a lift. They did not see anything either. And don't seem to comprehend that none of us have any money left and so no we don't want a taxi ride.

The Danish girls are in tears but no-one cares or offers assistance. Fortunately for me I was staying in a bungalow at the back of a 'hostess bar' so when i get back there is still someone up to offer me a spare key. I couldn't sleep. Knowing I had an alarm set on my iPhone for 7am to make tomorrows ferry I get out of bed at 6:45 and head back to where my stuff got stolen. I talk with more bar owners and staff, explaining to the Cambodian staff that I am willing to buy back my phone an cards if by chance they can get word to whoever might have 'found them'. The western bar owners are sympathetic and explain how it works. The kids steal from the beach all day and night handing everything over to a handler who discards the bank cards keeps the cash and sells the phone at one of the local markets a week or so later once the original owner has left town.
I walk around hoping to hear the alarm or find my discarded shorts with my wallet nearby still with cards. 2 hours later I give up. No sign of anything.

The police were useless, well corrupt infact. When I arrived at the station i was in a queue behind other tourists who had also had their stuff stolen from the beach the night before. The idea that these police officers who work this beach front don't know who is doing this is just farcical. There is so much money getting stolen they must be getting a kick back. I was in Sihanoukville for 5 days and I could walk down the beach and round up 5 suspects simply after seeing what I have seen in 5 days.
But no the police have 'no idea' who it is and will not entertain the idea of walking the beach to find the kids. Instead they want me to pay for a translator so they can ‘provide’ a crime report for my insurance (which doesn’t cover anything i lost by the way!). Looks to me like the assumption is the tourist is insured and so they don't really lose anything and if they want to make a claim lets hit them again for a translator fee. Who oh so surprisingly they could provide but I would have to pay. Because my policy doesn't cover me I just left and didn't file a report. Their deterrent on paperwork worked.

But I managed to cancel my trip to the islands and get a refund on the ferry ticket I had for the next day, I used the money to call England and cancel my cards and get replacements sent to my family in the UK who are going to forward them to my gym in Thailand. They will take about 2 weeks to arrive so I am making my way out of Cambodia and back to Pai through Bangkok. Doing it on the cheap as I could only send myself £300 via Western Union. But it’s all fine. I’m all sorted now. 

Currently in Phnom Penh staying in an 8 person dorm and I fly to Bangkok in 2 days. 
But yeah I really cut my time short in Cambodia cause I just hate the people. I wasn’t a fan before this and now I can’t relax. Constantly think someone is about to steal from me. 
Even before my stuff got stolen I thwarted 2 pick pocket attempts on me and 1 on a girl I was with. A big group of kids come running up to you on the beach in the middle of the day all happy and smiling and grabbing at you and joking like some happy scene from an Oxfam advert (the bit after they have put the well in). But whilst this joyous encounter is happening the older kids are actually routing through your pockets and opening the zips on your back pack and helping themselves to anything they can find before they all run off.
Or even worse at night the kids come over to play or sell bracelets but once they get a female target the littlest one grabs at her breasts or groin and whilst she reacts to that distraction the other boys go through her bag. It's like a fucked up magic trick. All distraction.
I got so fucked off with these kids when they came near me I would just push them away by their faces. But with no punishment for their behaviour they just bounce right back and give it another go. So even when you're launching kids left and right you can still feel the one behind brush against your pocket. It's like that scene from 'Jurrasic Park: Lost World' 'where the hunter gets torn up by a group of tiny 'harmless' reptiles.

This place is just too much hassle. Everything from the tuk-tuk drivers giving you the hard sell on trips, MDMA, weed and prostitutes, the litter and pollution everywhere to the customer service being the worst I have ever encountered. Its exhausting. Not a fan of Cambodia. 

It has beautiful beaches but the poverty is just everywhere and the people don’t know to look after their natural resources so they pollute and litter like crazy. It’s proper third world. Shanty towns and sand beaches filled with washed up plastics. 

Anyway, sorry about that little downer. Just been a rough couple days. The 2-4 hour coach back to Phnom Penh took over 7 hours. Nail in the coffin.

If Thailand is the land of a thousand smiles, Cambodia is the land of a thousand out stretched hands. Perhaps this is the result of social engineering with genocide. Turns out you need the educated middle class.