The mean streets of phnom penh-staring down the bullies

Mr Lathamn obviously has lived in Cambodia a long time, yet this is the best can come up with? Is hardly ''classic Cambodian'', minor traffic incidents are not exclusive to this country!
Seems unclear which vehicle had right of way in this tale. Either way, its a very petty incident indicating that perhaps Mr Latham should stick to tuktuks if he has not the patience for the - admittedly sometimes trying - traffic in PP.
Of course, Mr Latham does deserve credit for being pro-active and reversing out I suppose.

What would I have done? Probably the same as you more or less. Reversed out, and moved on. Take the high road so to speak.

I must say though, if the incident was as incendiary as you claim and a gun was involved, why on earth would you 'push this guy to the max'' , thus scaring and potentially endangering your family and children who were sitting in the vehicle ? (or as its a ute, were they in the back tray???). Maybe more prudent to save the faux heroics for when you are on your own?

For whats its worth, I have lived in far,far more dangerous places than Phnom Penh, indeed this is a charming little city.
Mean Streets? Come off it. Chaotic a bit yes, poorly trained drivers yes, a few knuckeheads with guns and attitudes yes, but hardly The Mean Streets for Christs sake.
Anyway, I am quite content in the knowedge that I dont need to get my jollies from seeking out ''edgy'' experiences, I grew out of that when I became an adult.

Loosen up mate, you obviously love the country that is allowing you to be its guest so just embrace it.

By the way , what is it with you and working with your hands? You are a chippy, that’s a noble profession of course. There are other professions just as worthy , albeit ones where perhaps ones right hand obviously would get less exercise than Mr Latham’s appears to.

I would have whipped out the 9milly and busted a cap in his freshy arse.

innit.

KK

''The reactions and behavior of the Bongs is becoming more confrontational and aggressive'' ; point well taken, hovever ''rolling over for them '' must be taken in context. Having a few minutes up my sleeve, I take the liberty with a few queries. I have tried to highlight my comments using the toolbar, hope it works.

Had the classic cambodian experience tonight.
Out in the ute with the sister in law and two kids,turned onto st 3 from 130 at the old broken bricks.
The street had cars parked and the usual rubbish evident that made it one way.
About halfway down a pimped older camry came flying towards me with his lights flashing.
So I stopped.
He flashed his lights and blew his horn,I did the same.
This carried on for several minutes.
So neither of you had right of way, he was probably just as pissed off as you were
Then he gave me the finger out the window-yeah he had class. (like giving the big wave?)
Finally he got out of the car and stood beside the door and abused me thoroughly.
The gallery was loving it.
He was a big khmer in his mid twenties. (so was an immature khmer, take it on the chin like a man, particularly when kids are around)
So i slowly reversed and as he turned down 130 towards norodom I gave him and his two mates the big wave. The passenger feigned shooting at me-wow was i shitting-NOT. (feigned means pretend - he had a gun or was simply making a pistol gesture?)
Later the camry reappeared but i lost him. (you went looking for him , or vice versa? Sister and kids still in your car?)
Ironical on this day of rememberance of our great friends the viets liberating us from ourselves that the khmers still behave like murderous thugs-the original slow learners really. ( in this anecodate it doesnt read that they behaved like murderous thugs, just a bunch of pissed off kids)
What would others have done in this situation-just rolled over? (yep, especially with kids in the car)

Thanks boys-the question was-what would you have done?
Sounds like you pussies would have rolled over instantly-would you have?
You didnt say. ( yep, with kids in car I would roll over and thats that. Alone or with mates - and armed- well thats a different story , and would need to be a more important situation than this to warrant actions that I might regret later)
I have very few conflicts here,I usually have a great time with the khmers.
I certainly dont have many conflicts to post about,thats why i posted this one. (fair enough, good on you)
Of course its classic cambodian,the gangster who is so much more important than anyone else. (Or perhaps are you more important than them? Either way, keep the rambo-ing to when the family isnt there)
Derogatory to cambodians in general,absolutely not. (correct)
I spent yesterday going around engine reconditioning shops,machine shops,used engine shops and parts shops.I had a great time with lots of banter in khmer-it was great.
Would have made a boring post, though. (I feel sure you would have made that post anything but boring!)
I am immersed in the culture and i only lose patience with rich dickheads or wanne be gangsters who are of course weak as piss if they are alone,one on one. ( like most humans if you think about it. ) Once again-what would you have done?
Can you read or not? (Yes)
Lets hear some anecdotes from you guys and liven up these boring forums.
By the way rockford you derscribe the incident as petty-that it was not. ( fair enough, I wasnt there but seems it must have been terrifying for you in order to have such a reaction)
I pushed this guy to the max, (I repeat, why inflame a volatile situation if your family is there with you? Even if the occupants of the car didnt raise to the bait, the obvious risk still is that the onlookers in the gallery would have been bitten by the herd mentality bug and attacked you as the foreigner )
if I had been khmer i suspect that the gun would have come out a a few rounds would have been fired,hopefully in the air. (yes perhaps. All the more reason to diffuse the situation - like an educated adult would do)
If you have not have had these edgy experiences then you dont get out enough. (again, hardly edgy but never mind)
What I did was stupid and dangerous but i talked with a couple of mates today and they would have behaved exactly as I did. ( yet again again again, with family in car?)

We obviously come from different backgrounds,in the building game we can have confrontations every day and we roll with the punches. (fair enough, but yet again, why seemingly endanger your family?)
What do you guys do for a living? (Businessman, based here but with operations in 3 countries. Dont use a pen so much these days of computers)
This shapes our behaviour obviously.
Perhaps you are interior designers or pen pushers of some sort,I doubt that you work with your hands. (huh?)
Come on, fess up boys.

Re Mr Horse, for reasons I have no intention of getting into in a public forum, I have owned weapons for over 25 years, primarily pistols, never had to use them except once years ago and in an extreme circumstance. Have been robbed umpteen times, stabbed, shot at and more, and in far more dangerous places than PP.
Would be Rambos / vigilantes tend not to live long in my experience. If you look for trouble you will find it, if you are prudent then the odds are you will rarely have any problem.
Yes, it is desperately sad that Cambodia has an ineffectual police force , however mock heroics from behind a keyboard will do little to alleviate that.
Having said all that, if you gentlemen honestly want to clean up the streets then just do it! Let us all know your Khmer Gangster Kill Rate, and also the fallout from such actions. Please start with the acid attackers.
(by the way, no one really will stop you from ''packing heat'', just be a bit discreet about it )

Yes before anyone has a moan, the highlighted/ non highlighted fonts got muddled up a bit. Sorry.

An anecdote:

A couple of years ago I was riding on a moto with my gf in the same area as ML's incident. We stopped before crossing Norodom as there was a red light. Just before it turned green, our motodop and several others started moving into the intersection. A 20-something Khmer in a Mercedes coupe entered the intersection from our right honking his horn and wagging a finger at everyone. I'd had a few beers and spread my hands palm up in a silent gesture to say "What's your problem, buddy?" while giving him a scowl.

He wasn't in that much of a hurry because he screeched to a stop in the middle of the intersection and then shook his finger aggressively at me. Our light was green by then, but everyone was standing still, not sure what would happen. I pointed at the green light and asked how long he was going to block traffic. Did I mention I'd had a few beers and wasn't thinking too clearly?

Next thing I know he's ducking down inside his car and comes up with a black handgun which he points at me awkwardly. "Hmm," I thought while looking down the barrel, "this is a little more interesting than I thought..." Even though the guy was obviously making a mountain out of a molehill, I'd pushed my luck a bit too far without thinking about the consequences. A yellow plastic dart flipped past my shoulder: the gun was a toy.

While that particular projectile wasn't lethal, but I still feel as though I dodged a bullet that day.

Would you all believe me if I told you I picked up a new car yesterday and have been rear ended twice already ?

Both times I was stationary waiting for lights to change. Yesterday it was a middle aged gent in a lae model Camry. He was profusely apologetic and luckily for him my towball did not do too much damage to his bumper bar. Today it was a 75 year old carrying about 6 tonnes of bananas on the back of his moto. His glasses were so "coke-bottle" thick I don't think he could see 4 ft in front of him !

No damage to my car either time. Funnily enough I had another car a while back for over a year and never ever got hit.

jesus.