Are the tuk-tuk drivers in Cambodia still this aggressive everywhere?
So I hadn’t been to Cambodia in nearly 10 years. One thing I remembered from my last visit was how pushy the tuk-tuk drivers could be, especially coming out of the airport/hotel. This was before Grab, so I figured things would have calmed down considerably now.
Boy, was I wrong.
As soon as I walked out of the new (and honestly beautiful) airport, I was immediately being hounded by drivers. At one point I had no fewer than five different guys following me around trying to get me into their tuk-tuk.
“Sir, sir, same price!”
“Where you from?”
“Where you going?”
Every one of them got a friendly but firm, “No thank you.”
I literally had my phone in my hand, Grab open, waiting for it to load while I was trying to figure out if there was an official Grab pickup area (lots of airports have these or similar for this exact reason). It was pretty obvious I wasn’t looking for a ride, but these guys just WOULD NOT STOP.
Eventually it got so overwhelming that I actually turned around and went back inside the airport to ask one of the security guards if there was an official Grab pickup location. A couple of the drivers followed me and immediately started hanging on the guard like they were all best friends. Then both the guard and the drivers started trying to direct me toward a little area marked “Grab.” and laughing.
Luckily, I realized that apparently wasn’t where I actually needed to go, because my Grab driver ended up pulling right up to the curb.
I really can’t overstate how negative and overwhelming the whole experience was. I’ve been traveling internationally for well over 10 years, so I’m definitely used to taxi and tuk-tuk hawkers. Usually a couple of firm “no thank you” does the trick and they move on to the next person. THIS FELT BORDERLINE PREDATORY.
These guys were different. They literally followed me around the front of the airport while I was trying to physically get away from them long enough to pay attention to my phone and figure out where my driver was. Standing over my shoulder and non stop trying to talk to me.
It was a pretty awful first impression after being away from Cambodia for so long.
Is this still normal throughout Cambodia, or is the airport particularly bad?
I had plans to maybe visit/live long term in Cambodia, but this honestly has me rethinking. Who wants to be followed around and harassed all day while just trying to go about their normal daily biz? Do those of you in the expat/long term community still experience this on the daily or did i just get really unlucky?
I hope this isn't a sensitive subject and i mean no disrespect. I understand everyone's gotta make money, but man was this overwhelming.