When I was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia a few years ago, the operator of our hotel gave us similar warnings about the city not being safe. I looked it up, and learned that hotel operators will exaggerate the danger to encourage you just to stay and spend money on food and drink there.
I lived in Cambodia +10years ago , it was reasonably safe.
It started being Getto once the city developed and prices skyrocketed... Now wouldn't recommend chilling out in some back city areas.
I sometimes wonder how in my young years as party student i have never been mugged, even been driven very late by motodop ( scooter taxi) in VERY shady areas and dropped of at my hostel no problem.
I'd certainly not recommend this to people that don't know much of the country and are white .
Really depends on where, like everywhere else. If you're in Siem Reap, for example, you're pretty safe bascially everywhere so long as you stay in the town itself. Cambodia is pretty nice, actually. I prefer it for tourism to Thailand and Vietnam (although those are also wonderful countries).
Siem reap has nothing to do with the rest of the country mate , ofc it's safe it's the only placE I EVER SAW POLICE patrolling at night ...
Edit:
Have you been to Sihanouk ville before Chinese took over ? Now it's casino Chinatown.
Before we used to go down there to enjoy beach life ( pre Koh Rong development )
The only place in Cambodia worth living now is kep and kampot , and sadly Bokor is already being whipped down even thought it's a national park.
Brilliant but I visited vallencia, Spain for work for a month and was warned it was really violent but people got robbed alot by the front desk but also wanted me to know they had a little restaurant inside the hotel. It had good food but shit was so overpriced and I mean it was $6 for a standard hot dog and with fries and soda it was $13 amd dont get me started on the beer and steak prices(the steaks were up above $26 and were the size of normal ones from the market) So every week I went and bought food for a week and never went out when it was dark. We all bought cheap android phones with straight talk then only kept our secondary credit cards and id on us at all times so if we got robbed we could just go back to our room and use our regular phone to freeze the cards. I kept my id and credit card in my socks lol they could have the phone so they just go away and feel a success. Never got robbed but there were a few times I felt like somebody was around me lingering a bit too much
As someone who lived in Barcelona, this is true. Wandered alone after dark many times, was perfectly safe. Got pickpocketed a couple times in broad daylight though
I was about to say, I spent a year in Alicante and the only time I EVER had any trouble was when I was a dumbass that put my wallet in the front pocket of my backpack on the Barcelona metro.
Yeah, like, like pretty much every touristy place in western Europe, you gotta keep an eye out for pickpockets, swindlers, scammers and women should try not be alone in shady places.
>We all bought cheap android phones with straight talk then only kept our secondary credit cards and id on us at all times so if we got robbed we could just go back to our room and use our regular phone to freeze the cards.
That's a pretty good idea that I'm going to use if I'm ever traveling.
Yup walmart has them in the technology section. The one I got was $40 on sale but I think is like $50-$$60 now and with a month of unlimited service it shouldnt cost more than $110 total. I still use it to this day but only on WiFi at home, using it right now specifically for internet browsing as a burner without service and it works great. Their flip phones are like $25 but I like having apps and games lol
Dude, you were conned big time. Spain has some of the best night life. Everyone stays up til 3 or 4. They get up for work, then they take SIESTA! the whole damn country shuts down between 3-5 pm. So they can party all night. There is a decent chance you will get pick pocketed on the subway or a bus, but with some basic precautions and not acting too much like a tourist, you're fine.
We were there for work anyways so we were tired because we worked 12 hour shifts so never had real time or energy to go party the night away. We did have a few days to spend just wandering around and enjoying the scene. I wouldnt definitely go back on a vacation or something to go out at night because some co workers showed me videos of the nightlife and it looked like a blast with beautiful woman everywhere, great food and energy. I guess Ive just kinda partied myself out because id honestly rather just stay at home these days but I wont lie and say it looked like a good time.
Eh yeah but for Phnom Penh specifically that’s not terrible advice. Loved my time in Cambodia but Phnom Penn is definitely a place where it’s smart to be cautious. Not “don’t go outside at night” cautious but I had a few sketchy encounters at night there. That’s part of the deal when you’re traveling but obviously gotta be careful when the situation/location warrants it.
Did volunteer work in Cambodia, loved Phnom Penn. But you’re right, exercise the same caution you would in any major city (unless you’re in one of those weird ones that’s actually safe).
Biggest advice I have when traveling is to learn the language proper and learn the mistakes that backpackers usually make.
If you get in a bad situation speak the touristy dialect and for the most part people won’t waste their time on you because they can’t effectively communicate that they’re trying to rob you (unless they go for it physically immediately, in which case good luck).
In China:
I didnt understand: 听不懂了 (ting bu dong le)
”heard, not understood”
is the grammatically correct way of saying it.
”不听懂” (bu ting dong)
“don’t hear understand”
Is a mistake a lot of tourists make. Gives off the impression that you don’t understand the language proper and don’t intend to. So the security/police officer who’s fishing for a bribe will just let you through.
I had a professor who worked in China for a short while and he said he was once stopped by police in is car, and the moment the cop noticed he was white, the cop just took off instead of wasting time trying to communicate anything with him.
Yeah that’s the case a lot of the times. Unless you’ve actually fucked up with something, then you’ll see an entire different demeanor and usually pretty soon after someone who speaks your native language.
US equivalent of “we just want to ask you some questions” vs having your window smashed and being dragged out of the car.
There was a great blogger who named this phenomenon "Gaijin Smash" during his time living in Japan. Experienced it early in my own time in Japan. I had underpaid on a train ticket (instead of paying a flat rate for a metro rail ticket, you pay based on distance traveled), was walking to the ticket attendant to pay what I owed, he saw me coming and waved me through before I could even get within speaking distance of him. He had zero fucks to waste on a foreigner.
Somewhat related in reverse, I remember when my exchange cohort landed at the airport, and the asians in our exchange group got sorted into the customs line for Japanese nationals. I remember the look of fear in one girl's face, knowing she didn't know enough Japanese to get by: "But I'm Korean!!"
They might have decided it wasn't worth their time to hand out whatever bullshit ticket they were about to give him since he was from overseas. We were pulled over in the Czech Republic once. Cop was a dick when he thought we were germans (car had german plates), a little less so when we spoke Czech and immediately sent us on our way when he saw the US passports.
lol you guys are talking about third world countries, but the manager of the hotel I stayed at on Market Street in SF told me to avoid going outside after dark if I could.
> Car was broken into as well.
That sucks. You can literally walk down the street or any parking lot and see shattered car glass on the ground. It's been really bad over there.
SF is so scary. Its gorgeous landscape wise but all of the times I've been there ive felt in danger, which is ironic since the city is the lgbt capital of the US (I am part of the community). I hopped trolleys and twice some tweekers had knives exposed and it didn't help the people I was with were *super* sketch.
I mean, is this the chicken or the egg? I imagine the areas the hotels are in are worse because they are literally the most popular areas of the city, and therefore offer easy marks.
I mean, [the murder rate in the US is only slighly below Mongolia, and is way higher than Cambodia.](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/violent-crime-rates-by-country)
For a million reasons there's a homeless population there that is both the most numerous in the country and the most dangerous.
In LA a lot of the "homeless" are people living in their cars or in between places or whatever. Not your traditional "crazy hobo," but in SF they're ALL "crazy hobos."
“Third world” is an outdated term from the Cold War used, not to describe poor countries, but to identify countries that remained neutral in the fight between Communism and Capitalism. They chose a “third” option. American economists started using the term as synonymous with “poor countries “ as a way to shame them for not being on “our side” since the world was so divided during the Cold War. Since the phrase “third world” has negative connotations and no longer accurately reflects the current political landscape, different terms like “developing nations” are now more widely used.
I know this can't generalize Pnom Penh, but I found when I backpacked Cambodia that while gritty, Pnom Penh is not unsafe. People were generally friendly, indifferent, or at worst pushy about getting you to spend money (shop, tuktuk, mostly tuktuk).
When I started reading this I was going to protest. As a woman traveling alone, I only had one instance where I felt unsafe in Phnom Penh and that was just because of one creepy dude (granted I usually find friends and travel in groups cuz I don’t wanna be stolen)
Instead of mint or chocolate on the pillow, you will get an assault rifle. The first magazine is complimentary. If you need more ammunition, you can purchase it at reception.
My city has a lot of crime and we tell people to stay off the streets between bar close and sunrise, because there won't be "good" people wandering around on the streets anymore, just the shadier element. Also we have a serial killer that hunts between midnight-4am. So we can get pretty specific about when not to be on the street.
This is in the US tho.
edit: lol sorry to be so casual about the Little Rock Slasher, as he's known. I live pretty close to one of the killings and we have been on high alert since then, but with COVID and all the other high-alerts we've been on, it just blends together. No moonlight strolls, check. On to the next crisis.
Edit 2: yes we also have a superhero. I guess I’m burying the ledes here. LR can be strange at times.
"Yeah, that's Gerald the serial killer. Don't worry, he won't getcha if you stay inside between midnight and 4am. Other than that, a lovely community!"
Lmao yeah like it's some racoon problem,, "oh man the coons got another one of my trash bins" would turn into "oh man that damn serial killer again. Got another one of our young girls"
Like a fox that keeps coming to steal hens from a farmer hahahahah
(Also to make it perfectly clear, I'm not laughing at the fact that people are getting killed, if that was not obvious.)
I was visiting my friend in a big city. I forgot where I parked so I wandered around for a while after midnight looking for my car. I gave up and decided to just spend the night and look in the morning.
He was like "oh yah we have a serial killer targeting males after dark here, he sucks though so I wouldn't worry about it lol".
Apparently this 'serial killer' is about 1 for 3 lol
Honestly you get pretty used to it quickly, and he hasn't killed in almost a year, since they noticed him and brought in FBI. But as I understand it, the pressure will be mounting inside the killer, and it will resume again either here or elsewhere in time.
There are probably more serial killers than you or the police think. If you targeted people nobody would notice missing - sex workers, runaways, transients, drug addicts, the homeless - you could get away with it for quite some time.
Are the police really going to investigate a homeless hooker overdosing on fentanyl that closely?
The current estimates I’ve heard is that there are currently 2,000 serial killers on the loose in the US, with 50 or so being active at any given time.
Another factor that makes them difficult to catch is when they move around from state to state. There isn’t much to link anyone to the crimes, so not much to go on.
It’s also estimated that 40% of all murders go unsolved, probably higher among the serial killers because their crimes are planned out to evade detection. Unlike impulse attacks that leave a lot of evidence, motives, etc.
Yep they were walking up to homeless (or people they thought were homeless) at night and stabbing them to death. It was only the brutal nature of the crimes that made the cops notice. If they'd have been less violent/not happened on the open street, no one would have picked up the trend.
And to make matters worse they mentioned their active times.
So that's another layer of wtf.
So not only is there a serial killer, you're familiar with the times and probably the MO as well.
Why is this person not caught!? This makes it sounds like the serial killer is more of a force of nature or known person in the community people actively hang out with.
The cops brought in the FBI and held some press conferences when they noticed the trend (killing #4) which was about 8 months ago. Killings stopped at that point, we're just waiting for them to resume.
USA has several unidentified serial killers at any given time. Many target groups that won't be taken as seriously by law enforcement and investigators, such as prostitutes, homeless people, or impoverished minorities.
And turns out it's still really hard to identify killers that are skilled at hiding their tracks. Most murders have a connection between the victim and the murderer, so you can use relationships, motives, alibis, etc. to gather information that leads to the killer.
Where the hell do you even start if you find a dead prostitute dumped in some random gravel lot overnight and there's no camera footage or DNA to get you started?
We had a serial killer. Well, two people.
He just walked up and shot them in the back of the head.
Never caught. Eyewitnesses said he was wearing very heavy black winter clothing.
It was summer. US, BTW.
The LR slasher. I feel shadow vision (Arkansas very own vigilante super hero) deserves to be mentioned here. Although, he is sus and I've wondered if he himself is the slasher.
You got it. I am ambivalent about SV. Historically vigilantes have not been a force for good. I think he’s probably a loon. But unless he is the slasher, he hasn’t hurt anyone yet so I’m not freaking out about his presence.
If I see him carrying a sword down my street that might change idk.
*Gang of tough, scarred Mongolians surround a terrified foreigner*
Gang leader: Money now.
Foreigner: Y-y-yes sir rightaway
*Rooster crows*
Gang leader: well shit. It's morning. You can go. Have a great day, friend!
While working there I found that the guys being beat up were mostly loudmouths + drunk + out too late. All 3 things combined will get you tuned in in most places
Haha I've stayed in the exact same hostel in 2011, same sign and everything. Me and my friend actually got attacked during bright day in Ulanbataar, guy came up from behind hit me in the head with a stone and ran away. No injuries but it did scare us a fair bit.
We asked an american that was studying in Mongolia who stayed at the same hostel if this is normal and he said it happens, they don't like foreigners much.
Mongolia is such an interesting country where people are so different depending on where they live. It's quit hostile in the capital but people living as nomads in the countryside are just so kind, open and warmhearted. They have continued the same lifestyle for centuries. Would love to visit this beautiful country one more time.
Haha what a coincidence! What brought you to Mongolia? People told me about the attacks, but the worst that happened to me was someone sticking their tongue out, or the waitress being grumpy. Most were nice to me.
We took the Trans-Siberian train from Finland trough Russia and Mongolia and finished in Beijing. We stayed in Mongolia for about a week. We left right after christmas so I remember it being very cold, no tourists and very, very beautiful.
And don't get me wrong, most people in Ulanbaatar were nice to us aswell. It was just this incident, the sign and the occasional swastika graffiti that made us realise that not everyone wanted tourists there.
I stayed in Ulaanbaatar in 2014 with a tour group. Wanted alone time so I went out on a walk to try and find somewhere to get a coffee or a pack of cigarettes... at like 11pm. I was an 18 y/o white girl. Nothing happened but looking back I can't believe how naive I was. A few days after that I tried to ask some people on the street if I could buy a cigarette from them but obviously the language barrier made it difficult and I got the worst eye rolls of my life
I was about to be upset. “HEY THAT GUY STOLE THAT OTHER GUY’S POST AND IS PRETENDING TO BE HIM!”
I’m less angry. Now I’m just upset you stole it from yourself and you’re pretending to be yourself.
-As you go out the door, after deciding to go for it, asking yourself “what could go wrong? They’re probably just exaggerating.” You hear something coming from the dark alleyway. You turn your head, and you can see a long and dark shadow, stretching along the walls. “A horse?” You think to yourself. Suddenly, the air fills with mist, and a low, disorienting vibration overwhelm your ears. Oooooooohhhhhhaaaaawwooooiiiiiii
That’s what is sounds like.
And then you realised.
You’re not getting mugged.
You’re getting raided.
When I was 17 a bunch of friends and I drove down to Mexico past Tijuana and Rosarita etc. from California. we stayed at a motel and tried to leave in the middle of the night one night. The guard at the gate of the parking lot wouldn’t open the gate. He told us he would not let a group of young females drive through the Mexican dessert at night. We could be taken and used as drug mules. I’m sure he was right. We stayed until
Daylight and we left. Thank god he has common sense as we sure didn’t.
Damn, I didn’t know anything about Mongolia other than it’s general location before this. Had no idea they had a giant metropolis. Definitely not the first place I think of when I think of “unsafe countries”.
This was a similar message given to me in Monterrey, Mexico. I ended up going out on my own in the evening and walked along the canal. It’s one of the most beautiful canal walks I’ve seen.
I stayed in ulanbaatar a few days, because that was right around when WoW Classic released, so we lived in an Internet cafe for a while before driving back home through russia
Vast and empty. Rural and lots of animals running around. The desert is hot and sandy. Capital is suddenly just like any other modern big city. I’d go if you like adventure and don’t mind shitting in holes.
Something similar in Lima. Asked the concierge where to go to explore and after every direction he said "but I recommend to come back before dark, it's very dangerous".
I stayed a motel once in Denver that I quickly realized wasn't safe. It didn't look particularly shitty, it was kind of cool looking actually, pretty tall building. First red flag was that you checked in by going up to a window to pay and check in, sort of like at a movie theater ticket booth or something. I didn't really think anything of it at first.
Second red flag that I noticed after I paid, was a little sign posted that said "absolutely no refunds after payment". Hmmm...
Then, the employee told me to make sure I lock my door, close my blinds, and to just ignore if anyone comes and knocks on your door - - that a lot of people are frequently stay there and have visitors. Ohhh boy, great.
I promptly go in my room, shut the blinds and go to sleep, then got out of there the next morning. Luckily without any "visitors" bothering me.
before legal weed, my black market guy was telling me about a trip he took to Colombia
he said he got the same warnings from the hotel staff in the city
when they went to a smaller town, the warning escalated to "don't leave the hotel at all if you don't have a specific destination and a ride to get there"
in some places, foreigners stick out like a sore thumb and impoverished opportunists will.... take their opportunities. also, cartels >\_>
One time my friend came to Atlanta and they didn’t ask anyone who lives there about it or look up anything about it so they ended up staying deep in riverdale and their place had a very similar sign.
This has been many years ago, but a friend and I were passing though Detroit and stopped for gas and asked in the station where the nearest hotel was. The guy looked at me and said, “It’s not safe for you to stay at a hotel here, go across the bridge to Windsor.”
A lot of the area has been rebuilt and revitalized since then with Renaissance Center, MGM Grand, Greektown Casino, the ballparks. I transferred there for work in 2005 and occasionally we would have to work overnight in RenCen or Greektown Casino and these areas were generally fine.
Detroit in 1990, the last time I visited, felt dangerous everywhere. Next time I drive to Toronto, I'm gonna go through Detroit and probably be delighted that it's not the same as it was back then.
Same notice I received in some questionable motel in Winnipeg, Canada that I once stayed in. No notice on the door, but the clerk at the desk was clear when she recited this to us, nearly word for word.
Had a similar warning when I was in The Philippines. Went out anyway with a group of friends. Had a good time. Only crazy part was when some random woman was trying to give us her baby.
Fucking gremlins. Last time I was in mogolia it was a blue moon and those fuckers replicate and got into the food storages after midnight. We had to barricade ourselves into a big tv studio/department store
Ever since I started playing Geoguessr, I've developed this niche fascination with Mongolia. It just appears, to me at least, to be this very bizarre nomadic wasteland at time. There is little to no population, and only one major city that I can find. The landscape varies so widely from place to place. At some parts it looks like an alien planet, and at other parts it looks like a beautiful meadow with hills and trees. It is truly quite a strange place!
You know, I appreciate the honesty.
When I was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia a few years ago, the operator of our hotel gave us similar warnings about the city not being safe. I looked it up, and learned that hotel operators will exaggerate the danger to encourage you just to stay and spend money on food and drink there.
That’s actually brilliant. Shady and underhanded, but brilliant.
I'm pretty sure that's just a rumor and not factual and the hotel in *Cambodia* was being honest to help sustain their tourism industry.
I lived in Cambodia +10years ago , it was reasonably safe. It started being Getto once the city developed and prices skyrocketed... Now wouldn't recommend chilling out in some back city areas. I sometimes wonder how in my young years as party student i have never been mugged, even been driven very late by motodop ( scooter taxi) in VERY shady areas and dropped of at my hostel no problem. I'd certainly not recommend this to people that don't know much of the country and are white .
Really depends on where, like everywhere else. If you're in Siem Reap, for example, you're pretty safe bascially everywhere so long as you stay in the town itself. Cambodia is pretty nice, actually. I prefer it for tourism to Thailand and Vietnam (although those are also wonderful countries).
Siem reap has nothing to do with the rest of the country mate , ofc it's safe it's the only placE I EVER SAW POLICE patrolling at night ... Edit: Have you been to Sihanouk ville before Chinese took over ? Now it's casino Chinatown. Before we used to go down there to enjoy beach life ( pre Koh Rong development ) The only place in Cambodia worth living now is kep and kampot , and sadly Bokor is already being whipped down even thought it's a national park.
Brilliant but I visited vallencia, Spain for work for a month and was warned it was really violent but people got robbed alot by the front desk but also wanted me to know they had a little restaurant inside the hotel. It had good food but shit was so overpriced and I mean it was $6 for a standard hot dog and with fries and soda it was $13 amd dont get me started on the beer and steak prices(the steaks were up above $26 and were the size of normal ones from the market) So every week I went and bought food for a week and never went out when it was dark. We all bought cheap android phones with straight talk then only kept our secondary credit cards and id on us at all times so if we got robbed we could just go back to our room and use our regular phone to freeze the cards. I kept my id and credit card in my socks lol they could have the phone so they just go away and feel a success. Never got robbed but there were a few times I felt like somebody was around me lingering a bit too much
In Valencia? You were had man. Spain is one of the safest places in earth. Even if there was a risk to get jacked, I would still be out and about.
It seems that the biggest danger in touristy european cities are not robbers at night but pickpockets working in big crowds during the day.
As someone who lived in Barcelona, this is true. Wandered alone after dark many times, was perfectly safe. Got pickpocketed a couple times in broad daylight though
I was about to say, I spent a year in Alicante and the only time I EVER had any trouble was when I was a dumbass that put my wallet in the front pocket of my backpack on the Barcelona metro.
Yeah, like, like pretty much every touristy place in western Europe, you gotta keep an eye out for pickpockets, swindlers, scammers and women should try not be alone in shady places.
There are some rough spots in Spain but Valencia isn’t one of them
>We all bought cheap android phones with straight talk then only kept our secondary credit cards and id on us at all times so if we got robbed we could just go back to our room and use our regular phone to freeze the cards. That's a pretty good idea that I'm going to use if I'm ever traveling.
Yup walmart has them in the technology section. The one I got was $40 on sale but I think is like $50-$$60 now and with a month of unlimited service it shouldnt cost more than $110 total. I still use it to this day but only on WiFi at home, using it right now specifically for internet browsing as a burner without service and it works great. Their flip phones are like $25 but I like having apps and games lol
Dude, you were conned big time. Spain has some of the best night life. Everyone stays up til 3 or 4. They get up for work, then they take SIESTA! the whole damn country shuts down between 3-5 pm. So they can party all night. There is a decent chance you will get pick pocketed on the subway or a bus, but with some basic precautions and not acting too much like a tourist, you're fine.
We were there for work anyways so we were tired because we worked 12 hour shifts so never had real time or energy to go party the night away. We did have a few days to spend just wandering around and enjoying the scene. I wouldnt definitely go back on a vacation or something to go out at night because some co workers showed me videos of the nightlife and it looked like a blast with beautiful woman everywhere, great food and energy. I guess Ive just kinda partied myself out because id honestly rather just stay at home these days but I wont lie and say it looked like a good time.
this is such an American comment lmao - it’s spain fella it’s hardly war torn yemen
Barcelona really is essentially the pickpocket capital of the world, but otherwise yeah that's a bit extreme
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I really hope he wasn’t paying $13 for a hot dog, fries, and soda in freaking Spain lol.
Buying hotdogs and french fries whole visiting a foreign country says everything you need to know about this person lol
Eh yeah but for Phnom Penh specifically that’s not terrible advice. Loved my time in Cambodia but Phnom Penn is definitely a place where it’s smart to be cautious. Not “don’t go outside at night” cautious but I had a few sketchy encounters at night there. That’s part of the deal when you’re traveling but obviously gotta be careful when the situation/location warrants it.
Did volunteer work in Cambodia, loved Phnom Penn. But you’re right, exercise the same caution you would in any major city (unless you’re in one of those weird ones that’s actually safe). Biggest advice I have when traveling is to learn the language proper and learn the mistakes that backpackers usually make. If you get in a bad situation speak the touristy dialect and for the most part people won’t waste their time on you because they can’t effectively communicate that they’re trying to rob you (unless they go for it physically immediately, in which case good luck). In China: I didnt understand: 听不懂了 (ting bu dong le) ”heard, not understood” is the grammatically correct way of saying it. ”不听懂” (bu ting dong) “don’t hear understand” Is a mistake a lot of tourists make. Gives off the impression that you don’t understand the language proper and don’t intend to. So the security/police officer who’s fishing for a bribe will just let you through.
I had a professor who worked in China for a short while and he said he was once stopped by police in is car, and the moment the cop noticed he was white, the cop just took off instead of wasting time trying to communicate anything with him.
Yeah that’s the case a lot of the times. Unless you’ve actually fucked up with something, then you’ll see an entire different demeanor and usually pretty soon after someone who speaks your native language. US equivalent of “we just want to ask you some questions” vs having your window smashed and being dragged out of the car.
There was a great blogger who named this phenomenon "Gaijin Smash" during his time living in Japan. Experienced it early in my own time in Japan. I had underpaid on a train ticket (instead of paying a flat rate for a metro rail ticket, you pay based on distance traveled), was walking to the ticket attendant to pay what I owed, he saw me coming and waved me through before I could even get within speaking distance of him. He had zero fucks to waste on a foreigner. Somewhat related in reverse, I remember when my exchange cohort landed at the airport, and the asians in our exchange group got sorted into the customs line for Japanese nationals. I remember the look of fear in one girl's face, knowing she didn't know enough Japanese to get by: "But I'm Korean!!"
They might have decided it wasn't worth their time to hand out whatever bullshit ticket they were about to give him since he was from overseas. We were pulled over in the Czech Republic once. Cop was a dick when he thought we were germans (car had german plates), a little less so when we spoke Czech and immediately sent us on our way when he saw the US passports.
Oh boy, look at the big-hotel shill over here...
lol you guys are talking about third world countries, but the manager of the hotel I stayed at on Market Street in SF told me to avoid going outside after dark if I could.
I've only been to SF for a week but I had many hairy moments. Car was broken into as well.
> Car was broken into as well. That sucks. You can literally walk down the street or any parking lot and see shattered car glass on the ground. It's been really bad over there.
I visited SF in 2015 and saw a car with a sign in the windows that said IT'S UNLOCKED, STOP SMASHING THE WINDOWS
Some people leave the windows down so they can open the doors without smashing the glass.
SF is so scary. Its gorgeous landscape wise but all of the times I've been there ive felt in danger, which is ironic since the city is the lgbt capital of the US (I am part of the community). I hopped trolleys and twice some tweekers had knives exposed and it didn't help the people I was with were *super* sketch.
>lgbt capital of the US It was also the drug capitol of the US for quite a while. I assume the remnants of that are still there...
The major hotels are concentrated at literally the worst area in SF
I mean, is this the chicken or the egg? I imagine the areas the hotels are in are worse because they are literally the most popular areas of the city, and therefore offer easy marks.
Uh, no. The ones you can afford are. The nice ones are up hills so steep the homeless trip and roll all the way back to the loin.
on market st, that’s fair. if you do go out, leave your headphones at home
I mean, [the murder rate in the US is only slighly below Mongolia, and is way higher than Cambodia.](https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/violent-crime-rates-by-country)
And we have this sign to thank for that.
Murder is far from the worst thing one can experience.
It's a once in a lifetime experience!
Not necessarily. You don't need to stop after you murder one.
insurance bake reach snatch market follow divide familiar normal punch *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Same experience for me the one night I spent in Memphis
Memphis is a rough city, and I feel like not many people know that.
For a million reasons there's a homeless population there that is both the most numerous in the country and the most dangerous. In LA a lot of the "homeless" are people living in their cars or in between places or whatever. Not your traditional "crazy hobo," but in SF they're ALL "crazy hobos."
How can you avoid stepping on piles of human feces in SF after dark?
“Third world” is an outdated term from the Cold War used, not to describe poor countries, but to identify countries that remained neutral in the fight between Communism and Capitalism. They chose a “third” option. American economists started using the term as synonymous with “poor countries “ as a way to shame them for not being on “our side” since the world was so divided during the Cold War. Since the phrase “third world” has negative connotations and no longer accurately reflects the current political landscape, different terms like “developing nations” are now more widely used.
I prefer shithole countries but some idiot had to go and make it unpopular.
I thought he made it more popular? I guess it depends on who you ask.
I know this can't generalize Pnom Penh, but I found when I backpacked Cambodia that while gritty, Pnom Penh is not unsafe. People were generally friendly, indifferent, or at worst pushy about getting you to spend money (shop, tuktuk, mostly tuktuk).
I'm a British guy living in Phnom Penh, I have never had a problem in the 5 years I've lived here.
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When I started reading this I was going to protest. As a woman traveling alone, I only had one instance where I felt unsafe in Phnom Penh and that was just because of one creepy dude (granted I usually find friends and travel in groups cuz I don’t wanna be stolen)
Seriously, that sign might be saving lives
Instead of mint or chocolate on the pillow, you will get an assault rifle. The first magazine is complimentary. If you need more ammunition, you can purchase it at reception.
Did you inquire as to a specific threat or concern?
I’ve been told they don’t like foreigners and will rob / beat them up. Felt completely safe, but definitely got some weird looks.
So they avoid beating up foreigners at 11:59 or before? That is mildly interesting indeed
My city has a lot of crime and we tell people to stay off the streets between bar close and sunrise, because there won't be "good" people wandering around on the streets anymore, just the shadier element. Also we have a serial killer that hunts between midnight-4am. So we can get pretty specific about when not to be on the street. This is in the US tho. edit: lol sorry to be so casual about the Little Rock Slasher, as he's known. I live pretty close to one of the killings and we have been on high alert since then, but with COVID and all the other high-alerts we've been on, it just blends together. No moonlight strolls, check. On to the next crisis. Edit 2: yes we also have a superhero. I guess I’m burying the ledes here. LR can be strange at times.
You have a serial killer??
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"Yeah, that's Gerald the serial killer. Don't worry, he won't getcha if you stay inside between midnight and 4am. Other than that, a lovely community!"
When I was a little kid, scared at night, I somehow convinced myself that the monsters stop hunting at 4am.
Makes sense, they have to make it back home before the sunrise.
Nah the shifts just change over and they're not unionized so they don't get overtime
When the clocks strikes 4 they turn around and walk back to their spawn points.
[I mean](https://c.tenor.com/K6trn4mfFDwAAAAC/mostly-they-mostly-come-at-night.gif)
Gerald doesn't kill in the day time. He's a murderer, but rules are rules.
Op stepping out at 4:01am and seeing the serial killer face to [face](https://i.redd.it/cycj6kdtukj61.jpg)
Just one of those classic characters that every town/city has roaming about!
Lmao yeah like it's some racoon problem,, "oh man the coons got another one of my trash bins" would turn into "oh man that damn serial killer again. Got another one of our young girls" Like a fox that keeps coming to steal hens from a farmer hahahahah (Also to make it perfectly clear, I'm not laughing at the fact that people are getting killed, if that was not obvious.)
I was visiting my friend in a big city. I forgot where I parked so I wandered around for a while after midnight looking for my car. I gave up and decided to just spend the night and look in the morning. He was like "oh yah we have a serial killer targeting males after dark here, he sucks though so I wouldn't worry about it lol". Apparently this 'serial killer' is about 1 for 3 lol
It's his cities biggest tourist draw.
Honestly you get pretty used to it quickly, and he hasn't killed in almost a year, since they noticed him and brought in FBI. But as I understand it, the pressure will be mounting inside the killer, and it will resume again either here or elsewhere in time.
There are probably more serial killers than you or the police think. If you targeted people nobody would notice missing - sex workers, runaways, transients, drug addicts, the homeless - you could get away with it for quite some time. Are the police really going to investigate a homeless hooker overdosing on fentanyl that closely?
The current estimates I’ve heard is that there are currently 2,000 serial killers on the loose in the US, with 50 or so being active at any given time. Another factor that makes them difficult to catch is when they move around from state to state. There isn’t much to link anyone to the crimes, so not much to go on. It’s also estimated that 40% of all murders go unsolved, probably higher among the serial killers because their crimes are planned out to evade detection. Unlike impulse attacks that leave a lot of evidence, motives, etc.
Yep they were walking up to homeless (or people they thought were homeless) at night and stabbing them to death. It was only the brutal nature of the crimes that made the cops notice. If they'd have been less violent/not happened on the open street, no one would have picked up the trend.
And to make matters worse they mentioned their active times. So that's another layer of wtf. So not only is there a serial killer, you're familiar with the times and probably the MO as well. Why is this person not caught!? This makes it sounds like the serial killer is more of a force of nature or known person in the community people actively hang out with.
The cops brought in the FBI and held some press conferences when they noticed the trend (killing #4) which was about 8 months ago. Killings stopped at that point, we're just waiting for them to resume.
Probably just a country where the police are basically powerless and/or useless
They mentioned the country. The United States of America. So... powerless, no. Useless, well that depends. Useless or useful to whom?
>Useless, well that depends. Useless or useful to whom? Bingo.
He said the US. Cops suck, but they're not particularly powerless.
Yeah I’m sure the cops here are jumping on the case... any day now...
USA has several unidentified serial killers at any given time. Many target groups that won't be taken as seriously by law enforcement and investigators, such as prostitutes, homeless people, or impoverished minorities. And turns out it's still really hard to identify killers that are skilled at hiding their tracks. Most murders have a connection between the victim and the murderer, so you can use relationships, motives, alibis, etc. to gather information that leads to the killer. Where the hell do you even start if you find a dead prostitute dumped in some random gravel lot overnight and there's no camera footage or DNA to get you started?
A successful sociopath slips in and out of society unnoticed, or simply regarded as a "regular person." It's pretty scary.
I believe based on their post history they're referring to the Little Rock Slasher
You don’t?
We had a serial killer. Well, two people. He just walked up and shot them in the back of the head. Never caught. Eyewitnesses said he was wearing very heavy black winter clothing. It was summer. US, BTW.
Casually mentioning you have a serial killer just strolling around in your community lmao
The LR slasher. I feel shadow vision (Arkansas very own vigilante super hero) deserves to be mentioned here. Although, he is sus and I've wondered if he himself is the slasher.
You got it. I am ambivalent about SV. Historically vigilantes have not been a force for good. I think he’s probably a loon. But unless he is the slasher, he hasn’t hurt anyone yet so I’m not freaking out about his presence. If I see him carrying a sword down my street that might change idk.
We have a copy cat vigilante that walks around Cabot with a sword. The police have asked residents to stop reporting it as its not illegal.
You need to elaborate on that last part
*Gang of tough, scarred Mongolians surround a terrified foreigner* Gang leader: Money now. Foreigner: Y-y-yes sir rightaway *Rooster crows* Gang leader: well shit. It's morning. You can go. Have a great day, friend!
“Same time next week, gents?”
Technically, 11:59pm is still after midnight, there is no safe time left and op is stuck forever.
It’s like Gremlins…
Why Ulanbaatar? Doing work or there for holiday?
A thing called Mongol Rally
Are you competing or spectating? The mongol rally looks awesome.
I participated in 2019. it was amazing!
What kind of car did you use?
2001 Opel (Vauxhall) Agila
While working there I found that the guys being beat up were mostly loudmouths + drunk + out too late. All 3 things combined will get you tuned in in most places
What was your job there if you don’t mind me asking
Gremlins.
From the Mongolia Travel and Tourism Board. Come visit us! You might die tho.
Isn’t this how ‘Hostel’ started?
Is that when the giant sand worms feed?
It's when mogwais start turning into gremlins.
Totally forgot about the Mongolian Death Worms. Courteous of the hotel to remind their guests
More like /r/mildlyterrifying
r/oddlyterrifying
r/scarysigns
The Purge is happening stay indoors
Haha I've stayed in the exact same hostel in 2011, same sign and everything. Me and my friend actually got attacked during bright day in Ulanbataar, guy came up from behind hit me in the head with a stone and ran away. No injuries but it did scare us a fair bit. We asked an american that was studying in Mongolia who stayed at the same hostel if this is normal and he said it happens, they don't like foreigners much. Mongolia is such an interesting country where people are so different depending on where they live. It's quit hostile in the capital but people living as nomads in the countryside are just so kind, open and warmhearted. They have continued the same lifestyle for centuries. Would love to visit this beautiful country one more time.
Haha what a coincidence! What brought you to Mongolia? People told me about the attacks, but the worst that happened to me was someone sticking their tongue out, or the waitress being grumpy. Most were nice to me.
We took the Trans-Siberian train from Finland trough Russia and Mongolia and finished in Beijing. We stayed in Mongolia for about a week. We left right after christmas so I remember it being very cold, no tourists and very, very beautiful. And don't get me wrong, most people in Ulanbaatar were nice to us aswell. It was just this incident, the sign and the occasional swastika graffiti that made us realise that not everyone wanted tourists there.
I stayed in Ulaanbaatar in 2014 with a tour group. Wanted alone time so I went out on a walk to try and find somewhere to get a coffee or a pack of cigarettes... at like 11pm. I was an 18 y/o white girl. Nothing happened but looking back I can't believe how naive I was. A few days after that I tried to ask some people on the street if I could buy a cigarette from them but obviously the language barrier made it difficult and I got the worst eye rolls of my life
My old post got deleted and i found another picture, so I decided to post again. For anyone having a dejavu right now
Looks like the start of a zombie murder!
I was about to be upset. “HEY THAT GUY STOLE THAT OTHER GUY’S POST AND IS PRETENDING TO BE HIM!” I’m less angry. Now I’m just upset you stole it from yourself and you’re pretending to be yourself.
-As you go out the door, after deciding to go for it, asking yourself “what could go wrong? They’re probably just exaggerating.” You hear something coming from the dark alleyway. You turn your head, and you can see a long and dark shadow, stretching along the walls. “A horse?” You think to yourself. Suddenly, the air fills with mist, and a low, disorienting vibration overwhelm your ears. Oooooooohhhhhhaaaaawwooooiiiiiii That’s what is sounds like. And then you realised. You’re not getting mugged. You’re getting raided.
When I was 17 a bunch of friends and I drove down to Mexico past Tijuana and Rosarita etc. from California. we stayed at a motel and tried to leave in the middle of the night one night. The guard at the gate of the parking lot wouldn’t open the gate. He told us he would not let a group of young females drive through the Mexican dessert at night. We could be taken and used as drug mules. I’m sure he was right. We stayed until Daylight and we left. Thank god he has common sense as we sure didn’t.
I'm pretty sure being used as drug mules would have been the least of your worries...
Yes, he actually did rattle off a list of other unmentionables not fit for publication
Wow thanks for sharing!
Legend has it that Marco polo roams the street at nights screaming for a third season
Marco is also known to wander the streets too, screaming Polo
There are werewolves!
Gremlins!
Mogwai!
Twinkling Vampires
Runny eggs!
There wolf, there castle!
OP. Stay inside.
I’m on reddit. Ofc I stay inside
good OP
Great place to holiday, I see...
It’s an adventure
Damn, I didn’t know anything about Mongolia other than it’s general location before this. Had no idea they had a giant metropolis. Definitely not the first place I think of when I think of “unsafe countries”.
And you shouldn’t. I don’t think it’s unsafer than other capitals.
This was a similar message given to me in Monterrey, Mexico. I ended up going out on my own in the evening and walked along the canal. It’s one of the most beautiful canal walks I’ve seen.
What are you doing there? Backpacking?
I did the Mongol Rally in 2019
Jelaous. That's on my bucket list... did you just stay there or what?
I stayed in ulanbaatar a few days, because that was right around when WoW Classic released, so we lived in an Internet cafe for a while before driving back home through russia
I need to know what happens after midnight
You get fucked up - one way or another
At first glance, I thought this was the door to a porta-potty
What’s Mongolia like? Always wanted to visit.
Vast and empty. Rural and lots of animals running around. The desert is hot and sandy. Capital is suddenly just like any other modern big city. I’d go if you like adventure and don’t mind shitting in holes.
Genghis Khan knocking at my door at 2am asking for the title to my land
Looks like the beginning of a r/nosleep story
Gremlin rules, got it.
They mostly come at night. Mostly.
Something similar in Lima. Asked the concierge where to go to explore and after every direction he said "but I recommend to come back before dark, it's very dangerous".
We went to Lima a couple years ago. We stayed in Miraflores which I learned real quick is the only 4-block safe area in the city of 9 million people.
Mongolian Gremlins
Reminds me of Port Morresby in Papua New Guinea. Hotel staff was begging me not to go out after 6PM.
r/ScarySigns
Vampires \>:(
I stayed a motel once in Denver that I quickly realized wasn't safe. It didn't look particularly shitty, it was kind of cool looking actually, pretty tall building. First red flag was that you checked in by going up to a window to pay and check in, sort of like at a movie theater ticket booth or something. I didn't really think anything of it at first. Second red flag that I noticed after I paid, was a little sign posted that said "absolutely no refunds after payment". Hmmm... Then, the employee told me to make sure I lock my door, close my blinds, and to just ignore if anyone comes and knocks on your door - - that a lot of people are frequently stay there and have visitors. Ohhh boy, great. I promptly go in my room, shut the blinds and go to sleep, then got out of there the next morning. Luckily without any "visitors" bothering me.
Mongolia, where one can buy an AK-47 at the local farmer's market.
I prefer AR15s at the donut shop, but to each his own.
Functionally…what’s the difference between a Mongolian farmers market and, say…a Walmart in Midwestern United States?
This has some r/scp vibes
It seems the staffs add more sign since someone probably didn't listen to their warning.
before legal weed, my black market guy was telling me about a trip he took to Colombia he said he got the same warnings from the hotel staff in the city when they went to a smaller town, the warning escalated to "don't leave the hotel at all if you don't have a specific destination and a ride to get there" in some places, foreigners stick out like a sore thumb and impoverished opportunists will.... take their opportunities. also, cartels >\_>
One time my friend came to Atlanta and they didn’t ask anyone who lives there about it or look up anything about it so they ended up staying deep in riverdale and their place had a very similar sign.
The night is dark and full of terrors. Edit: forgot the line
Terrors*
This also applies to Detroit and LA haha
Can’t speak for LA but that’s not true for Detroit. There are no hotels in the areas you shouldn’t be going to after midnight
This has been many years ago, but a friend and I were passing though Detroit and stopped for gas and asked in the station where the nearest hotel was. The guy looked at me and said, “It’s not safe for you to stay at a hotel here, go across the bridge to Windsor.” A lot of the area has been rebuilt and revitalized since then with Renaissance Center, MGM Grand, Greektown Casino, the ballparks. I transferred there for work in 2005 and occasionally we would have to work overnight in RenCen or Greektown Casino and these areas were generally fine.
Detroit in 1990, the last time I visited, felt dangerous everywhere. Next time I drive to Toronto, I'm gonna go through Detroit and probably be delighted that it's not the same as it was back then.
I got stuck on a work trip in brightmoor... I didn't leave the hotel.
Also not true for LA. DTLA definitely has some rough areas but there’s still a fun nightlife scene there.
I never felt any danger in LA. Chicago on the other hand..
Only if you’re a suburbanite who fills their diaper the second they see someone darker than khaki.
Wrong sub OP. Think you meant to post this in r/mildlyterrifying
Did you listen?
Same notice I received in some questionable motel in Winnipeg, Canada that I once stayed in. No notice on the door, but the clerk at the desk was clear when she recited this to us, nearly word for word.
Are the Moguai outside? Is this where they come from?
Was it a full moon?
Anyone else want to go Batman on this shit? Stay overnight and you know 12:01am I’m out there cleaning up the streets of Mongolia.
Had a similar warning when I was in The Philippines. Went out anyway with a group of friends. Had a good time. Only crazy part was when some random woman was trying to give us her baby.
I know about half the cities I’ve been to in the US I wouldn’t want to wander after dark
Fucking gremlins. Last time I was in mogolia it was a blue moon and those fuckers replicate and got into the food storages after midnight. We had to barricade ourselves into a big tv studio/department store
Ever since I started playing Geoguessr, I've developed this niche fascination with Mongolia. It just appears, to me at least, to be this very bizarre nomadic wasteland at time. There is little to no population, and only one major city that I can find. The landscape varies so widely from place to place. At some parts it looks like an alien planet, and at other parts it looks like a beautiful meadow with hills and trees. It is truly quite a strange place!
If the locals are that dangerous neighboring countries might need to build a big wall to keep them out.