We’re not bitter – Thailand claims Cambodia is not more friendly than them
Thailand claims Cambodia is not more friendly, stating the recent report saying otherwise was Trumpesque “fake news”. In a war of words which could literally last days Khmer Nights went in search of the story.
To read about Thailand kinda opening for tourism click here
Cambodia ranked 4th most friendly country for expats
As recently reported by Khmer Nights among others, Cambodia was ranked the 4th most friendly country towards expats according to Expat Insider a website that deal with all things happiness and expat.
You can read our thorough take on it here
The report has Portugal at number 1, Cambodia at 4, Vietnam at 9 and good old Canada at 10. Thailand it would appear was nowhere to be seen, although we do know that it was not in the bottom three (Kuwait – Austria – Switzerland).
Cambodia friendliness compared to Thailand shown to be fake news – but not really
This has got Thailand up in arms at news of losing to their neighbor, with the Battaya Mail (yes I have not heard of them either) crying fake news. In their report they have stated that Cambodia were not even on the list as it requires at least 50 responses from expats to be included.
Now before you cry foul and think the Phnom Penh Post, us and others were telling fibs lets look at the actual facts.
The top 10 countries for friendliness of the local population towards foreign residents
Cambodia did not, nor did anyone state that it was the 4th friendliest country on earth, what was stated was that it was ranked 4th for “friendliness of the local population towards foreign residents”.
Largely as in how locals view the expatriate population, or barang as we are known.
The Battaya Mail goes on to state that they had spoken to representatives from InterNations (who make the report) and essentially it was all lies, except it wasn’t.
Thailand claims Cambodia is not more friendly – Evidence suggests otherwise
As stated what ExpatInsider actually said was that Cambodia was 4th for “friendliness of the local population towards foreign residents”, which one could legitimately understand as 4th “most friendly country”. We at Khmer Nights certainly took this view.
Saying that it is fake news is also very wrong with the source article being very plain and clear which you can see here.
Sadly the report does not list every country in order, so we do not know where they placed other than they were not in the top ten, nor the bottom three.
Are Thailand bitter?
The short answer is yes! Or at least certainly The Battaya Mail are. We will not go too much into the “which country is friendlier” debate, but a few things should be noted. Firstly Cambodia was famously the most welcoming country in the region to those stuck after Covid-19. Thailand were less so with one American expatriate who runs a company in Bangkok telling Khmer Nights “It has been a nightmare here since Covid began and I was still required to leave the country to renew my visa”. Cambodia on the other hand has given visa amnesties resulting in many of the “stuck” now deciding to stay in the Kingdom.
Secondly and while this might not be completely Thailand’s fault us expats have been treated equally and freely when it comes to getting vaccinated against Covid. According to Our World in Data, who monitor vaccination rates Cambodia has fully vaccinated 41.58 percent of people compared with 6.91 percent in Thailand.
You can check the Our World in Data site here.
And from our very own personal bias, we certainly feel that the Khmer have indeed earned their 4th place spot with veteran Cambodian expat and Khmer Nighter Adan Reeves stating “I’ve lived in both countries, Cambodians are much more friendly”.
Sorry Battaya Mail, but the juryhas spoken, no need to be sore losers OK?
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Author: Reece Ferguson
Reece is a South-East Asia based writer and journalist that originally hails from Northern Ireland. He has previously written for Philippines Lifestyle News, as well as for our previous publication Khmer Nights.
