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“We only rent to foreigners”
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Loading ...I finally settled in an apartment here in Phnom Penh. A furnished one-bedroom apartment can rent for as much as $1,700 a month here. While that’s a lot by any standard, it’s an astronomical figure for a country where the average worker makes less than $70 a month.
You can get a decent, fully furnished one-bedroom condo apartment (600-800 sq. ft) for around $700 to $900 a month in Phnom Penh (mostly in Boeung Keng Kang and Toul Kouk districts). The rent usually includes 24-hour security and daily cleaning and laundry services. Utilities and internet access are extra. Although you can get a much more spacious three-story flat (ptheas laveng) for less– around $400 to $500 in residential areas– you may need to hire a couple of maids to help keep the place clean because of the prevalence of dust from the outside. Plus, you can’t really leave your flat vacant for even one day with any peace of mind. I don’t like the idea of locking up two to three layers of steel doors and burglar bars every time I leave the house and to keep oneself safe at night. With a secured serviced apartment, you can just lock your door normally without fear of thieves breaking to slit your throat or steal your belongings.
Despite their high prices, serviced apartments are not easy to find here. The nice ones do not stay vacant for very long. These units are occupied mostly by foreigners. Very few local Khmers favor them. Not only are they perceived as over-priced, but they also don’t fit the lifestyles of most local Khmer people. They fit mine perfectly because I value privacy, security, and quietness.
When I show up at these places, the guards and landlords just assume that I’m not Khmer and begin to speak to me in English. When the landlords, usually Khmer, find out that I’m a Khmer from abroad, they’re generally receptive and courteous. If they had a vacant unit to lease to me, they’d often tell me, “We usually only rent to foreigners here”– but not to drive me away, just to let me know that they’d make an exception just for me since I’m not a typical Khmer.
Let’s see….I’m supposed to feel flattered when a Khmer landlord puts down her own people? What they’re implying, of course, is that Khmer people lack the class and civility to share the same premises with foreigners and that I’m supposedly special because I’m from abroad.
Of course, that’s not true at all. First, it’s highly unlikely that any Khmer, local or from abroad, who could afford a $800-a-month rent in a country where most people make less than $100 a month, would be a troublemaker. In fact, foreign troublemakers are much more likely to afford the rent than their Khmer counterparts. Through the years, there have been many Western scumbags who have rented these high-priced apartments to molest young Khmer children. Yet, you’d NEVER hear the landlords say, “We usually rent to only Khmers.”
The truth is, these serviced apartments are out of reach for most Khmer people, and they do not appeal to the rich ones. “We only rent to foreigners” is just a sales pitch the landlords use to tell you how classy and exclusive his or her property is and how special you should feel to be allowed into the company of foreigners. This is akin to all the Khmer billboards and magazine ads that use Western models to advertise products to an exclusively Khmer customer base. It reflects a deep inferiority complex and our false perception of outsiders’ superiority.
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