jimmybarang

Hi All,

First post on your forum, I joined because I like Cambodia. Spent a bit of time in TH in the early 1980's and again last year. Lived in Indo 1979-1983.

I have been visiting Cambodia since 2006, between 2-5 times a year, had a business on riverside for 65 months that went broke

I live in Canberra and am trying to figure out where to go when I leave my present ( rare for me :-) ) job.

I endorse almost everything I see on this thread. Particularly PhuketRichards posts.

My take on the country/attractive points:

The people first and foremost.

English widely spoken and a thirst to acquire it- if u are a teacher you will be in demand.

For me, I love to have a little bit of land and a garden. lots of fruit and veg in cambo is imported from VN. expensive.

chickens alive are $4-5 each. expensive.

if you are real keen you can grow these things to sell. Mondulkiri province is nice and cool- high elevation- land with near surface water from around usd 2k/ha start price.

own land?

yes, you can- through your 49% company- the 51% split between the national shareholders/3 with poer of attorney to you and a motgage by you over the property.

costs about usd 1k for the legals and is watertight on hard title deeds.

in the lowlands land starts around $4/m2 for buildable blocks- village situations but nice around kampot, siem reap ( maybe on a canal) , and outskirts of sihanoukville. bluestar kampot is an interesting little pitch- seems to be getting some traction.

You can do anything you want that does not negatively impact someone else. Like to run a little rum still? no worries. tobacco a little unorthodox, so what, if you are Ta (grandpa) you need your medicine.

Want to work. no problem.

your business can belong to you- no local partner required.

you can make a big impact through your living there in very subtle ways simply by being there if you are a gardener. They have lost knowledge of horticulture there unlike thailand- the genocide did it, and loss of irrigation from the arc light missons that still is not rebuilt today.

Drawbacks:

bit rough and dirty

no tesco! :-)

no real rule of law.

no idea about food hygiene- you will need ciprofloxacin sometimes if you eat street food.

have to be en garde for street crime a little.

all in all it reminds me a lot of Bali and Thailand around 1979, except, I don't need to hang around with backpackers these days!