TheSiemReaper

There's the Angkor Museum, the War Museum, the Landmine Museum, Cambodia's Believe it or Not, the modern wats (much neglected by tourists but still quite lovely), Angkor Wat, day trips to Koh Ker, Phnom Kulen, Beng Melea, Preah Vihear, Banteay Chhmar, Sambor Prei Kuk, the mini-Angkor Wat, Angkor Wat themed mini-golf, night markets, the central market, and quite a bit more that I've forgotten to include. 4 days is enough to scratch the surface of Siem Reap... that's all.

Your experience and helpful posts are invaluable!

...and then I saw this, "Angkor Wat themed mini-golf"...

I would like to avoid - would a 100km radius do?

It's actually really good fun. Owned by a local and they throw in a free beer and it costs next to nothing... :-)

It will probably be one of the islands off the coast of Sihanoukville... but which one? I have no idea.

It's worth noting that Siem Reap is in fact the second best tourist destination in the world after Morocco... so it is the number 1 tourist destination in the region. (Source: TripAdvisor - Top Destinations in 2015) Bangkok's visitor numbers are in decline... Cambodia's are growing...

1. Curiousity is a normal thing and in people who haven't been taught that it might be rude, it's directly expressed. I like, as the Kaobai said, that. Honesty is not something to be sneered at. It's the same pretty much everywhere in the region, including rural Thailand.

2. I love Khmer people, unlike in the Land of Crocodile Smiles, they are genuinely friendly and kind. Sadly, give it another 10 years or so and the behaviour of spoiled expats and tourists will lead to the locals hating us just like they do in Thailand.

3. I find that most Thais are incredibly immature and it makes it difficult to bond with them. I find that Khmer, on the other hand, are far less likely to pitch a fit over nothing.

4. Every city of any size in the world has places you'd be better off not going and every city of any size has beggars (they even have them in Riyadh where it's 60 degrees in the shade)

5. I find learning Khmer near impossible whereas I found learning Thai to be much easier... that most Khmer speak good English is a genuine bonus.

6. No-one moves to eat Western food but after 10-12 years of alien cuisine, it's nice to eat comfort food every now and again. This is true for Asian folks who move to Europe or America too... they don't land and suddenly refused to eat Lok Lak or Pad Thai because there's a McD's on every corner.

7. I was asked for $3 in Poipet once... I said no. They said OK. It did not leave me feeling violated. If I'd have had $3 in change... I'd probably have given it to them. Why get flustered about $3?

to all

give up the illusion u will ever be anything BUT a TOURSIT

speak the language, marry, have a family, job, build a home etc etc

ur still white an all they see is the color of your skin and with that they know ur not a local

as far as learning to speak khmer WHY??

less than 16 million ( or .24% of the worlds population speak it)

better off learning Chinese 14%

or English 5+%

Simply not true. Of course, they know you are not Khmer, but they also know you are not a tourist. There is a category of "foreigners who really live here" and they are well accepted. In my experience, it is possible to integrate more completely in Cambodia than in Thailand.

As to why learn Khmer - obviously, only if you plan to live in Cambodia, but if so, this is crucial to the aforementioned integration, which in turn renders life vastly more pleasant and rewarding. Enables you to have genuine close Khmer friends and to communicate with the average person as opposed to only the subset who speak English well. Makes a huge difference.

The Khmer have an amazing radar for foreigners. Somehow, they can instantly tell a resident from a tourist, even before the person has said a word. I don't know how they do it, but they do. I walk into a shop or restaurant and they instantly speak to me in Khmer, knowing I will understand it, even though they have never seen me before. Touts, tuk tuks etc automatically ignore me. I don't find this to be true in Thailand.

There's even an expat category in the cash register system in U Care (why I have no idea but they classify everyone as local, expat or tourist when they sell anything). I think it's hard to integrate into Thailand because the Thais have had enough of foreigners in general. The country is wealthy enough to do its own stuff without needing foreigners like it once did too.

In Cambodia, everyone's got so many of their own problems, that, unless you are Vietnamese, they don't give a monkey's about your presence - they are happy you're there spending money - though the poor Viets are considered to be the root of all evil...

I haven't learned Khmer but I very much enjoy the company of English speaking locals. It's an incredible achievement to learn another language with a completely dysfunctional education system around you. I admire their tenacity and dilligence. And it annoys me when people start spouting racist nonsense about locals being lazy. Yesterday, I was talking to a 29 year old female friend at breakfast. She works two jobs. She has just paid the loan off on her home 3 years early! In her spare time she focuses on teaching herself to read and write English. I wish the people back home had half the motivation she has...

There's the Angkor Museum, the War Museum, the Landmine Museum, Cambodia's Believe it or Not, the modern wats (much neglected by tourists but still quite lovely), Angkor Wat, day trips to Koh Ker, Phnom Kulen, Beng Melea, Preah Vihear, Banteay Chhmar, Sambor Prei Kuk, the mini-Angkor Wat, Angkor Wat themed mini-golf, night markets, the central market, and quite a bit more that I've forgotten to include. 4 days is enough to scratch the surface of Siem Reap... that's all.

I can't speak much more Khmer than the day I arrived (thank you, count to five, and hello would cover my entire vocab in Khmer). I stayed in a hotel and it took me about a week to find the right place to live, a long way from the center. I sought out expat places as soon as I arrived to get the lowdown on what's what... that's the same way that I have approached every single place I've lived in my long life of travel. The whole Pub Street and Old Market area is pure tourist trap, though there are the occasional expats hanging around - they're few and far between.

Not sure that the people who designed that t-shirt, nor the people willing to pay for it here in Siem Reap, spent too much time contemplating how many people in this country cant even read their own language, much less English. Just another day in Amazing Asia, but I cant recall the last time i met a Thai under 40 would couldnt read the Thai script and some English. Just one more thing I'll have to accept if I have any intention of living here.

(Yes, I do know the history, but there is an entire generation with no conscious memory of the genocide but I expect the scars run deep. Easy to talk school with a full belly etc - i get that - I just wonder where the billions in aid money went over the last 30 years)

I may live in Cambodia but I spend a fair amount of time in Thailand... Thais generally speak much poorer English than Khmer. No idea about reading it.

I live in Siem Reap, I think you must have tourist branded on your forehead because apart from in the Old Market area I am never harassed by tuk-tuks and that's my only form of transport...

And beggars only appear in the old market area too... the smartest beggars in town sit outside the enormous Chinese/Korean tourist restaurants on and near the Airport Road... because that's where the money is. Westerners are a minor irrelevance to the day-to-day of Siem Reap. It's the Koreans and Chinese who make up the largest volumes of tourists and they never go into town. Thus Westerners start to think that the town runs for them when really, nobody gives much of a monkey's.

The point of the $100 from an ATM is a practical one. ATMs which dispensed nothing but $1 or $5 bills would be empty approximately after the first customer had made a withdrawal. An ATM, on the other hand, stocked wtih $100, $50, $20 and $10 bills has some hope of staying full all day long, as long as it dispenses enough $100 bills. Given that nearly every single business apart from a tuk-tuk or a moto can break a $100 bill in Phnom Penh, I have no idea why you would rant about it.

You don't have to get a long way from the river on the same side to be in a hassle free zone of PP. I lived within a 5 minute walk of the river for nearly 6 months and the only time you get harrassed by tuk-tuk/moto drivers is on the river itself.

And... I do know people who have been asked for bribes at the airport if an extra $1-$2 is worth getting upset about...

It just depends on what you want from life. Phnom Penh is the near perfect environment for those seeking the freedoms of Bangkok 30 years ago and at a much reduced cost; sure it's a big dirty city - it's the capital of a least developed nation, what did you expect? Sihanoukville's not my cup of tea but there are few beach resorts in the world where you can get a year's visa for less than $300 and beer for less than a $1... Siem Reap's home and it's my favourite too but that doesn't mean it's the only viable choice. Kampot, Kep and Battambang are all possibilities too and probably all of them, from my view, are better than PP or SHV but that's because what I want is different from what others want.

I've lived in Cambodia for 3 years, I keep a large supply of $1 bills... no need for Riel at all. The idea that Riel is the pervasive currency is laughable. USD is fine. I throw all my Riel in a box and once a year take it to the money changer and turn it into USD. If a tuk-tuk driver hasn't got change... make him take you somewhere to get that change and then bring you back (they always will).

For investing in Cambodian stocks thru Acleda Securities, one has to have an Acleda bank account opened. Anyone knows, which comes first, securities account or bank account?

http://www.acledasecurities.com.kh/as/eng/service

Strangely the securities account is opened first and a lot of people, non-resident, are then finding that they are denied a bank account... lol. You'd have to be insane to invest in Cambodian stocks both of which are wallowing way below their IPO price... and with near zero liquidity in the market.

Opened accounts with Phnom Penh Commercial Bank and microfinance institutions as resident for withholding tax purposes, with passport and 3 year multiple entry visa, while living in LOS.

Really? Very interesitng except Cambodia doesn't have a 3 year multiple entry visa. It has 1 year visas only.

I always say that I have my own car and will drive myself when they ask how I will travel onwards from there... that might help you avoid it in the future. Last time I went through, the police seemed to have relaxed a bit and drivers were picking up without problems from the roundabout outside.

Must be something about you... I cross that border a lot and yes, there are touts but I have never had one persist past a "no thanks" because there are zillions of suckers waiting to be fleeced; why waste your time on those resisting your pitch? As for the taxi thing, I have a driver pick me up at the border every single time. Never had an issue.

Sihanoukville's not somewhere I'd want to live, that's for certain but neither is it a war zone or a gangland nightmare. Many folks live there and love it. Others don't. Neither is the end of the world but the melodrama on this thread is incredible.

If you're looking for honest cops in Phnom Penh... you'll be looking for a long, long, long time.

Sorry? You were expecting the Cambodians to celebrate the day that Pol Pot enslaved Phnom Penh?

It is also worth noting, that it's much easier to own a business in Cambodia than Thailand, visas are easier to come by and there are no restrictions on what barangs can do for a living. Again, skilled manual workers are hard to come by... 3 million Baht (if you live carefully) would carry you for 10 years in Cambodia or Northern Thailand but far less far in Bangkok.

Three million is not very much money. It might last you five years if you're very careful. I hope you will have a regular retirement income. Good luck!

I'm not sure that starting a business in Thailand is the smartest plan, have you looked into making money online? That way you can "Work" from wherever you have decent internet access.

Hi JB300 - I have wandered about making money online but my work background is manual so wouldn't really have a clue where to start or what business would be good, as I fear that anything worthwhile would be already up and running with much competition . . . would you have any suggestions as I am open to any ideas or thoughts.

I do make my living online. Yes, it's a hellish crowded space but the real trick is to do what you know - if your experience is in manual work, teach people how to do it - a lot of manual work is highly skilled even if it's not valued by snobbish society, start small but learn to effectively buy profitable traffic and learn to market to your subscribers. A Word Press blog, plus Aweber (for generating a mailing list) plus some affiliate programs... can generate a healthy income but it takes time and a ton of effort.

There is no such thing as a work/business visa in Cambodia. There are two types of commonly available visa - a tourist visa and an ordinary visa. You will need to get your wife and son an ordinary visa each on arriving in Cambodia, you will also need one yourself. This is $35, at the border for one month single entry, per visa - make sure to take the exact change in USD and passport photos or expect to pay a little unoffical tax on top. Then you extend these visas at any travel agent for 1 year for $285 each - they are multiple entry. If you work then you also need a work permit - which is $100 plus a $20 medical.

The bus ride is OK from Bangkok to Siem Reap - if you take the straight through bus that is. Otherwise, it's a bit draining with lots of stops and a lot of hassle at PoiPet to buy a visa that you don't need to buy there - wait until you leave Thailand and buy a visa from immigration in Cambodia, much cheaper and exactly the same - wait times are usually pretty short for this too, despite the rubbish they will tell you to try and get you to buy one from a dodgy agent. The train is OK but it's an early start and you'll need a tuk-tuk to the border. There are no rail services in Cambodia itself and you'd need to buy a bus ticket or hire a taxi to get to Siem Reap.

There are, perhaps, 3 restaurants in town where you could spend $40+ on a meal. None of them are the kind of place where you get food poisoning. In fact, to date in Cambodia - I've never had food poisoning; something I can't say for China or Thailand. I've been here 3 years too.

The power cuts were caused by a driver bringing down the electricity cabling as it comes into town - this happens every 3 years or so. On the bright side; it was fixed quickly this time. Last time round it took 5 ****ing days.

ATMs have never failed to work for me in 3 years.

It sounds like your tale of woe occured mainly in your head to me.

Pay in Cambodia sucks worse than Thailand but it goes farther. No need for a work permit in theory but as anyone can get a work permit if they need one - no major issue if you do have to get one (cost $100). In Phnom Penh standard rate is about $12 an hour, in Siem Reap, Sihanoukville and Battambang - a bit less. In the rest of the country? A lot less.

If you are persistent about looking for work - most people seem to get part-time stuff within a fortnight and full-time within a couple of months in the major cities at least...

I live in Siem Reap. You can spend Baht here but the exchange rates are normally pretty bad in most venues - I have friends who run restaurants, etc. here and they'd rather not deal in Baht unless they have to - so they charge a premium to do so. Go to the Old Market and change your Baht at one of the money changers on the road down the side... shop around and one of them will change at the interbank rate (seriously) so you simply cannot change Baht more cheaply anywhere on earth (including Thailand). I change up with them when I leave for Thailand and change back as soon as I arrive back. US Dollars are accepted everywhere - I have never, ever been anywhere in Cambodia that gives you a lower price for using Riel (though the accepted informal exchange rate is 4,000 Riel to the Dollar - except in the supermarkets where they use 4,100 Riel to the Dollar - so you can squeeze a small amount of benefit from changing dollars to Riel - as the actual rate is about 4,080 Riel to the dollar - as long as you don't spend too much in the supermarkets here).