Thailand V Cambodia

[dgoz]

Thailand's nationalism and xenophobia is getting tiresome to deal with. Has anybody done the obvious move to Cambodia?

What's it like?

I know for 10,000 baht you get a work/biz visa with not many restrictions or hassles.

They seem to realise that foreign investment and experience is beneficial.

Edited January 11, 2007 by dgoz

[Cpt_M0ney_Sh0t]

I lived there for 3 months a few years ago. It was pretty miserable. Pheom Pen was second only to Baghdad in respect to dilapidated capitol cities. And the whole place seemed to have a grim moody feel...not allot of smiles in Cambodia.

[dgoz]

I lived there for 3 months a few years ago. It was pretty miserable. Pheom Pen was second only to Baghdad in respect to dilapidated capitol cities. And the whole place seemed to have a grim moody feel...not allot of smiles in Cambodia.

A few years ago it was indeed fairly grim, but I've done a few short 1-2 week trips there in the last year or so and from what I see and hear it's definitely picking up a bit, especially Seam Reap and Sihanoukville.

[Nam Plah]

I've got some mates who are in Phnom Penh permanently (lord knows why) and I visit from time to time.

The city is a mess and makes me wince thinking about having to wake up there everyday.

But in Oct I took a road trip to Siam Reap to see the ruins and thought that the city was far better than PP.

Nice locals, cool clubs and far better infrastructure than PP. Lunch at the FCC club left me thinking that the old French Colonials may have been onto something. Next time I'm going to check out Sihanoukville.

Besides I think Khmer girls are awesome.

If you go, don't stay long in PP, better yet fly direct to Siam Reap.

Oh yeah on the ten hour road trip all I saw was rice farmers and dirt poor yet smiling Cambodians...

Something to think about as you see scowling Thai girls adorned in 10 baht gold necklaces yapping into cellphones.

[Mai Krap]

Cambodia has a dark side for sure, I have been there many times and had both positive and negative trips. For sure its improved a great deal and dose every year but its not everyones cup of tea. The big change is coming soon and that will be when the bridges are complete and you have normal people driving overland from Changwat Trat to Saigon through Cambodia. When that happens it will be as dramatic a change as when the last Marine left the Embassy and Pnom Phen was emptied only in reverse. Anyone who has seen the new and very big bus terminal in Trat can see there is a huge plan underway for busses into Cambodia with both direct routes to Angkor Wat and Sihanoukville.

The hospitals are horrid and I dont see much hope for them anytime soon but if your brave and have good health you could make it there. The bottem line is you need to go and see for yourself if it fits your style.

Cambodia and Laos are both changing dramaticaly, The 2 new American Embassies are about the worst of it. They are by far the most out of place architectual structures in Southeast Asia. They both look like Frank Loyd Wright designed them on a horribly paranoid LSD trip. I fully understand the security issues involved in design but my god when the Soviet era Russian Embassy looks like it has class and style and the American Embassy looks like a giant nazi concrete pillbox and sits among some of the most well preserved French Colonial Architecture left in the world its a very sad day for my tired eyes. They could of at least took a lesson from the Thais and made a concrete structure and then fancied it up a little with a false front, Its just terribly done, well theres my rant for the week anyway.

[midas]

dgoz I had the same questions myself so spent a couple of weeks in Cambodia

last November and just before Christmas. After living in Bangkok for four years,

yes I also thought there were " not a lot of smiles in Cambodia " as mentioned earlier

in this thread.

I now have a very negative feeling about the Cambodian government. The Prime

Minister has effectively installed himself into office permanently and the Cambodian

citizens are very unhappy about this! There is so much talk

about croneyism and corruption and you get the feeling the government and all

the hangers on are just out to snatch as much money as possible now

while the rest of the population continue to struggle.

I definitely don't think members of the Cambodian government have a genuine

long-term view of things - which I suppose is understandable

given their history !

If you go there -look into things which will affect your cost of living

and ease or otherwise of doing business there - a number of things

have put me off.

Yes it appears on the surface Cambodia has a lot of potential but what will really

hold back its progress unfortunately is the astronomical costs its going to face

to clear away its landmines - all along the Vietnam Border and the border with

Thailand, the place is riddled with them and this is going to severely curtail

Cambodia's chances to cultivate its own land. I'm also concerned over the next

few years there will be less money available to continue landmine clearance.

these are just my views

[kmart]

I would echo the sentiments of those above by saying that there is a lot of things that put me off Cambodia.

Infrastructure is still not very good, someone mentioned hospitals are bad; which I can believe, corruption is apparently rampant, and life seems very cheap there, even by Thai standards;- the violence that they perpetrated on their own people not 30 years ago is still simmering under the surface.

Anyone sick of Thailand should just take a break from the place and get a sense of perspective back. I wouldn't jump ship for any of its neighbours, but I like to visit occasionally, and thats all.

[bendix]

I like to visit Cambodia - i enjoy the down-at-heel side of PP and I like the average Khmer person, but I'm not sure i could live there. Sure the visa situation is very lax, but employment opportunities would be miniscule - the odd teaching or NGO position and not much else, except running a bar. Thanks, but no thanks.

I'm not sure I could live in a country which has just one building equipped with an escalator.

Visit, yes. Live? . . . Thailand beats it hands down IMHO.

[sriracha john]

I would echo the sentiments of those above by saying that there is a lot of things that put me off Cambodia.

Infrastructure is still not very good, someone mentioned hospitals are bad; which I can believe, corruption is apparently rampant, and life seems very cheap there, even by Thai standards;- the violence that they perpetrated on their own people not 30 years ago is still simmering under the surface.

Anyone sick of Thailand should just take a break from the place and get a sense of perspective back. I wouldn't jump ship for any of its neighbours, but I like to visit occasionally, and thats all.

c'mon now... you're just being a pompous cockroach

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...mp;st=240

[tropo]

Something to think about as you see scowling Thai girls adorned in 10 baht gold necklaces yapping into cellphones.

I had to laugh when I read your one-liner. It really describes the girls in Pattaya and Bangkok to a tee. In my experience the people smile more in Cambodia, but that probably depends on where you live in Thailand.

My GF is Filipino, and when the Cambodians discover she is not Thai, they are relieved. I won't repeat what they say, but you can use your imagination.

[Pakboong]

If you are from the US, getting dollars out of the ATMs is a big plus. All pricing is in US dollars as well.

[tropo]

Something to think about as you see scowling Thai girls adorned in 10 baht gold necklaces yapping into cellphones.

I had to laugh when I read your one-liner. It really describes the girls in Pattaya and Bangkok to a tee. In my experience the people smile more in Cambodia, but that probably depends on where you live in Thailand.

My GF is Filipino, and when the Cambodians discover she is not Thai, they are relieved. I won't repeat what they say, but you can use your imagination. Of course the girls they are used to meeting from Thailand are the "scowling Thai girls" you made reference too.

Edited January 12, 2007 by tropo

[tropo]

If you are from the US, getting dollars out of the ATMs is a big plus. All pricing is in US dollars as well.

I found that unless you make an effort to pay in local currency, the $1 for this $1 for that makes it more expensive there. Too often everything is rounded to the dollar. It doesn't seem like much at the time, but if you check your spending you are paying a lot more than for the similar item in Thailand.

This may only be me, but I find if I tip 20 baht in Thailand at a restaurant, that's ok, but if I tip less than $1 in a Cambodian restaurant I feel cheap....same with taxis.

There also a problem with most of the goods in the shops being imported making shopping more expensive. In Thailand it's easy to find locally produced items.

Edited January 12, 2007 by tropo

[bendix]

Exactly right. There's nothing that I want to buy that is cheaper in Cambodia than it is in Thailand.

[midas]

I found that unless you make an effort to pay in local currency, the $1 for this $1 for that makes it more expensive there. Too often everything is rounded to the dollar. It doesn't seem like much at the time, but if you check your spending you are paying a lot more than for the similar item in Thailand.

This may only be me, but I find if I tip 20 baht in Thailand at a restaurant, that's ok, but if I tip less than $1 in a Cambodian restaurant I feel cheap....same with taxis.

There also a problem with most of the goods in the shops being imported making shopping more expensive. In Thailand it's easy to find locally produced items.

Yes - the ordinary run-of-the-mill restaurants in Phnom Penh were in most cases more expensive in Thailand and as Bendix said many other things are cheaper. I went around a couple of supermarkets frequented by the expats living there and in some cases the groceries on the shleves were DOUBLE the prices of Bangkok !!! I just cant see the justification for this and can only attribute it to the same " rip off the foreigner " attitude

that you see in so many places all over Cambodia

[midas]

sorry that should have read :-

Yes - the ordinary run-of-the-mill restaurants in Phnom Penh were in most cases more expensive than Thailand and as Bendix said many other things are NOT cheaper. I went around a couple of supermarkets frequented by the expats living there and in some cases the groceries on the shleves were DOUBLE the prices of Bangkok !!! I just cant see the justification for this and can only attribute it to the same " rip off the foreigner " attitude

that you see in so many places all over Cambodia

[DragonQuest]

so basically laos and cambodia suck and thailand rocks, so then after all this u think cambodias ruin should be the seveth wonder of the world? probably not lol i still want to see it but thx for heads up on the double pricing scheme, ill keep my guard. and wont go for more then a day or 2.

[terry57]

this is only my own personnal opinion , but i think cambodia is a living doss hole.

if it was'nt for anchor wat it would be a total basket case.

those massive 5 star hotels in siam reip are a joke and full of high end tourists who venture no further than the hotel and the ruins.

im glad they are there, as they do give the people work, which is a good thing.

but once again the local workers get payed pennies whilst the tourist pays top dollar.

the beggars in siam reip are on the same level as india, and as far as the people being more friendly than the thais, well thats beyond me.

they are friendly but no more than the thai.

some of you guys must live under a rock if you find the thais uinfriendly or is it just yourselves maybe?

as far as PP goes, well whats the big deal ?

and as far as running over there and setting up business goes, see you latter boys. as its all yours.

this is only my own opinion so dont spit the dummy.

[In the Rai!]

Just remember that we all have our own opinions... If we didnt we would all be wearing the same coloured shirts and eat the same foods.

I think they both have their own pros and cons..

I like it but I wouldn't choose it over Thailand. JMO

[Robski]

Just remember that we all have our own opinions... If we didnt we would all be wearing the same coloured shirts and eat the same foods.I think they both have their own pros and cons..

I like it but I wouldn't choose it over Thailand. JMO

Be like Monday every day...