Australians wanting to leave Cambodia amid coronavirus hit 'brick wall' in bid for government help

[geovalin]

• Nearly 100 Australian expats have been unable to leave Cambodia on commercial flights
• They are concerned the local healthcare system will be unable to cope with the pandemic
• The Smart Traveller website warns it may not be possible to help every Australian get home from many parts of the world

 

A group of 85 Australian expats in Cambodia fear time is fast running out to leave before a state of emergency is declared in the country, saying their pleas for help from the Australian Government have gone unheeded.

 

Commercial flights from Cambodia bought at exorbitant rates are repeatedly being cancelled — one large family reported losing $10,000 on a cancelled flight before being quoted $63,000 for another.

 

Flights back to Australia are directed via other countries, but many of them are closing their borders in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

 

read more https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-03/australians-wanting-to-flee-cambodia-amid-coronavirus-brick-wall/12113676

[generealty]

The USA gave them a few million $USD which I doubt is used for anything other than Food and alcohol in the Govetnment. They do zero for foreigners and I am amazed why the West keeps giving them money. Time for the West to get heavy handed and say look after our boys or else

[Mick501]

So they want the Aussie taxpayer to pick up the tab for a charter flight, because they ignored the ample warning to leave.   Hopefully they don't fall ill and end up in the Cambodian health system, but perhaps it's evolutionism at work if there are those that wanted to get out and didn't heed the numerous warnings.

[Letseng]

4 minutes ago, Mick501 said:

So they want the Aussie taxpayer to pick up the tab for a charter flight, because they ignored the ample warning to leave.   Hopefully they don't fall ill and end up in the Cambodian health system, but perhaps it's evolutionism at work if there are those that wanted to get out and didn't heed the numerous warnings.

Why did they not leave a month ago? Disaster stared you in the face since January. Healthcare has never been good in Cambodia. No secret either. 

[digger70]

6 minutes ago, Mick501 said:

So they want the Aussie taxpayer to pick up the tab for a charter flight, because they ignored the ample warning to leave.   Hopefully they don't fall ill and end up in the Cambodian health system, but perhaps it's evolutionism at work if there are those that wanted to get out and didn't heed the numerous warnings.

Why do they want to leave Now ? They are Living in Cambodia they made  their Home there, Just make sure one doesn't Get the Wuhan Flu . Ride it trough the Bad times . One Flu or the other they Will keep coming back . than every time run forest run. should've stayed in AUS Pay for your own Trip.

[Odysseus123]

5 minutes ago, digger70 said:

Why do they want to leave Now ? They are Living in Cambodia they made  their Home there, Just make sure one doesn't Get the Wuhan Flu . Ride it trough the Bad times . One Flu or the other they Will keep coming back . than every time run forest run. should've stayed in AUS Pay for your own Trip.

God help us all.

 

Tralfamadorean translated into Swahili and then rehashed into English.

 

But...plenty of time to make the hard decisions and get out otherwise it is time to pay the piper....

[drbeach]

36 minutes ago, generealty said:

The USA gave them a few million $USD which I doubt is used for anything other than Food and alcohol in the Govetnment. They do zero for foreigners and I am amazed why the West keeps giving them money. Time for the West to get heavy handed and say look after our boys or else

Indeed. Cambodia is worse than even Thailand when it comes to how they treat foreigners. The country has been a place for foreigners who are at the "end of the road" for a long time. It's bad enough when you get in trouble there during normal times, but during a crisis situation it's absolute hell. Except in the unlikely event you're an Aussie who lives with their Khmer wife on a farm and are self-sufficient.

[StevieAus]

7 minutes ago, drbeach said:

Indeed. Cambodia is worse than even Thailand when it comes to how they treat foreigners. The country has been a place for foreigners who are at the "end of the road" for a long time. It's bad enough when you get in trouble there during normal times, but during a crisis situation it's absolute hell. Except in the unlikely event you're an Aussie who lives with their Khmer wife on a farm and are self-sufficient.

Surely that cannot be correct I recall posts on this site by expats who had left Thailand extolling the virtues of Cambodia.

Strange how things change, nice place to visit but would not like to fall sick in that country.

[BritManToo]

11 minutes ago, StevieAus said:

Surely that cannot be correct I recall posts on this site by expats who had left Thailand extolling the virtues of Cambodia.

Strange how things change, nice place to visit but would not like to fall sick in that country.

It's a great place for a party holiday.

Sadly the party appears to be over everywhere at the moment.

I'm predicting Thailand will become far worse, with curfews, even more extortion from immigration, and a complete alcohol ban in the near future.

 

If I didn't have a home and kids in Thailand, I'd have preferred to be trapped in Cambodia.

At least there I'd be able to smoke weed until I didn't care about anything.

Edited April 3, 2020 by BritManToo

[watthong]

2 hours ago, drbeach said:

Indeed. Cambodia is worse than even Thailand when it comes to how they treat foreigners. The country has been a place for foreigners who are at the "end of the road" for a long time.

Reminds me of the movie "City of Ghosts" produced by and starring Matt Dillon (remember him?) Excellent,  got to watch it again...

[White Christmas13]

4 hours ago, watthong said:

Reminds me of the movie "City of Ghosts" produced by and starring Matt Dillon (remember him?) Excellent,  got to watch it again...

Watch it a few days ago 

[Iron Tongue]

There's enough of them to hire their own charter planes if they wanted to.

I think the Aussie govt. would help as long as they didn't have to pay for the plane and expenses.

[gearbox]

9 hours ago, Mick501 said:

So they want the Aussie taxpayer to pick up the tab for a charter flight, because they ignored the ample warning to leave.   Hopefully they don't fall ill and end up in the Cambodian health system, but perhaps it's evolutionism at work if there are those that wanted to get out and didn't heed the numerous warnings.

By your logic the hospitals in Oz should refuse to treat smokers because they have been ignoring what's written on the cig packs for many years. The taxpayers money should be used in times like this to fetch fellow Aussies in trouble. The govt handed over 715 mil to the airlines and now they are lining up for extra 5-6 billions. They can do a little bit of work for these money and show some solidarity.

 

Otherwise Cambodia would be pretty tough place to leave. The neighbouring countries closed the land crossings for foreigners, and there are very few long haul flights landing there. One has to use the transit airports around, and most are closed for transit traffic. There are very few Cambodians outside Cambodia who can afford to fly full service, so very low demand by the expat Cambodians for international travel to generate some airline interest. The Skyscanner shows one way tickets to Oz at exorbitant prices, and most going through transit airports which are closed for Aussies anyway.

 

If I was there and had no urgent things to do in Oz, I would bunker down there in some sort of long term accommodation and minimise my chances to pick up the corona. AFAIK Malaysia reopened the transit recently, and AirAsia hopefully may resume some flights by the end of the month. Cambodia is not that bad place to be, provided you are not sick.

[Mick501]

8 hours ago, gearbox said:

By your logic the hospitals in Oz should refuse to treat smokers because they have been ignoring what's written on the cig packs for many years. The taxpayers money should be used in times like this to fetch fellow Aussies in trouble. The govt handed over 715 mil to the airlines and now they are lining up for extra 5-6 billions. They can do a little bit of work for these money and show some solidarity.

 

Otherwise Cambodia would be pretty tough place to leave. The neighbouring countries closed the land crossings for foreigners, and there are very few long haul flights landing there. One has to use the transit airports around, and most are closed for transit traffic. There are very few Cambodians outside Cambodia who can afford to fly full service, so very low demand by the expat Cambodians for international travel to generate some airline interest. The Skyscanner shows one way tickets to Oz at exorbitant prices, and most going through transit airports which are closed for Aussies anyway.

 

If I was there and had no urgent things to do in Oz, I would bunker down there in some sort of long term accommodation and minimise my chances to pick up the corona. AFAIK Malaysia reopened the transit recently, and AirAsia hopefully may resume some flights by the end of the month. Cambodia is not that bad place to be, provided you are not sick.

Google the word, "conflate."