Is moving to Cambodia really the end of the line?

[Elvis Presley]

Let's make up a fictional scenario. Let's call our character Jim. Now Jim wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer as a child, in fact he failed all of his O-Levels and ended up working in a food processing plant for the next 10 years. When he was 26, fed up with his life in his working class home town, Jim had an idea to make the move to Thailand. The problem was his family were dead against it and he also had a girlfriend at the time, but Jim was determined, so he booked his flight without telling anyone and left very abruptly.

 

Naturally this caused him to burn his bridges back home, so now he was stuck in Thailand alone. Jim stayed on the Khao San Road and bought himself a fake degree, making him a bachelor of English, then two weeks later got himself a job teaching at one of the local thai schools, earning a measley 30,000 baht a month. But for Jim that was Ok, his apartment was only 3,500 a month and he didn't like going out clubbing much.

 

However, as Jim progressed in his career and his salary remained the same, he started to get depressed and began drinking heavily. Around the same time he found himself an alcoholic Thai girlfriend from one of the bars, and the two became heavy drinking partners. One night the girls brother came around to Jims apartment demanding money, which Jim refused to hand over. Jims girlfriend seemed to be in on the scam, as by this point they had only known each other for about 3 weeks. When he confronted her she denied everything and told Jim that because she was so offended she was going to get her brother to do him in tomorrow.

 

Jim knew he had to leave that night, so he packed his things into a small suitcase and headed for the airport when his girlfriend was down at the bar. There was a flight that night to Phnom Penh. Jim had never been to Cambodia before but he knew how rough it could be, but it was either that or face being murdered by his girlfriends brother. So naturally Jim chose the former and boarded the plane to Cambodia.

 

Knowing that he could never return to Thailand for fear of being killed, nor could he return home due to burning his bridges with his family, Jim now feels like he is at the end of the line. Cambodia seems to be the last stop on Jim's sad journey, where drugs, guns, booze, and sin are all available, night and day. He will likely die alone, in his tiny shoebox apartment from a lethal cocktail of drugs and alcohol.

 

Cambodia, at least to me, seems like the end of the Line for many expats who move to South East Asia. Mostly for those with no better options available to them. That is not to say that one day I wont become like Jim myself, I could think of a lot worse places to be than Cambodia, but once you move there then that's most likely it I reckon.

 

THE END OF THE LINE.

 

regards,

Elvis from Tupelo. 

[hotsun]

Your story has touched me and convinced me to stay in the west, thank you

[Dan O]

What was the point behind this, are you competing against Gamma ?

[Elvis Presley]

3 minutes ago, Dan O said:

What was the point behind this, are you competing against Gamma ?

Just a fictional scenario.

 

You don't dig it then?

 

regards,

Elvis from Tupelo.

[norfolkandchance]

4 minutes ago, Dan O said:

What was the point behind this, are you competing against Gamma ?

There fellow employees.

[worgeordie]

Hi Jim Bob , sounds like your life story , but did it actually come from AI  , just asking

 

regards Worgeordie

[Will B Good]

21 minutes ago, Elvis Presley said:

Let's make up a fictional scenario. Let's call our character Jim

 

Now if that had read Bob or even Colin.......I might have made the effort to read the rest....but seriously.....who the hell is Jim?

[Elvis Presley]

2 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

Now if that had read Bob or even Colin.......I might have made the effort to read the rest....but seriously.....who the hell is Jim?

The guy who fouled up in the west, fouled up in Thailand and is currently holed up in Cambodia addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs.

[EVENKEEL]

I'd consider Cambodia the end of the line. So many US territories with warm sandy beaches to choose from. 

[Elvis Presley]

8 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

but did it actually come from AI 

Nope.

 

That is 100% all my own.

 

regards,

Elvis from Tupelo.

[Will B Good]

2 minutes ago, Elvis Presley said:

The guy who fouled up in the west, fouled up in Thailand and is currently holed up in Cambodia addicted to alcohol and prescription drugs.

 

 

Oh!......So it is Bob....cheers.

[Elvis Presley]

9 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

 

Oh!......So it is Bob....cheers.

No.

 

The main character of the story is Jim.

 

How can you confuse that with Bob?

 

regards,

Elvis from Tupelo.

[soalbundy]

27 minutes ago, Dan O said:

What was the point behind this, are you competing against Gamma ?

It's probably his life's story.

[Elvis Presley]

3 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

It's probably his life's story.

I'm in Thailand and about to become a Permanent Resident here.

 

How is it my life story???

 

regards,

Elvis from Tupelo.

[soalbundy]

Just now, Elvis Presley said:

I'm in Thailand and about to become a Permanent Resident here.

 

How is it my life story???

 

regards,

Elvis from Tupelo.

so much detail, it sounds autobiographical.

[Elvis Presley]

Just now, soalbundy said:

so much detail, it sounds autobiographical.

Well it isn't.

 

It's a fictional scenario.

 

I am a very creative guy.

 

regards,

Elvis from Tupelo.

[ChaiyaTH]

I lived there like 7-8 years ago for 1 year and came there again recently, I was shocked. Many of the streets are entirely clean, more plants and trees, tons of new developments, amazing quality new roads (i remember one being made when i lived there and that one today is still pristine asphalt). Then suddenly dozens of high rise buildings and condo's, the malls that used to have a limited amount of brands now also have things like H&M etc aside from luxury brands but also all gadgets or other stuff you could need.

Then knowing the median age there is 26 as well, they started from not zero but minus a lot on top, I actually see potential and think it is actually pioneers who already lived there a while to believe in a longer term future, or people even doing that today.

But yes, everyone knows there is also these typical streets where you see these typical end of the line characters but be real, this is like a few dozen you usually see in very specific streets or bars as well, while almost anything outside of that, which is a lot nowadays, has barely a sign of that typical stereotype. You find 10X as much in Pattaya alone.

 

I actually even think about it multiple times a week, to go back there, just because it is also so much more relaxed with the visa and full work / business options.

 

Even the airport they just have ipads nowadays, you scan your passport and can even pay by card, 2 mins later a QR sticker visa is done. Then at arrivals luggage they have huge touch screens where you can book a cheap taxi of choice direct too, like Thailand? where are you? Like technology of Dubai standards suddenly in PP airport.

[brfsa2]

I really enjoyed reading it, thanks man. Please bring more in!!!!

[Elvis Presley]

4 minutes ago, brfsa2 said:

I really enjoyed reading it, thanks man. Please bring more in!!!!

I'm glad you liked it and I will do my best!

 

regards,

Elvis from Tupelo.

[scottiejohn]

44 minutes ago, Elvis Presley said:

How is it my life story???

Which persona would that be under Bob/Colin etc?

[scottiejohn]

9 minutes ago, brfsa2 said:

I really enjoyed reading it, thanks man. Please bring more in!!!!

Which post are you referring to?

[scottiejohn]

43 minutes ago, Elvis Presley said:

It's a fictional scenario.

The same as all your posts!

[Elvis Presley]

Just now, scottiejohn said:

Which post are you referring to?

None of yours, that's for sure!

 

regards,

Elvis from Tupelo.

[pomchop]

48 minutes ago, Elvis Presley said:

 

 

[SAFETY FIRST]

1 hour ago, Elvis Presley said:

Is moving to Cambodia really the end of the line? 

End of the line was top floor Mike's shopping mall until they closed access. 

 

[ChaiyaTH]

22 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

End of the line was top floor Mike's shopping mall until they closed access. 

 

You mean the board room of directors for the flying club right?

[ChumpChange]

Well, well, well, Bong-Boy-Bob, now turned armchair novelist, spinning Hemingway yarns like a Soi 6 bar girl with a sick buffalo and a borrowed baby. What a tragic fictional tale we have here, yet so detailed, so heartfelt, almost as if you’ve drawn inspiration from personal experience. But naah, couldn’t be, right? You’re a high-flying PR procurer, a man of wealth, fine taste, and endless mistresses, but not some washed-up, hard-done-by bloke clutching a beer bottle with a sponge-foam condom on it and a crumpled photo in his pocket of his favorite ladyboy gone astray, lamenting about his wasted years in the hub of short-times.

 

Still, let’s unpack this little masterpiece, shall we? Jim, you say? Poor sod failed his O-Levels, fled to Thailand, faked a degree, became an underpaid teacher, drank himself into oblivion, picked up an alcoholic bar girl (shocking, truly), got shaken down by her deadbeat brother, and finally ran off to Cambodia to die in a shoebox flat surrounded by regret and cheap whiskey.

 

A tragic tale indeed. But tell me, Beastly Bob, is this a cautionary tale, or are you testing the waters for your next exit strategy? Because we’ve seen this pattern before, haven’t we? First, you’re Bob Smith, the big London baller flush with US$800K cash in a safe. Then you’re the humble Colin Neville from Dorset, starting fresh as a self-proclaimed bar aficionado. Now, you’re Elvis from Tupelo, philosophizing about the “end of the line” like a washed-up lounge lizard with a sack of broken dreams.

 

But really, mate, if anyone should be worried about their final destination, it’s the bloke who’s gone through more identities than a Nigerian prince on Tinder. If Thailand truly is beneath you now, and Cambodia is the last stop, we can only wonder where you’ll flop to next. South America? Eastern Europe? A tent outside Heathrow begging for change with a sign that says, “Once had a PR in Thailand, now only got PTSD and an STD”?

 

Either way, keep the fanciful fictional fluff flowing, mate. It’s always a pleasure reading your unintentional autobiographies.

[chippendale]

1 hour ago, Elvis Presley said:

I am a very creative guy.

 

No.

 

Your story is stereotypical and trite.

 

Get creative and write something original.

 

[Hummin]

It used to be pedofile heaven, after Thai police started chasing them and cleaned up the worst places, but now? I have never lived in Cambodia, and my first visit two guys tried to rob me, and I returned back over the border. 

 

The rest I know, I read from fellow forum member's and asian news

[bkk6060]

I would say 3rd worldish places like Cambodia and my opinion Phillipines are the end of the line.  People who retire there wish they could live in Thailand.  Mostly, can't afford it or do not qualify for the Visas or, have some obsession of living in the cheapest place possible and bragging about it.