Is moving to Cambodia really the end of the line?

[GypsyT]

3 hours ago, StandardIssue said:

Moving to Vietnam is.

Then I'll be soon finished.....

The more I visit more I like "fastest growing economy in Asia" country - Vietnam.

[BritManToo]

Cambodia, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, all good and much the same with minor differences.

Why slag one off and praise another?

[Walker88]

If 'end of the line' somehow equates to Hell, then my place would be Texas, Alabama, or anywhere in the UK.

 

One shudders to think!

[Presnock]

well just generally speaking, I also receive just about daily, a news letter from Nomad Capitalist.  Since the OECD agrreement in  2023 plus the different stories aobut CRS and FATCA, stories of tax-related stories from different countries with changes affecting expats, immigrants, multiple passports, tax residency, banking changes, visa changes, et al seem to be on the increae evey week!  TIT and you can bet we will see some more changes too.  Good luck to all and prior to any international moves do some deep probing of what goes on at some other location.

[eastlight]

On 2/5/2025 at 12:32 PM, ChaiyaTH said:

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.

But who's paying for all this? There's no tourist industry as such. The Chinese I suspect.

[henryford1958]

When they start charging us 35% Thai tax we will all be off to Cambodia

[baansgr]

On 2/5/2025 at 2:47 PM, bkk6060 said:

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.

I've been to both and can say, Thailand is definitely the cheapest for long term living

[baansgr]

57 minutes ago, Walker88 said:

If 'end of the line' somehow equates to Hell, then my place would be Texas, Alabama, or anywhere in the UK.

 

One shudders to think!

Tower hamlets

[Merrill]

On 2/5/2025 at 7:25 AM, ChumpChange said:

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.

Cheers nice one, some of you guys really do have a way with words. Is it the Irish background?

[blaze master]

I love a good bob in the morning. 

[Cameroni]

If you google "Bek Sloy" Tik Tok dancers, you will be so hooked on Cambodia you'll actuallly want to move there. I had to stop watching.

 

The temptation was too great.

[GypsyT]

16 hours ago, Walker88 said:

or anywhere in the UK.

 

One shudders to think!

I never understood why English choose the worse place to live when they conquered 90% the world!

 

Same with Dutch - the richest nation when they had monopoly in shipping and they too settled on <deleted>tiest place in Europe to live! Soon will be New Atlantis!

 

Only positive I see is you don't need to be intelligent to get rich.

 

[Woke to Sounds]

On 2/6/2025 at 6:17 AM, Prubangboy said:

I read all the Cambodia books. Anyone else have a good one to list?

Brother Number One (Pol Pot) by David Chandler.

[save the frogs]

7 minutes ago, Woke to Sounds of Horking said:

Brother Number One (Pol Pot) by David Chandler.

why would you want to read about cambodia's horrible past?

it will make you want to blow your brains out and never set foot in the country. 

 

[Elvis Presley]

2 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

why would you want to read about cambodia's horrible past?

...that killing tree eh!

[save the frogs]

5 minutes ago, Elvis Presley said:

...that killing tree eh!

CambodiYeah!

 

[Woke to Sounds]

7 hours ago, save the frogs said:

why would you want to read about cambodia's horrible past?

 

Because I'd rather know what makes a psychopath tick than not know.

[zzzzz]

Cambodia is a <deleted> hole
Lived there twice back in 2008/09 for 1 year, more recently 2021-22 for 17 months
I've got a cambodian wife and we both by far prefer Thailand
People are nicer, food is better, roads, infrastructure, thailand wins hands down,  cost, thailand by far>
Cambodia does have an easier visa system and appears to those that want to live cheap drunk all day
its run as a dictatorship and nobody better ever say anything bad in the press about it and remain there>
people don't give a <deleted> about each other, throw trash everywhere, play their boom box's everywhere at all times of the day and night and the environment    only  there to take advantage of 

PLUS the chinese dictate everything 

FYI  it was better back in 2008/09. you felt like u were living in a  cool place where everything went, people were super friendly and it was cheapo ( although so was quality)
it all changed around 2018 when they started building malls
the end of the world.>>> Nope, there are worse places ( most of africa) 

[outsidetrader]

On 2/5/2025 at 11:45 AM, Elvis Presley said:

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. 

Cambodia is a great place to live regardless .The Cambodian smile is genuine and they are very caring people .

Thailand of course is bigger and has more options.

I live between both .

[Burma Bill]

On 2/6/2025 at 5:23 PM, save the frogs said:

 

A lot of people who gravitate towards Cambodia and even Thailand are alcoholics and drug addicts. so cheap alcohol will be a factor. And in Cambodia, a lot of expats are overdosing due to easy access to drugs. For many, it is indeed the end of the line.  

 

 

Any published proof please? 

 

I live in Cambodia (now 5 years) as a retired member of the UK Police Service and I have never read a daily news report about foreigners overdosing on drugs.

[scubascuba3]

When i visited PP in Cambodia, the barang there were lower than a snakes underbelly, Pattaya fat bald expats are HISO in comparison 

[save the frogs]

5 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

 

Any published proof please? 

 

I live in Cambodia (now 5 years) as a retired member of the UK Police Service and I have never read a daily news report about foreigners overdosing on drugs.

Well, there was a book called "Off the Rails in Cambodia". 

I guess if you avoid that crowd, you won't witness it first hand. 

 

I just watched a video of a Youtuber living in Cambodia mention this. 

 

And I just did a google search and found this article:

https://english.cambodiadaily.com/news/when-the-needle-and-the-damage-are-done-a-difficult-diagnosis-awaits-771/

It was in this wobbly wooden house built over the water that 26-year-old Kieran Power died on April 29. Friends living nearby said he overdosed on drugs, the culmination of a weeks-long spiral into depression and substance abuse brought on by losing his job as an English teacher.

 

Power was one of an increasing number of foreigners drawn to Boeng Kak by the area’s reputation for cheap accommodations, weak law enforcement and easily available drugs. He was also on a growing list of Westerners who have died in grim circumstances among the maze of unsurfaced alleys and budget guest houses that lines the eastern shore of Phnom Penh’s largest lake.

 

 

 

 

 

[save the frogs]

But anyway, there's people overdosing on drugs everywhere in the world.

So maybe those stories are being blown out of proportion.

Just stay away from the drug scene anywhere in the world and you're good to go. 

 

[scottiejohn]

On 2/7/2025 at 9:08 AM, blaze master said:

I love a good bob in the morning. 

I agree but unfortunately we also have to suffer posting Bobs!

[newbee2022]

On 2/5/2025 at 11:45 AM, Elvis Presley said:

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. 

Thank you for the description of an average Brit's CV.

[hotandsticky]

Just now, newbee2022 said:

Thank you for the description of an average Brit's CV.

 

 

While you are stereotyping perhaps you could describe an "average Brit".

[scottiejohn]

22 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

Thank you for the description of an average Brit's CV.

Thank you for the description of an average Brit Farang's CV.

[scottiejohn]

24 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

Thank you for the description of an average Brit's CV.

He was looking in the mirror and forgot his nationality!

[newbee2022]

43 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

Thank you for the description of an average Brit Farang's CV.

Your's? 

[BumGun]

On 2/5/2025 at 3:45 PM, Elvis Presley said:

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.

Having lived there in 2010/2011 and not drinking, smoking or doing drugs, i enjoyed it thoroughly and have fond memories to this day.   I did see a lot of westerners getting smashed and riding around drunk on their scooters and several dieing  and I'd suggest a more likely outcome based on my observation.

 

On 2/5/2025 at 6:47 PM, bkk6060 said:

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.

I have lived in Thailand, The Philippines and Cambodia. I prefer The Philippines.  I am back in Australia  because I prefer the air here and have a house here I own. I was recently again in The Philippines and was looking at a condo in Makati, walking about Makati and it seems like many big cities  in the world if that's your thing ?  I "retired" at age 35.  I won't be entitled to the Australian pension at 67 because I have too many assets, the public pension in Australia is means tested.   Not all of us are on the bones of our arse.

 

I did spend some time in Laos last year and liked that as well.