Info On Living In Cambodia

[stevenjm]

Living in Cambodia is a great experience. The combination of culture, friendly people and that slight feeling of danger can be really addictive. Heres some general info from my own experiences. Rather than categorise it into different areas will just give generally applicable info.

Visas

One month tourist visas or one month business visas are available on arrival at the airport and at most border crossings. Business visas can be extended indefinitely and only 6 mnth and above are multiple entry.

Working (not my strong point)

Still reasonably easy to get work in Cambodia however wages are better elsewhere in South East Asia. Lots of teaching work available and on average around $10us per hour. As more and more westerners are starting to seek work in Cambodia the qualifications etc are becoming a little harder but still pretty lax in most places. Expect a long day if working fulltime and also possibly Saturdays with lunch and a lot of things closed from 12 – 2pm.

Food

Food is varied in Phnom Penh, Sihanoukville, seam reape with western, Thai, Khmer, Chinese etc. Major franchises like macdonalds, Kentucky fried chicken etc are still something that has no caught on although there are several Lucky burger stores in Phnom Penh which serve similar. Out in the provinces you will only get Khmer food although if going to local markets you can purchase limited imported goods and fresh produce. The Vietnamese bread roll ( banh mi ) with pork, carrot, cucumber, onion and pate is also often available in provinces and referred to as “numpang”(bread) or “simply “pate”

Medical

Medical in Cambodia is atrocious and Dr’s are low life gold diggers. If in serious trouble get to Saigon or Thailand. Bangkok hospital group can arrange med evac as can places like Naga clinic which is probably one of the best for medical care - $30 per consultation and located near Australian/ Canadian embassy. Calmette is considered the best local hospital.

Health

HIV is rampant and parasitic diseases are common if living in Provinces. A regular dose of something like albendazole is recommended every few months. Pharmacies will sell most medications over the counter including codeine. (others will sell you absolutely anything at all under the counter).

Marriage

Marriage to Khmer by westerner is not the same process as Khmer to Khmer. You will need a declaration letter from your embassy stating your intentions and that you are not presently married. Also you will need to fill in form and lodge it with the ministry near Anana centre in Phnom Penh. The form will also need filling in by commune and a fee paid.

Generally it is necessary to pay off police in order for permission of ceremony and they also expect an invitation for free food and drinking more often than not. Music is blasted at full volume during celebrations and can really be annoying but the Khmer love it that way. When attending a wedding it is customary to include some cash with your invitation in a closed envelope. Your expected to keep a record book of who gives what and return the same amount or more if your invited to their weddings. not surprisingly some westerners opt to pay the $600us for somebody to organise the paperwork for marriage.

Buying land and building

Westerners cannot buy land and it needs buying in a Khmer name ( I actually get conflicting info on this but am yet to see any evidence of opposite). A common practice is for somebody to try to sell you land that is not there’s and has no land titles this is especially true for Sihanoukville which also has other traps when buying land. Legitimate land will have ownership papers and also title which is a small grey book about the size of a passport – always insist on this book when buying land. Building in major areas requires approval but in provinces its sort of optional depending on your relationship with authorities (cash).

Corruption

It’s a way of life in Cambodia and if you plan to stay you better get used to it. Ranges from being milked by traffic cops all the way to buying your way out of prison (which can result from false charges). No need to be shy about bribery – its like buying a packet of cigarettes. I could write a book on this subject but it could end up having repercussions for me so just use your imagination.

Crime

It’s generally by youth gangs or drug users. Tourist haunts are pretty safe although snatch and grabs around the palace area in Phnom Penh are common as are tuk tuk bag snatches by crims riding past on moto’s. Sihanoukville and Seame Reape are not such a problem – your more likely to be conned in a property deal in these two places than see in your face crime.

At night time if you are in well lit tourist areas its usually no problem but being in company is advised. At the other end you would not go into places like certain streets in boeang trabek after dark as even the streetwise have a more than %50 chance of being robbed, stabbed or throat cut.

Generally its pretty safe and finding yourself in the wrong area could take some doing. Worst thing I have witnessed is a group of about 15 youths having a samurai sword fight, chopping into each other and killing one another at a province out of Phnom penh but the police soon came and stopped it. Best not to travel around on Moto late at night too especially if going home to a province – this applies anywhere in Cambodia.

The key in living there a long time is also to know when to keep your mouth shut and walk away. In four years or so of living there worst I have had to do is disarm a guy with a machete and it was my fault for not keeping my mouth shut.

Drugs

They are rampant and ice, yama (yaba) are the most prevalent but also heroin, K and ganja. Vietnamese control the heroin while Khmer control the rest.

Alcohol

Angkor beer probably the tastiest and cheaper than los along with other brands also. Spirits also widely available and cheap.

Nightlife

Varied from pubs, nightclubs and right down to the unbelievable “nowhere else except Cambodia type places”. Open till late AM

Language

Some words same as Thai but pronounced in a more flat natural tone.

Transport

Small motorbike is the major means of transport and although the traffic can look daunting it works and just sort of flows along. Driving is on right hand side of road and license from your country is necessary. Motorbikes can be hired for around $40us per month or a good one purchased for around $700us (make sure its got tax paid when purchasing or you will have to pay tax as well on top) Registration is around $35us.

Good buses available for long travel and at cheap prices – most leave from central markets (psar Tmei). Trains suck and are barely used. Taxis also available in the form of private cars but its common for them to packed like a sardine can and a passenger sharing the drivers seat with driver (I kid you not)

People.

The average Khmer person, in my opinion, are some of the most friendly and genuine people in the world.

What else?

[seonai]

Steve do you know Cantina Bar on the river front - that's my usual haunt !!!

[Macx]

Great info, Steve!

Thanks for the post. Great to have all that info in a single click!

I'm heading to PP then Sihanoukville next month. Any good mid range place to stay at either place?

Thanks again for all the tips.

Cheers

[mikethevigoman]

Steve do you know Cantina Bar on the river front - that's my usual haunt !!!

Manhatten with the mad drummer ! great

[sutnyod]

Steve do you know Cantina Bar on the river front - that's my usual haunt !!!

I am not Steve, but I stay there a lot, too. Mainly in the evening to have some tacos and watch the sunset. And to watch all the celebrities that frequent the restaurant. If you are a regular, you know whom I mean .

[stevenjm]

I generally frequent the budget places for food

Re the mid range hotels:

Phnom Penh hotel on Monivong down towards lakeside is one of the better ones but don't do hotel walkin price as its a little steep.

You can get it for around $56 a night if you go through a local agent. I recommend Sky Travel on Sisowath Quay (#103) for price and honesty (opposite the port passenger terminal) Buntha aka Peter( tell him I gave him a plug). Goldiana is a step down but so is price and its got good location in the NGO area. There are numerous but I would give them both thumbs up.

Sihanoukville for mid range I would go Golden sands on Ocheteal beach (one street back from the beach) near the lion monument roundabout. From about $25 (has pool but salt water) rooms very nice and if you want to spoil yourself go with the $45 rooms - hotel walkin no problem. Actually you might want to check with Peter what sort of deal he do you with it also.

Am only mentioning his agency as I have spent years trying to find best agent for airline tickets and hotels for friends and his agency has come up the best and have since become good friends with him (has nothing to do with loyalty - its governed by my habit of trying to find best value, although he is a friend now so loyalty plays a small part I guess)

[CyberViking]

Visas

One month tourist visas or one month business visas are available on arrival at the airport and at most border crossings. Business visas can be extended indefinitely and only 6 mnth and above are multiple entry.

What else?

Are there long-term tourist visas?

What about ATM accessibility?

[Jingthing]

The way to stay long term there are the long term business visas, renewed periodically, indefinitely. No actual business needed; you do it through travel agents.

[CyberViking]

The way to stay long term there are the long term business visas, renewed periodically, indefinitely. No actual business needed; you do it through travel agents.

Travel agents here in Thailand?

Asking because I'm working on Plan B now that staying in Thailand much longer doesn't look like it's going to be an option.

[stevenjm]

The way to stay long term there are the long term business visas, renewed periodically, indefinitely. No actual business needed; you do it through travel agents.

Travel agents here in Thailand?

Asking because I'm working on Plan B now that staying in Thailand much longer doesn't look like it's going to be an option.

No, travel agents in Cambodia. You can get tourist visa extensions as well but biz are easier. If getting a biz visa you have to get a one month biz visa first and then extend it.

[CyberViking]

No, travel agents in Cambodia. You can get tourist visa extensions as well but biz are easier. If getting a biz visa you have to get a one month biz visa first and then extend it.

Roj that. Thanks for the reply. I think I'm soon going to part of the long-term Thailand expat crowd relocating to Sihanoukville.

What are the costs for the biz visas and extensions?

What about my other question about int'l ATM availability?

[sjaak327]

Visas

One month tourist visas or one month business visas are available on arrival at the airport and at most border crossings. Business visas can be extended indefinitely and only 6 mnth and above are multiple entry.

What else?

Are there long-term tourist visas?

What about ATM accessibility?

You should get a business visa, which can be extended indefinitely.

ATM's are avialable in many places in Phnom Penh, dispensing USD.

[stevenjm]

ATM's are avialable in many places in Phnom Penh, dispensing USD.

And now in Sihanoukville also. Think visa costs are in the cambodia visa sticky

[coldcrush]

Do you know of any longterm rentals in Sihanoukville on a monthly or 6 monthly basis?

[technocracy]

ATM's are avialable in many places in Phnom Penh, dispensing USD.

Now that interesting, I thought the currency that banks dispensed at ATMs had to be the countries official currency i.e. Riel for Cambodia.

Laos has multiple currencies (and multiple currency accounts) in use but you only get Kip from ATMs. Same for Vietnam - I dunno if any other country does it?

Are all bank accounts in US dollar and how would it work if you had a Riel account?

Just curious as how it works.

Edited October 7, 2007 by technocracy

[stevenjm]

Do you know of any longterm rentals in Sihanoukville on a monthly or 6 monthly basis?

Private rents in Sihanoukville are usually 3 month and paid in advance. Can get 1 mnth rates from guest houses though. Have not been there for about 6 mnths so not sure whats available.

Re the banks - Acleda is US dollars (may also be riel I guess, not sure because have never tried depositing riel), not sure about the rest. Guess the reason for US in the ATM's is that the largest Khmer(riel) denomination is 10,000 riel (about $2.50) so you would have quite a few if you pulled out 500US.

[technocracy]

Do you know of any longterm rentals in Sihanoukville on a monthly or 6 monthly basis?

Private rents in Sihanoukville are usually 3 month and paid in advance. Can get 1 mnth rates from guest houses though. Have not been there for about 6 mnths so not sure whats available.

Re the banks - Acleda is US dollars (may also be riel I guess, not sure because have never tried depositing riel), not sure about the rest. Guess the reason for US in the ATM's is that the largest Khmer(riel) denomination is 10,000 riel (about $2.50) so you would have quite a few if you pulled out 500US.

The number of notes shouldn't make much difference - same here in Laos the biggest note being 50,000kip (i.e. $5) you can only withdraw 700,000kip at one time however you can make 6 withdrawals in one day approx $420 - and considering many cards have a $500 daily limit it's not a big issue.

Apparently there is also 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 riel notes . . . so if they were serious about there currency they could easily dish them out . . . the key word there being *IF*

[CyberViking]

ATM's are avialable in many places in Phnom Penh, dispensing USD.

And now in Sihanoukville also. Think visa costs are in the cambodia visa sticky

That's good news about the ATMs, as I had previously heard that Cambodia wasn't very much online with the rest of the world.

OK, I see the visa info now. I came straight to this thread from the "Recent Postings" e-mail and didn't see the sticky on the main forum page. So, business visas can be bought *on arrival* at the entry point? I'm thinking I'd probably go via land border.

After beating my head against the wall in Thailand since last October, this all looks WAY too easy

[asiaworld]

ATMs ARE getting more & more plentiful now ! They even have them in the dumps,oups.. border towns like Poipet now,

Acleda bank has branches in ever province, & they just launched a free ATM card for account holders , just check their website, GREAT interest rates also . As for the USD, nothing to do with the bills value, largest bill IS 100,000 Riel, which is a bit shy of a thousand baht. The thing is that Cambo is SEMI-DOLLARISED economy, basically like Bahamas & Bermuda ! The Riel IS there, but mainly used instead of coins, as a fraction of a dollar, & to pay taxes . Most of prices are displayed in USD , unlike in Lao or VN , you just use USD,get your change in USD with cents in Riel 1 USD>> 4,000

Riel . 1.000 Riel>a quarter. SIMPLE

[stevenjm]

Not saying that 100,000 don't exist but in 4 years or so have never come across any riel note larger than a 10,000 and some places you will be quoted in riel and not USD.

On a side note - anybody ever having large legal or immigration problems with no obvious answer can PM me and maybe I can negotiate an answer for you. (knowledge is power and in Cambodia so are powerful Khmer friends)

Edited October 7, 2007 by stevenjm

[phuketrichard]

Couple of things you did not bring out. I live in Thailand but as things get tougher and tougher am thinking of moving to Cambodia.

Atms' loads and all despense $. One thing you can get buy with $ in the main cites and most prices are quoted (if your white) in $ Not Riels

1 year multiply entry B visa for apx $250. in and out in 30 minutes without the tons of paperowrk required here in Thailand

The goverment is starting to spend huge amounts of money upgrading not only the roads but transportation and I have heard rumors that tons of money will be poured into developing the Islands off of Sihanoukville . Beaches are nice (not as nice as here in Phuket ) but nice. Plenty of places for rent short and long term

Very easy to rent shophouses in the cities and open restaurants/bars with out the Thai up front money.

I Know people that have been there for years and the changes in the past 3 are nothing compared to what will take place in the next 3.

something that i noticied; You have a whole generation of Khmers that were raised by the farming class as PP wiped out the whole generation of those with any brains or money. What i have seen is they are very freindly and even with all the troubles proud to be Khmer. Allways seem to be smiling and Yes, there are tons of beggars and homeless in PP they dont hassle you.

Having been in Thailand for over 22 years i now what the thai smile means and will have to learn if it is the same as the Khmer smile.

On all my trips in the past 2 years throughtout the country i have been felt very comforatble and never at risk. Speaking thai seems to help as well as many of the words as similar.

As long as you keep in mind that your in Asia and one of the poorest countries in Asia and act accordingly and not trust everyone i personally think that it would be a great place to Live.

Edited October 8, 2007 by phuketrichard

[technocracy]

ATMs ARE getting more & more plentiful now ! They even have them in the dumps,oups.. border towns like Poipet now,

Acleda bank has branches in ever province, & they just launched a free ATM card for account holders , just check their website, GREAT interest rates also . As for the USD, nothing to do with the bills value, largest bill IS 100,000 Riel, which is a bit shy of a thousand baht. The thing is that Cambo is SEMI-DOLLARISED economy, basically like Bahamas & Bermuda ! The Riel IS there, but mainly used instead of coins, as a fraction of a dollar, & to pay taxes . Most of prices are displayed in USD , unlike in Lao or VN , you just use USD,get your change in USD with cents in Riel 1 USD>> 4,000

Riel . 1.000 Riel>a quarter. SIMPLE

I fully understand the semi-dollarised idea - in Laos it depends on the shop you go in whether it Dollar, Baht or Kip. But my main question is with regards the Bank of Cambodia - surely for them the best thing would be to get everyone using the Riel which then makes it a stronger more viable currency and most importantly there central bank has more control over the economy! As it stands if the banks even give out dollars at ATMs, let alone just being used from day to day, it totally negates any control the bank could have. Any economy is then directly linked to the US.

Bahamas & Bermuda are located just off the shore of the US, being so close to the US they will be directly affected by the US economy - Cambodia however obviously isn't.

Laos now the government are starting to enforce the use of the Kip, so if price is in baht or dollar they must accept the Kip equivalent - cars prices are now being displayed in Kip. Also due to the increase in value to of the Baht the banks have stopped people changing Kip to Baht due to speculators trying to make a quick profit. In my opinion I'd like Lao to enforce a single currency it would cut out a lot of the overpricing (inflated exchange rates) and obviously it would also help the economy.

Vietnam has been pretty successful in getting rid of the dollar in majority - many places won't accept it, even hotels frequently request Dong. It's given Vietnam the kind of stability that now is attracting major MNC investors into the country - something which Lao and Cambodia lack.

[Gnarpjohan]

How about ownership rules for foreigners doing business in Cambodia? Can a foreigner own the majority of a business?

[stevenjm]

As far as I know a foreigner can own all of a business but if you need premises the land will need to be leased for you to build and have legal ownership of the building but not the land or you can purchase in Khmer name or just lease.

[asiaworld]

There's a peculiar bit about land , that may be interesting to a few.. As a foreigner you can register a company to purchase land, you'll hold 49% stake, and need 2 !! Cambodian partners, so none of them holds the majority stake .

That's how some people do it..

[stevenjm]

yeh, thats true. Have also heard that this can also apply to purchase of private land ie. %49 foreigner %51 Khmer but have not had it confirmed.

[Jingthing]

so close to the US they will be directly affected by the US economy - Cambodia however obviously isn't.

Funny, but I do think there is a lot more to it than geography. Ecuador recently was dollarized, not exactly a border country to the US, and Mexico certainly is not dollarized.

[asiaworld]

btw .. does anyone know , what's the national currency in Timor Leste (East Timor) ..

anyone.. well it's still.. USD

[Gnarpjohan]

As far as I know a foreigner can own all of a business but if you need premises the land will need to be leased for you to build and have legal ownership of the building but not the land or you can purchase in Khmer name or just lease.

That's still much better compared to the laws in Thailand where things also keep getting worse in this area. Interesting.

[seonai]

Suntyod do you know Hurley and bronwyn etc at Cantina? Went to the Heart a few times but not my scene.

I stay in a Chinese hotel for $10 - cable TV, hot water and air con... oh and a sign on the door to leave you gun at reception.

lso when I am there I book the same moto driver for the duration at $6 a day. He takes care of me, holds my bag in dodgy markets and waits for me if I go for a drink. I usually buy lunch and dinner for him