So, I live in Cambodia and am finding it next to impossible to get money transferred into the country. I can't use PayPal here. All the banks require the use of an intermediary bank (which my clients' banks don't like using).

So it would be ideal to come to Thailand and open a bank account and marry it to a PayPal account... so where do I go and what do I need to do? I will put 150K Baht down as an initial deposit and expect about 200-300K Baht coming in an ordinary month...

All advice welcome. Apart from "it can't be done" because I know it can...

It definitely can be done.

My Thai PayPal account is linked to my Bangkok Bank Be1st account and my Citi (Thailand) credit card.

Transferred from where?

If from the US, then fairly straightforward method without PayPal.

Open a Bangkok Bank account ( there is a branch in Phnom Penh but I don't know if you can open a new account there or if it has to be opened at a branch in Thailand). Once opened, you can transfer funds from your bank in the US to the Bangkok Bank branch in NYC, and it will show up in your account here in a couple of days. You can then access it through the BB branch in Phnom Penh, or through any ATM.

You don't need to use PayPal with this method and thus will avoid imposition of PayPal's rather stingy exchange rate.

If you do indeed require Paypal use, then you need to open the Bangkok Bank account, AND a Paypal Thailand account using an email address different from that of your US PayPal account, and then link the two accounts.