Phnom Penh vs Sihanoukville?

finy · Post by **finy** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:11 am

Don't let people on the internet get under your skin

gavinmac · Post by **gavinmac** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:15 am

finy wrote: Do the people who like Pig Pehn think they would choose Bangkok if visa process was the same.

Believe it or not, there were expats in Phnom Penh before Thailand started kicking out all of the bottomfeeders.

finy · Post by **finy** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:21 am

gavinmac wrote:
finy wrote: Do the people who like Pig Pehn think they would choose Bangkok if visa process was the same.

Believe it or not, there were expats in Phnom Penh before Thailand started kicking out all of the bottomfeeders.

I know, I'm pretty sure it was in a movie from a while ago.

Just curious about the charm of the city. I don't mind it when I pass through, but I wouldn't say I would choose to live there full-time. Maybe there are some cool things about it I've not seen.

comfortablynumb · Post by **comfortablynumb** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 11:35 am

Stramash wrote:I've lived in both for extended periods - found wet season worse in SHV than PP to be honest

SHV:

For;

Access to great beaches (not Occhuteal)
Standard of restaurants gone way up in last 2 years
Big improvement in roads
Weather generally a little cooler with breeze off ocean
Access to islands
Cheap rents/food etc

Against;

Regular and extended power cuts
Lot of break ins (esp if your house is in secluded area)
Bag snatches common
Backpackers
Alcoholics
Drug addicts
Police in your face more than anywhere else in Cambodia
Relatively poor medical services
Backpackers (more of them)

PP:

For;

More services/things to do
Power cuts less frequent and many buildings have a generator
Great variety of bars and restaurants (from Cheap Charlie level right through to 5 star cuisine)
Good variety of shopping/groceries
Good pool of expats (well most of them)

Against;

Bloody awful traffic
Bloody awful flooding in wet season
Air pollution
People in jasmine pants (backpackers)
Alcoholics (but still less so than SHV)
Drug addicts (see above)

Overall it depends what YOU want out of life. If you can find a decent house out Otres way and can afford to improve the security on it (CCTV and big dog) and afford a generator for your house, then I'd say Otres is a great choice. There are some good eateries down that way, both on Otres 1 and 2, and town itself is only 15/20 minutes away. Beaches there are good if you want a sedentary lifestyle but prepare to be bored and/or stranded during chunks of wet season - I was once stranded in a bar till 7am cos the rain was too heavy to travel in (what a hardship that was)

But what are you gonna do in Otres? Nothing to do there but drink cheap drugs .
U go crazy there , Phnom phen you have more niche activitys .
Snooky area in general is only really for alcoholics and hardcore party goers defiantly notvfot the faint hearted .

YaTingPom · Post by **YaTingPom** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 12:24 pm

People often talk about "things to do" in PP but they rarely actually do any of them.

the_purple_turtle · Post by **the_purple_turtle** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 12:59 pm

YaTingPom wrote:People often talk about "things to do" in PP but they rarely actually do any of them.

That. I have a list of things to go and do but outside of work and my other commitments i barely get off the sofa.

Jamie_Lambo · Post by **Jamie_Lambo** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 2:27 pm

YaTingPom wrote:People often talk about "things to do" in PP but they rarely actually do any of them.

haha

cptrelentless · Post by **cptrelentless** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:31 pm

comfortablynumb wrote:
Stramash wrote:I've lived in both for extended periods - found wet season worse in SHV than PP to be honest

SHV:

For;

Access to great beaches (not Occhuteal)
Standard of restaurants gone way up in last 2 years
Big improvement in roads
Weather generally a little cooler with breeze off ocean
Access to islands
Cheap rents/food etc

Against;

Regular and extended power cuts
Lot of break ins (esp if your house is in secluded area)
Bag snatches common
Backpackers
Alcoholics
Drug addicts
Police in your face more than anywhere else in Cambodia
Relatively poor medical services
Backpackers (more of them)

PP:

For;

More services/things to do
Power cuts less frequent and many buildings have a generator
Great variety of bars and restaurants (from Cheap Charlie level right through to 5 star cuisine)
Good variety of shopping/groceries
Good pool of expats (well most of them)

Against;

Bloody awful traffic
Bloody awful flooding in wet season
Air pollution
People in jasmine pants (backpackers)
Alcoholics (but still less so than SHV)
Drug addicts (see above)

I've been hearing good things about the new Japanese hospital here in SHV, as opened by his nibs two weeks ago, so maybe medical facilities are not quite as dire as they were. Points being made that it "was very clean" maybe says a lot about the previous care available.

Stramash · Post by **Stramash** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 5:22 pm

cptrelentless wrote:
comfortablynumb wrote:
Stramash wrote:I've lived in both for extended periods - found wet season worse in SHV than PP to be honest

SHV:

For;

Access to great beaches (not Occhuteal)
Standard of restaurants gone way up in last 2 years
Big improvement in roads
Weather generally a little cooler with breeze off ocean
Access to islands
Cheap rents/food etc

Against;

Regular and extended power cuts
Lot of break ins (esp if your house is in secluded area)
Bag snatches common
Backpackers
Alcoholics
Drug addicts
Police in your face more than anywhere else in Cambodia
Relatively poor medical services
Backpackers (more of them)

PP:

For;

More services/things to do
Power cuts less frequent and many buildings have a generator
Great variety of bars and restaurants (from Cheap Charlie level right through to 5 star cuisine)
Good variety of shopping/groceries
Good pool of expats (well most of them)

Against;

Bloody awful traffic
Bloody awful flooding in wet season
Air pollution
People in jasmine pants (backpackers)
Alcoholics (but still less so than SHV)
Drug addicts (see above)

I've been hearing good things about the new Japanese hospital here in SHV, as opened by his nibs two weeks ago, so maybe medical facilities are not quite as dire as they were. Points being made that it "was very clean" maybe says a lot about the previous care available.

Hope so. There were clean clinics before, it was the standard of care that was at fault. You would get the odd good doctor working one/two of them but for the most part it was misdiagnosis central and about squeezing you for as many dollars as possible.

Starving Pelican · Post by **Starving Pelican** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 7:00 pm

brownexile wrote:Phnom Penh was truly horrible. At least the parts of it from the airport to Sihanoukville. Dirtier and poorer than most of India. The countryside after leaving the city was much nicer.

Oh come on, that's nonsense. Nothing in Cambodia can compare to the endless tarpaulin-and-cardboard shanties in India.

ken svay · Post by **ken svay** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 7:07 pm

What did brown exile think of Sihanoukville I wonder? Have the bulldozers moved in yet?

Lostinthisworld · Post by **Lostinthisworld** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 11:27 am

[quote="the_purple_turtle"][quote="YaTingPom"]People often talk about "things to do" in PP but they rarely actually do any of them.[/quote]
That. I have a list of things to go and do but outside of work and my other commitments i barely get off the sofa.[/quote]

Hey, that's similar to me, like..
I don't have a 'bucket list'. But my 'Fuckit list' is a mile long.

Jamie_Lambo · Post by **Jamie_Lambo** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 10:34 pm

ken svay wrote:What did brown exile think of Sihanoukville I wonder? Have the bulldozers moved in yet?

Agincourt is loving it down here, i think hes here to stay

offshoresports · Post by **offshoresports** » Wed Mar 16, 2016 9:01 am

Jamie_Lambo wrote:
ken svay wrote:What did brown exile think of Sihanoukville I wonder? Have the bulldozers moved in yet?
Agincourt is loving it down here, i think hes here to stay

I enjoyed the photos of Prek Treng Beach at the other forum. Thanks

Are you still having issues with electricity down there?