Did Cambodia make you or break you after a decade here?

[YaTingPom]

Take a 19yo kid from 1950/60/70/80 and transport him to now and visa versa with a 19yo from now, 2019, to that latter time frame and you’ll see the difference, figuratively speaking.

[v12]

While not living in Cambodia permanently, if you want to have the "Western" luxury, don't come to Cambodia, so to say.

Where Khmers continuously chase after glossy, what they think is up style living and Luxury, if you can't live with the effective dirty environment as well as all things not functioning properly, your life would be hell.

Cockroaches are pets in Cambodia. Accept it, or don't come to Cambodia .....

Of course, if you drown your perception in Alcohol and the like, it doesn't matter. Though, nobody is going to save you, so to say.

[YaTingPom]

While not living in Cambodia permanently, if you want to have the "Western" luxury, don't come to Cambodia, so to say.

Where Khmers continuously chase after glossy, what they think is up style living and Luxury, if you can't live with the effective dirty environment as well as all things not functioning properly, your life would be hell.

Cockroaches are pets in Cambodia. Accept it, or don't come to Cambodia .....

Of course, if you drown your perception in Alcohol and the like, it doesn't matter. Though, nobody is going to save you, so to say.

Explorer, is that you?

[Starving Pelican]

I had already been a bit wild through my teens and twenties before I ever came here. So I had gotten that out of the way more or less. If I had come here when I first considered it in the mid-90s, I would likely be dead now. It's a much safer and more sanitized atmosphere now but could still be a bit dangerous for anyone young and a bit careless. Like anywhere really.

We have similar backstories.

Even my sister knew Fat Matt.

[v12]

Explorer, is that you?

Sure, have a look:

v12
Wibble Wibble ?!?

Posts: 1844
Joined: Sun Jun 11, 2006 8:51 pm

[tarariverboat]

its interesting to reflex back to when i first came here,as a tourist for a few days,i was lucky enough (for me) to land in Siem Reap,and had a few friends living and doing business here already,so they showed me around and exspecially outside the town centre,it reminded me of a small coast town i grew up in in NSW. all my neighbours had 100 arces of farms and i had a huge swamp/lake to build my rafts and hunt and camp out with friends,it was a life of carefree fun,now the place is full of housing and shopping centres so to see Cambodia and the Tonle Sap lake was for me going back 50 years to when i was a young one, that made me want to stay, From then its been great fun,i can spend so much time planning new boats and new tours,exploring the lake and when i retire i prefer to live in a flooded forest,no neigbours to worry about,fishing everyday,and swimming.but i guess i will never retire as my hobby is boats so i am doing it now. so Cambodia for me has been good and quite the adventure.

[horace]

I was was already broken by the time I arrived in Jan 1999 and can honestly say that Cambodia was good to me for the next 18 years.

[chubacca]

I feel this is going to be another meltdown by the wife beater! If anyone knows him, maybe best to isolate him from his missus and kid.............

[billythekid]

I second the opinions of Hanno & Horace, if I may. I have lived in Germany, England, USA and France and together with my wife in France and Hong Kong for a number of years. We arrived as a family of 4 in spring 1999 in Phnom Penh and had/have a good and satisfactory live here, trial period of 9 months first in BKK and afterwords moving to TK.
Our 2 kids grown up here and have gone by now to Australia and Europe. We, the parents, still going strong in TK. Cambodia has been very good to us.

[Felgerkarb]

No complaints.

[the_purple_turtle]

Cambodia has been good to me for 11 years, and took my life in directions that I never would have expected. Its time to start a new chapter somewhere else, but I do feel I leave a better person for my time here. I won't rush back too soon, but will wait a few years before returning to see how and if it fits again.

[Playboy]

I spent a month working on a project in Wales, Caerdydd to be exact.

Now that is a shit hole third world country.

Bunch of bloody bagwyr defaid

[newnewnewbie]

I got this from a FB post, from a leftist loud mouth Ozzie acquaintance. I thought it was well written though,

It’s really sad to see how thoroughly broken London is. It’s like seeing an old friend who has succumbed to decrepitude putting on a brave face.
The roads are crumbling. The infrastructure is failing. The cost of living is skyrocketing. The hard fought gains of liberal society are being eroded and diminished to allow for capitalists to buy at bargain prices. But all around luxury housing developments can be seen, pushing the working class population of the city into the outskirts while the heart of the city is given over to foreign “property bankers”, who park their tax haven money in accommodations that won’t have any occupants in the foreseeable future.
It’s like spending time with a friend who is dying of cancer but is nevertheless going ahead with a facelift. Yet all they talk about is the cancer as if it’s some golden opportunity for rebirth. And by that I mean Brexit. It’s all you hear on the news. A droning reminder that, like the orchestra on the Titanic, there was a desire to maintain normality even though a watery death was upon them.
All I see is imminent collapse, taking with it innocent parties in a final flurry of arrogance and self denial driven by those wishing for a nostalgic Britain of a mythical lost era. I sincerely wish it wasn’t true. But now more than ever it’s clear, that the captain May go down with the ship.
Other than that I had quite a jolly day.

[crazyjohn]

I was old when I arrived in 2006 or 2007, but quite wealthy. I had a great time, spent far too much money but have no regrets. Now I have my Khmers in Australia for 18 months already. The young partner is a wild child but the daughters are thriving. They are beautiful and very self confident and will have a great future in Australia or Cambodia depending on what they want to do. If I had stayed in Australia for that ten years I would have stayed wealthy but been bored as fuck.
I still cherish the friendships I made in Cambodia with barang people and some Khmer people.I may yet return to finish my life in the kingdom provided the kids are looked after in Australia.