Post
by vladimir » Fri Jul 19, 2019 5:18 am
I was sick of the visa/work permit hassles in Thailand and came here over 15 years ago.
My Polish friend Martin had warned me about Poipet the Toilet, but it was still a shock. Dogshit at the entrance, begging kids, filthy. And that was the immigration office. Bus broke down, ferried in the back of a pickup truck in the rain to SR, nice room in guesthouse, $2. Arrived at Central Market the next day and was pleasantly surprised at the level of English some motos had. Stayed at the lakeside, got a job the next day and the school/university let me move into the place, it was a hotel prior to them renting it. It was months before I found Walkabout, made friends with Paul Guymon, introduced Tony to Freebird (he soon married Paul's sister in law),, ate a snake at Tony's Bar, saw an English guy eat a plastic digital watch at Walkabout, helped Glen throw out some Israeli/Eurotrash at Walkabout after some drunk cow attacked me and broke my glasses, introduced Mike to my sister in law (now married, 3 or 4 kids). Walkabout freelancer price in those days was $5-$10. Mol was a cool guy, remember the shooting. Met Jim and Felger at the bar, got to know big Mike, the Irish American guy. The road behind the French Embassy to TK was rough, old style houses, druggies and pros, often roadblocks at night, for guns, I think. Asked for an extra $5 at the border for a visa at Bavet, immigration just told me straight out for beer, missed the bus back because I bought a bottle of whisky and shared it with them. They organised a taxi back to PP, shared with 3 hot filipinas working at the casino, to my front door $10 for the whole trip. First time i renewed my visa gave it to my motodop, no photos or forms required, just the fee, back the next day, no problems. No WP in those days.Traffic was always crazy but much lighter then. Road out to Northbridge was bad in those days. Moto from St 222 near Pencil to TK was 2000 riel. Rent for one bed furnished, TV and aircon, $55.Work was easy to find, employers treated you well as replacements were not easy to find. very few western women around, few Saffas, only Paddy at the gym that I knew of. Nothing across the river, only the pagoda before Sokha hotel was there. Tallest building for many years was Intercontinental. Aeon didn't exist, just a wasteland there. No Superduper, few minimarts.
Still haven't been to Sharky's after all these years.
ירי ילדים והפצצת אזרחים דורש אומץ, כמו גם הטרדה מינית של עובדי ההוראה.