Living in Cambodia

I have been in Cambodia for almost 2 years, some years ago I lived in Siem Reap for about a year, but now mostly in Phnom Penh.

Life in Cambodia is quite easy, you can do as you wish to a certain extent, there are not too many rules to restrict you here. There are not too many jobs here for westerners, mainly teaching English, this is not my thing but some people arrive and have a job in a few days, it can be easy to find an English teaching job for many people.

As for friends, there are some good people and some not so good, this is the same in most places that have an expat community. I have a handful of good friends here, and some people I stay away from.

The main problem for many people living here is excepting the local ways, many people get fed up with the constant tuk tuk drivers hassling and many other things, it is important not to let things get to you so much. I see some expats here moaning all the time, but still stay. This is the way of many expats in every corner of the globe.

All in all, Cambodia is an easy country to live in, great 12 month visa, no visa runs, many things here cheap, easy to open bank accounts, easy to rent an apartment and the weather is hot.

I prefer Phnom Penh as it has more nightlife and more to do and more people to meet, Siem Reap is greener, less traffic and has a nice feel, but it is quite small and too many tourists for me.

Sihanoukville is even greener than Siem Reap and its nice for walks and sit on the beach, but it can rain some in the rainy season and Sihanoukville can get boring as its still fairly small.

Come to Cambodia and try the difference places to see which one you like, explore and meet the different types of expats: NGO type, English teacher type, long term expat type, ones that are drunk all the time type, decent type, sexpat type, khmer440 judgmental type and all others.

See where you fit in and come and stay, you may love it or come to hate it, but at least you tried.