I wish I had never asked now

Hotdigr wrote:It amuses me a little that this question gets asked so frequently. Only YOU can answer the question. Come over and spend a bit of time here in different places and see which place, if any suits you. Its not like you have to spend a fortune in travel and visa's to come here for a month and check it out. You can get a bus from Bangkok or Pattaya to PP or S/ville for just over 20 bucks and a 1 month visa for 30. If you can't afford that, then I think all of us who live here would agree that you just stay the fuk where you are!

It's horses for courses. Hanno loves Siem Reap and is happy there. I love Sihanoukville and am happy here. Various other poster love Phnom Penh and are happy there. fuk alone knows why though? (Just joshin' boys!)
No different from people who love Melbourne and hate Sydney. Or I would imagine love L.A and hate New York, London/Manchester etc,etc.
Don't ask other people to answer your personal questions, DISCOVER the answer for yourself. The world is your oyster, don't ask someone else to shuck it for you

This

Username Taken wrote:
Hotdigr, you're getting a little too personal here. Give it a rest.

Cheers.

Fair enough mate.

Hotdigr wrote:

phuketrichard wrote:
For Thailand u picked all the places ( except Chiang Rai & Koh Lanta ) i would never consider living. way to many backpackers, cheap charlies, Chinese
IF and thats a big if, i didn't love the sea, i would be up in Chaing Rai/Fang area.

Phuket,one of the worlds biggest shitholes. Phuket - home of the ladyboy,the jetski scam, the WORST Tuk tuk mafia in the world, jewelry scammers, scopalmine dancers, the 2nd floor gogo mafia et al.

agree, Phuket is the worst place ive ever been in Thailand, i dont know how anyone can live there, i stayed in Phuket Town and visited most of the surrounding areas/beaches

Chiang Rai is a lovely town though and definitely livable, has one of my favourite night markets (the big one on a saturday)

Chiang Rai is nice - I went there the other weekend. I'm not sure I'd want to live there - it's a bit under-developed for my tastes but it is liveable and for those who find Chiang Mai too developed; it's a much cheaper alternative (though Chiang Mai is cheap too).

Hotdigr wrote:

Hotdigr wrote:
It's horses for courses. Hanno loves Siem Reap and is happy there. I love Sihanoukville and am happy here. Various other poster love Phnom Penh and are happy there. fuk alone knows why though? (Just joshin' boys!).

EDIT -
And Richard hates anywhere that he isn't comfortable in and doesn't like. That seems to be All of Cambodia, bar Kep, and most of Thailand by the looks of his last post.


Edited to take out immature name calling by me.

Dont hate anywhere, but i do prefer places i am comfortable with and love it that way.
PS i love to travel , just did much of southern Myanmar and only one city did not care for.

but ur way off , many places i like in Cambodia, SR, Ratanakiri, Kep, The islands, ( PP for a few days) just would not choose to live there
as to Thailand hundreds of cities & towns and have no desire to name them all

Phuket,one of the worlds biggest shitholes. Phuket - home of the ladyboy,the jetski scam, the WORST Tuk tuk mafia in the world, jewelry scammers, scopalmine dancers, the 2nd floor gogo mafia et al.

A good description of PATONG , which btw, is a very very small part of Phuket an where i do not live
Jamie;, doubt u saw most of phuket
There are whole parts of phuket, beaches included, that most tourists never see.


HotDigger ur an ass, i have never ONCE ( except just now) said anything about you, but u constantly attack me, U have ur opinions , i have mine, but no reason to get personal
give it a rest

ok;
lets take this to just the facts and not get personal,

Phuket; positive
Beautiful beaches, world class resorts, Western hospitals, Good quality international schools, International airport, High class varied shopping, Great food, ( both thai and western) All sorts of activities both land and water based, Clubs, bars,( both thai an western) well balanced international community, Movie theaters, Friendly locals ( yes those that are from here are friendly), western style supermarkets, accommodations from $150/month to $5,000/month, Phuket town , (which is going thru a change to preserve its old shops/homes), festivals, affordable if you live here and know where to go

Negative; Taxi/tuk tuk mafia, Terrible local bus system, Jet ski scams ( not often but and who uses jet skis anyway???), tailors in Patong, Karon, Kata that seem to hassle you, not the cheapest place to be in Thailand if you dont know where to go, Katoeys? the tourist love watching them on soi bangla an they are MUCH worse/aggressive in Pattaya

Shinoukvile; Positive
Good selection of cheap affordable housing, cheap western/local food, cheap drinking, ganga easily available, casinos, some nice beaches, ( victory, Independence, Otres), great islands off shore, some friendly locals, small , except for the below easy going

Negative; Police constantly hassle you on the main road, bad roads, terrible medical care, lots of small time thefts/ robberies, beggars, parts very dirty, Westerners seem to die younger there than elsewhere, rip off motos/tuk tuks, no local bus system, poor selection of housing above $300 /month, end of the line girls in bars

OK; add to this an keep it on the facts

phuketrichard wrote:ok;
lets take this to just the facts and not get personal,

Phuket; positive
Beautiful beaches, world class resorts, Western hospitals, Good quality international schools, International airport, High class varied shopping, Great food, ( both thai and western) All sorts of activities both land and water based, Clubs, bars,( both thai an western) well balanced international community, Movie theaters, Friendly locals ( yes those that are from here are friendly), western style supermarkets, accommodations from $150/month to $5,000/month, Phuket town , (which is going thru a change to preserve its old shops/homes), festivals, affordable if you live here and know where to go

Negative; Taxi/tuk tuk mafia, Terrible local bus system, Jet ski scams ( not often but and who uses jet skis anyway???), tailors in Patong, Karon, Kata that seem to hassle you, not the cheapest place to be in Thailand if you dont know where to go, Katoeys? the tourist love watching them on soi bangla an they are MUCH worse/aggressive in Pattaya

Shinoukvile; Positive
Good selection of cheap affordable housing, cheap western/local food, cheap drinking, ganga easily available, casinos, some nice beaches, ( victory, Independence, Otres), great islands off shore, some friendly locals, small , except for the below easy going

Negative; Police constantly hassle you on the main road, bad roads, terrible medical care, lots of small time thefts/ robberies, beggars, parts very dirty, Westerners seem to die younger there than elsewhere, rip off motos/tuk tuks, no local bus system, poor selection of housing above $300 /month, end of the line girls in bars

OK; add to this an keep it on the facts

tbh thats a pretty fair view mate

I don't know Phuket, so I'll use PR's comparison here on the negative points:

phuketrichard wrote:ok;
lets take this to just the facts and not get personal,

Phuket:
Negative; Taxi/tuk tuk mafia, Terrible local bus system, Jet ski scams ( not often but and who uses jet skis anyway???), tailors in Patong, Karon, Kata that seem to hassle you, not the cheapest place to be in Thailand if you dont know where to go, Katoeys? the tourist love watching them on soi bangla an they are MUCH worse/aggressive in Pattaya

Shinoukvile;
Negative; Police constantly hassle you on the main road, bad roads, terrible medical care, lots of small time thefts/ robberies, beggars, parts very dirty, Westerners seem to die younger there than elsewhere, rip off motos/tuk tuks, no local bus system, poor selection of housing above $300 /month, end of the line girls in bars
OK; add to this an keep it on the facts

[/quote]

Seems to me that both places have bad or non-existant public transport and tuktuk ripoffs, so not much difference between the two. (As I said, I'm going by what's posted here.) Jetski scams are probably the same also - anyway, I would ban all jetskis if I was mayor/governor/god. So 1-1 for all that.
For the rest:
- cost of living and leisure expenses : Phuket expensive- SV cheap 0-1
-ladyboys : Phuket, agressive and annoying- SV, no problem, who cares anyway 0-1
-police : 1-0 I'll take your word for it that Thai cops never stop cars with Cambodian plates
COL, ladyboys and police : 2-1 for SV.

For the rest: Phuket is in Thailand, which is not at all like its neighbour Cambodia: infrastructure, medical care, shopping malls, airports, variety of food and entertainment, and generally things that actually work (like electricity), can probably be considered as Thailand/Phuket strong points. Definitely, more choices for westerners. 1-0

However, Sihanoukville has a certain charm that you won't find in Phuket. It's still in construction stage, and is very much a small town as opposed to a city; traffic is low, life is laidback, living is cheap and most people are nice. But it is extremely SMALL town. So depends what you want and how you like to live. (See the sihanoukville vs Shitsville thread here : https://cambodiaexpatsonline.com/the-roa ... t7143.html )
So, my conclusion is that you have more in Phuket, but you pay for it. Not just money, but the hassles of modern living. IMO if you can choose where you want to live, then you're rich. The points don't really matter.

There is also the Siem Reap option, where everyone seems to be happy, no crime and corruption apparently. They have culture, cheese and everything is cool. Right guys ?

plakapong wrote:Thanks for all the replies chaps all very much appreciated, I'll delve deeper into your forum for more answers.
As to comparing housing costs, I pay 8k bt a month for a 2 bed bungalow, running costs are neglible but I am on the outskirts of Pattaya (well spotted). The city is a nightmare these days for expats, completely gridlocked at weekends, holidays of which there are too many and high season when it kicks in.

Snooky was just an idea, I have a friend who owns a resort there which is why I mentioned it. Any other suggestions would be welcome but I guess to really make my mind up I will have to visit, the point of this exercise was to gather more info rather than relying on what I hear from sexpats.
Cheers

I can relate to your situation. I fancied giving Cambodia a shot for a year due to a combination of jadedness with Pattaya and the development/success in the last 10 years, but also to see whether I was missing out on something for the long term. I'd only ever been to Phnom Penh and only for a week at a time albeit for the last probably 10-15 years. I spent about 6 months in SHV on a couple of visits, 4 months in SR, a couple of weeks in Battambang and as usual some time in between in Phnom Penh. I found each place distinctly different. I was always told that Sihanoukville was like what Pattaya was like 20 years ago, well that's a load of shite for a start. I like the fact that Cambodia's completely different to Thailand and it's why I keep visiting, if I could get the same up the road why would I bother coming. I found Siem Reap hard work expat wise because I felt there is a combination of expats trying to westernise the place either for commercial gain or personal comfort, or those that need to inflict their short term need for charitable endeavour on the local populace. I made an effort to socialise but I found it a bit cliquey and not really my scene, Sihanoukville is probably more my kind of friendly laid back expat scene, people just doing their own thing with nothing to prove and I enjoyed it. I didn't feel particularly safe at night and the stories that get reported more or less confirmed its a place I wouldn't feel comfortable living long term. Which brings me to Phnom Penh, I've had great times and memories over the years, to me it's a small city. I find it very easy to socialise there but unless I had a job I think I'd go mad after about 3 months. It doesn't surprise me that people self destruct on a regular basis. What do people do in Phnom Penh if they don't work ?

What I'm trying to get at is that in many ways it's not just the place that's solely important but the people that you are able to build up friendships with, and I realised that after a year of travelling I was fortunate to have the network that I have at home, and I just needed to alter my routine to cope with the stresses of living in modern day Pattaya. The other thing I realised is I haven't done enough travelling around the country because I've become lazy, so is rural Thailand really that different from rural Cambodia.

Go for it and see how you find it, but honestly I wouldn't be using political instability as a reason. Just my personal thoughts.