Hi all. New to the forum. Thanks in advance for the help.
Our family might be moving to Siem Reap next Summer from Canada. I have a few questions. I've found tons of useful information online but still have questions.
- I have 3 kids ages 6-10. Should we be looking at a house instead of apartment / flat? I read about certain "commune" areas. What exactly is a commune in Cambodia. In my mind I think of a gated community area?
- any personal experience with international schools would be helpful
- my oldest child has a peanut allergy. I know Asia in general is bad for peanuts but how prevalent is it really, especially in the siem reap area when eating out? We love street food and local restaurants instead of overly westernized tourist places.

I wil just start with those for now
Thanks

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How bad is the peanut allergy? Does your child need immediate hospitalization when eating those?

If yes, I would give the whole plan second thoughts given the state of healthcare in Cambodia.

Kammekor wrote: ↑Sun Sep 24, 2017 12:46 am How bad is the peanut allergy? Does your child need immediate hospitalization when eating those?

If yes, I would give the whole plan second thoughts given the state of healthcare in Cambodia.

^^This. If the peanut allergy is severe, I would call off the move. If it is mild then it should be fine as long as you are careful where you eat out because PB&J is not exactly common in lunch rooms in Khmer schools.

kptic wrote:

Kammekor wrote: ↑Sun Sep 24, 2017 12:46 am How bad is the peanut allergy? Does your child need immediate hospitalization when eating those?

If yes, I would give the whole plan second thoughts given the state of healthcare in Cambodia.

^^This. If the peanut allergy is severe, I would call off the move. If it is mild then it should be fine as long as you are careful where you eat out because PB&J is not exactly common in lunch rooms in Khmer schools.

I guess how bad depends on compared to whom. His allergy is only by direct consumption, as in if he eats something that has peanuts in it. If people around him are eating it then it's fine. We have yet to need to use the epipen on him in 10 years that we have known of the allergy.
He has only accidentally been exposed to peanuts twice and both times allergy meds alone did the job.
The thing with allergies that they call anaphalactic is that you only know 100% how you will react if you actually expose yourself to it. Until then it is a best guess scenario based on his skin tests.
I hope that helps to explain his situation more.
I have a friend who would react if she walked into a room where peanuts were cooked. He's nowhere close to that. But doctors make him carry epipen becuse his allergy tests showed that he is allergic. So he is bad but not off the charts bad.

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John Bingham wrote:

A commune is just an administrative subdivision. The country is divided into provinces, districts and communes, a commune is made up of 3 or more villages. There are plenty of gated communities (Boreys) too but these will be within a commune.

Thanks. That explained when I looked for certain named communed in google maps it showed an area. I was expecting like an actual place.

Is there an area that is more "family friendly". I know that is vague lol. I mean I don't plan to come to Cambodia to lock myself up in an area with only expats. If that is the case I might as well stay here. But I also want to know that my kids are safe of we are out as they don't speak Khmer. A place where they might make friends with other kids. I don't imagine that living right in the heart of Pub Street area makes sense haha.

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There are no gated communities per se. Obviously, Pub Street is not an option and I would avoid the Sok San area as well.

I live in a house (three kids) near Wat Polanka. I do not think that there are areas with more kids than others. More and more options for kids these days, including a water park that just opened. My kids go to a local international school which is fine for kids up to Standard 7. It gets a little bit harder after that.

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Sun Sep 24, 2017 9:20 am4.health cares sucks but thailand is right across the border.

Not really true anymore, when was the last time you were in SR?