British couple living in Cambodia



I stumbled upon this interesting video on youtube. It is really good to hear and understand the life of foreigner living in Cambodia. I have talked to many expats and foreign friends about their stories and experiences of life living in Cambodia. I have heard so many stories and experiences which are varied from each other. As usual people see their lives differently no matter where they live. I believe that there are people on this forum who see their lives like this couple and some don't. Some might agree with and some might not agree with what they mentioned in this video. I could see so many potential controversies and debates that could be stemmed from what this couple raised in this video, for instance, do you see yourself as expat or immigrant, gossiping and more.

Therefore:

How do you actually see your life living in Cambodia?

Mrs S and I see ourselves as being the "better than television" freak show to our Khmer neighbours. We quickly got used to the fact that as much as we like to people-watch in countries other than our own, Cambodians find us entertaining just because we're foreign, and therefore weird.

Our Australian cat is worth hours of discussion, even when he's not visible. As an eight-kilo Burmese our Khmer neighbours don't believe he's a domestic cat, and we allow them to think he's a clar, a tiger, or at least part wild-cat. They're terrified of him, and if that helps keep him safe, then good. Our Cambodian dog is entertainment just because he's ours. They're a little disappointed that he's Cambodian, but once they see his level of devotion and training (he sits, drops, hi-5's, shakes, waves, waits for permission to eat biscuits that are placed on his paws, etc) they wander off and try to get their own street mongrels to do the same - and are disappointed.

That we drive our own tuktuks and don't have a car of any sort is still beyond belief. A neighbour climbed in the back as we were pulling out one day and "asked" to be dropped off on the main street - some sort of test to see how we'd react, and obviously lots of fun. The tuktuk drivers around us treat us like family (I know, we're not, but the level of acceptance is very high) and love it when Mrs S uses one of their tuktuks for outings. The boys on the corner always share a word and a smile with me as I'm driving in or out - I'm sure there's the odd snigger behind my back, but you get that anywhere.

Our bonlai bong-srey loves to teach us the names of vegetables, and will patiently repeat the bill in Khmer as we unravel the mysteries of puans and muans. Another girl in the market has taken us under wing and quietly tells us the 'real price' of things, often going off to buy on our behalf if she thinks we'll be ripped off. The girl we buy nuts and rice from makes a point of selling me dried mango while screeching backpackers complain that she's charging them twice the price - she happily tells them, "He lives here. You not." That crazy old Viet-Khmer cobbler at the five-way near Phnom Penh Sports Club often blocks the road and demands a dollar, not hiding the fact that he heads straight to the nearest game to gamble it away on the very rare occasion we give him one. The amputees at the market gather around us clucking so much we call them our "little ducks" - they come for 'small money', but mostly because they're not invisible to us.

The kids (well, young adults) I teach are passionate and earnest about learning, forcing themselves to learn the stupidly difficult tongue twisters I give them as extra-curricular learning. I climb three sets of steel rungs to teach them in a sweat box with a worn-out whiteboard, in a room in which the company cats have usually pissed and shat on the floor and no-one has yet had a chance to clean it. But as they struggle to understand the subtle differences between "produce" and "provide" I can't help but be impressed. Human beings that not only know about Paris, but have the empathy to care about lives lost in the most recent stupidity.

Oh, sorry, I got to writing a blog piece... what was the question?

Dude in the video is wasted! Haha...living the dream, good on them.

Interesting they say they bought the land though...I wonder if they actually realise foreigners can't legally own land?

I truly loved living in Cambodia. It was an awesome ride. I like living in Thailand now but... it's not the same. If the banking was better in Cambodia - I'd move back in a heartbeat.

What was your issue with the banking here?

Transferring large, random sums of money into the country. It's both expensive and obscenely difficult. If Cambodia had PayPal... that would have been an effective workaround for me but it doesn't. My costs of transfer without direct bank transfer (no intermediaries accepted by my clients) and without PayPal were working out to be around 10% of my monthly take... (including several currency conversions) - which was too much. Here in Thailand it's costing me $12 a transfer and about 0.1% on top.

TheGrinchSR wrote:Transferring large, random sums of money into the country. It's both expensive and obscenely difficult. If Cambodia had PayPal... that would have been an effective workaround for me but it doesn't. My costs of transfer without direct bank transfer (no intermediaries accepted by my clients) and without PayPal were working out to be around 10% of my monthly take... (including several currency conversions) - which was too much. Here in Thailand it's costing me $12 a transfer and about 0.1% on top.

i do all my banking thru my US accounts, money goes in, money goes out, matters not that i Live here in Thailand.

PSD-Kiwi wrote:Dude in the video is wasted! Haha...living the dream, good on them.

Interesting they say they bought the land though...I wonder if they actually realise foreigners can't legally own land?

I noticed that too. First i thought that they seem to really know much about Cambodia. Then, they said they bought the land and built their own house and i am like, really, foreigner can buy land with their name. Maybe, they used someone else name to buy it.

TheGrinchSR wrote:I truly loved living in Cambodia. It was an awesome ride. I like living in Thailand now but... it's not the same. If the banking was better in Cambodia - I'd move back in a heartbeat.

I can't tell about Thailand as i have never been to Thailand. However, i always thought that living in Thailand is much better than Cambodia in so many reasons.

Samouth wrote:

TheGrinchSR wrote:I truly loved living in Cambodia. It was an awesome ride. I like living in Thailand now but... it's not the same. If the banking was better in Cambodia - I'd move back in a heartbeat.

I can't tell about Thailand as i have never been to Thailand. However, i always thought that living in Thailand is much better than Cambodia in so many reasons.

it is

and my khmer gf agrees.