^ cheers. I'm looking for some 'hand-up' (as opposed to 'hand-out') options for a couple of friends that don't require receiving dodgy money. Will ask to pick your brain when we're down in SHV.

American here- We are fat as all hell, for sure. I think England might be a close 2nd too. It was refreshing to hear your comments about how nice Americans were. "Yall" , yes you were in the South for a bit. People are nice in America... fat and nice.

It is sad to see so many people not give a shit about what they eat. It is very easy to get sucked into that fast food diet type of lifestyle if you live and WORK in America. Especially if you work long hours.

Remember, America has *50* states. To compare, England has maybe *3* states, England, Scotland and Ireland. So people from different states can be VERY different.

Californians, Floridians, Hawaiians (but non-Hawaiian) and maybe AZ folks tend to be more health-conscious and fitter, in general. People from the mid-West and the frozen North tend to end up bigger.

Kindly remember that ..,

HotRecruiter wrote:Remember, America has *50* states. To compare, England has maybe *3* states, England, Scotland and Ireland. So people from different states can be VERY different.

Californians, Floridians, Hawaiians (but non-Hawaiian) and maybe AZ folks tend to be more health-conscious and fitter, in general. People from the mid-West and the frozen North tend to end up bigger.

Kindly remember that ..,

England has tons of counties, which are effectively small states. You will find that accents and way of life differ from county to county, although less so these days.

Scotland and Ireland are not part of England. I think you're confusing England with the United Kingdom.

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HotRecruiter wrote:Remember, America has *50* states. To compare, England has maybe *3* states, England, Scotland and Ireland. So people from different states can be VERY different.

Californians, Floridians, Hawaiians (but non-Hawaiian) and maybe AZ folks tend to be more health-conscious and fitter, in general. People from the mid-West and the frozen North tend to end up bigger.

Kindly remember that ..,

Being an American, born and raised in the US, and having lived in several different States, and also having visited all 50 at one point or another, that much I understand, though I don't agree with your assessment of us Midwesterners...or them Floridians...or Californians...

phuketrichard wrote:good on ya LTD; still have not been to Hawaii or Alaska...

I only visited Hawaii for a couple days on a company boondoggle. As for the rest (and Canada) I spent a couple years living out of a tent, driving as much of N America I could see, concentrating mostly on the lower 48, but I managed to make it to Akaska for a couple weeks at one point. Can't say I've been to every Canadian province though.

When I moved from Michigan to Phoenix, Arizona, the amount of fat people decreased dramatically. Now, to be somewhat fair, for lack of a better word, Michigan is cold as fuck 4 months out of the year. If you can't afford a gym membership, you cannot really get exercise. Where as Phoenix, Arizona is always warm and always sunny. People are also more health conscious in the bigger cities.

OrangeDragon wrote: I think there's still LOADS of market opportunity here for growth. Solid agriculture would be a good start... even my wife's family has moved from simple subsistence farming to a much more lucrative and diversified farm producing a significant surplus which they sell. All in just the last 2 years. They're not middle class yet, but certainly working their way in that direction.

Good luck on the endeavor. You were just born yesterday, the ordinary Khmerrs see it long ago. For those who make it, are living in fear losing the plot of lands. I just dont think the spoiled ones gluing their eyes on their touch screen phones will make it.

OrangeDragon wrote:And I think there's a LOT of room in agriculture to make much more efficient use of the land to produce much more valuable crops than what they're doing now.

True. But you are talking in the land where money talks bullshit walks. On the national highways of Cambodia; the rich who owned the land they dont allow the poor to feed their cows and farm to make use of the idle land for years. Simply because it's illegal by Cambodia's law to trespass.

OrangeDragon wrote:As other industries go, it's hard to say honestly. Import/export perhaps... but it's pretty full as it is until the needed volumes increase substantially. Opening factories is an option, but would require a significant start up and the ability to make contacts in that world for contracting it out. I think real estate is a pipe dream at this point with a few people grabbing up as much as they can before the bubble pops... but for a while it was nice. The wife managed a small investment about 5 years ago working at the casino (collective purchase with 4 friends) that recently returned a 1500% profit, but the days of getting land that cheap seem pretty done and I can't see values holding steady at this mostly artificial growth rate.

Real estate? Dragon you dumshit, the Khmers know that long ago even before your arrival to the Kingdom.

If you give up on the "ooohhh, poor us" routine, you'll see there are a LOT of people pulling themselves up instead of sitting around having pity parties about how "the man" is holding them down. sure, some screwed up shit happens now and then, but it's not the norm as you make it out to be. And if the Khmer's have seen it long ago, then why isn't it being done on any kind of scale? A few people here and there... but no one really ramping it up into factory farming style production, which is where the money is at, and where there's still significant room for people to get in and make some serious money.

And there are 2 things wrong with how Cambodians grow beef, and your crying about land owners not letting them trespass is one of them. Stop grazing them on other people's land, and stop exercising them so damn much. Pen them up, give them a LITTLE graze/exercise, and feed them out the rest of the way on cut silage (NOT rice grass... which is nutritionally worthless) and grain. You'll get bigger animals with more tender and flavorful meat that people actually want to buy... and you won't have to cry about big bad landowners not letting you destroy the vegetation on their land with overgrazing (which is how Khmer tend to graze their cattle as well).

As for the real estate... did you not read that I said that I think ship has already sailed and is actually about to sink? for someone western educated and who writes translations your reading comprehension seems to be lacking. Re-read the last sentence and google what a "pipe dream" is. when calling someone a dumbshit, you should probably make sure you understand what they're saying... so you don't sound like a dumbshit.