I suggest, dont burn your bridges. Keep a way open so you can return home if you want to.

I plan to live in Australia, and have long holidays in Cambodia.

Bitte_Kein_Lexus wrote:As mentioned, take a month or two to explore the country a bit. Probably best to stay in a well-known area first until you get to know a bit about the people, culture, language etc. That most likely means Phnom Penh, Battambang, Kampot or Kompong Cham. A few diehards still enjoy Sihanoukville. The other towns are worth a visit, but it's rather unlikely you'd like to live there full-time unless you like a really slow pace and just want to read books all day.

Or you could actually work in your rural environment, albeit reading is a worthy use of time.

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What about just living in a rural area in America? Might sound odd at first, but some of my friends abandoned the city and went to remote towns in the South and have never been happier, so they tell me.

I just suggest this because you're probably going to be in for some extreme culture shock going to rural Cambodia, once you make it your home. Traveling and seeing it is one thing, planning to live is another thing altogether. A lot of people I've met freaked out after the vacation euphoria faded, just saying.

Since you have not been here before, if you live in Cambodia, you have to get used to dealing with a lot of stupidity. There are too many things to list them all. Here are a few examples.

In some places the water goes off at times. If you want to have a shower you have to wait until the water comes back on.

The food may make you sick if you eat it. Some people die of food poisoning. Markets and restaurants have rats, cockroaches and flies living in them.

The roads are full of dangerous drivers. The road deaths here are ridiculous. You could be next.

If someone else does something stupid on the road and causes you to be involved in an accident, it will be your fault, and you will have to pay their hospital bill, and repair bill, at an inflated price. It is always the foreigners fault.

You cant tell them. You try to tell them they should kill the rats in the restaurant, or drive carefully, you are the one with the problem, not them. You are in their country. You cant change it. You just have to learn to live with the stupidity, or leave. You will probably eventually get fed up with it.

If you live here, you will see a thousand more examples.

This holds all the answers:

http://www.brainjar.com/dhtml/ouija/

Lots of posts on the forum this last year or so from people who say they are planning to come and live in Cambodia. A lot of retired westerners from the US and the UK, or younger people wanting to live an exotic life, raise a family, and teach English. Many of them have never been to Cambodia or SEA even. Some don't seem to have traveled out of their own countries at all apart from holidays. Some of them even want to go and live in Sihanoukville. (Yes, believe me, there are some.)

So, I have a question (or three) for the OP (or anyone else) - why out of all the countries in the world would you choose Cambodia, if you have never been here and have no connections here?
And, have you changed your mind about moving to Cambodia since you read this forum ? Are you surprised by the answers here ?

Personally, I don't think Cambodia is a great place when you are old, unless you have enough money that you would also be comfortable in your own country. If you are poor at home, then you will probably be poor in Cambodia. There is no public health service to speak of, and private care is expensive. I know we (the posters here) all sound quite negative, but even if life in Cambodia is changing fast and becoming more expensive, it is not a poor man's Thailand. It is still a very undeveloped country once you move out of the main centres - all four of them - PP, SR, BB and Kampot. And plenty of things in Cambodia become more difficult as you get older. It's not a country for sick people, and it's super-hard to get around if you are at all handicapped. There's more, but I think you get the drift. (See explorer's posts ) Other posters have already pointed out elsewhere the problems for people moving here with kids.

What I wanted to know is - why do people who have never been here think that it's a great place to retire, or even a great place to bring up kids ? I'm curious about people's motives for choosing to move/retire to Cambodia. Not saying that it's not a great place to live, but it's not the easiest place to move to if you have no experience of living abroad. So, why here and not elsewhere ?

explorer wrote: ↑Tue Jun 18, 2019 7:20 pm I suggest, dont burn your bridges. Keep a way open so you can return home if you want to.

I plan to live in Australia, and have long holidays in Cambodia.

And if those bridges are burnt after time what would the options be if any? There are the unknown factors that may hinder some of the best laid plans, examples such have been mentioned, traffic accident or any other type of mishap, illness, girl and booze, and keep well away from drugs or that for that matter don't do anything unlawful, and it seems now it's better to stay away from Nigerians.

Angkor Moy quoted - There is no public health service to speak of, and private care is expensive. That is no joke! I needed a operation and was refused even though it was agreed prior, and I had the funds. It maybe another hospital would have done the deed or even a neighbouring country. Also over the few years of being here I have seen three of my friends die here too from illness.

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Wed Jun 19, 2019 1:58 am What I wanted to know is - why do people who have never been here think that it's a great place to retire, or even a great place to bring up kids ? I'm curious about people's motives for choosing to move/retire to Cambodia. Not saying that it's not a great place to live, but it's not the easiest place to move to if you have no experience of living abroad. So, why here and not elsewhere ?

I'm only guessing on this, as my original impression was that while living here I'd have to fetch my water from a bucket and cook my food with firewood I cut myself, all while being surrounded by starving kids with mud covered faces...I know it's sad how naive I was, but that's what living in the center of a heavily religious area does for you that peddles poverty porn at every instance possible...

...but anyway, I'm guessing people think of Cambodia as some ideal destination, is because the very few videos I've seen from travel vloggers, misc advertisements and dare I say porn sites and dark web forums (not this one, I mean others out there), are what I think attracts people.

People like to exaggerate the attention getting things (meaning the things that appeal to the sense in a "good" way), and avoid the negative, especially on views driven platforms like most of social media is today. So what you hear of is cheap commodities, easy visas and other easy hookups. That attracts people who are poor in their own countries for whatever reason, "unsuccessful" whether it be in career or with relationships, or people who don't particularly like the law of the land who might be criminals or just tired of hyper regulation, it's a diverse crowd. Others of course come here for religious purposes or business, but I think it's safe to say that the "audience" for Cambodia is largely those who are severely discontent with life at home, whatever the cause may be.

But that rosy picture painted by the internet travel douche crowd negates a lot of things that constitute reality, and that part of reality is vitally important, especially when those that get here begin to slowly realize how good they had it at home, and how much they've taken for granted.

So I think it's this omission of negative aspects and only focusing on the positives (for views and attention purposes, at least for social media or vloggers), that then makes anywhere look like a step up from any discontent viewer may be living, so people leave much nicer countries in hopes of finding a paradise and are often sorely disappointed when they try and stick it out.

Just my guess.

I don't plan to burn any bridges. I have spent hours online looking at other countries. I want to live someplace other than the US. Most countries are either A way to expensive or B way to hard to move to or C both. I don't expect to live like a king but I figure I can live as well or even a bit better than I do here in the states.

I have been to a few other countries Germany and Holland in the army, Mexico, Canada and The Bahamas on my own. I am a pretty simple person. I am 56 now and I figure I have one more last great adventure in me.I am well aware that there will be a culture shock and issues unforeseen. But, I have always wanted to see the jungles, I have always wanted to go to that part of the world. I like bird watching. I like fishing. I love snakes. A lifelong dream has been to see a King Cobra in the wild.

I am glad that several folks have posted what some of the negatives can and will be. I know there WILL be negatives. I don't know what they all will be but I know they are there. Language comes instantly to mind and I am starting to work on learning at least some very basic Khmer. I am not looking for girls nor boys if anyone wonders, so that isn't an issue. As much as possible I want to find a balance between living like a native and a more modern life. I plan to have very few possessions. Clothes, a phone and maybe a laptop. I want to be able to travel lightly. I am not planning on vlogging or posting videos about how great Cambodia is, or isn't for that matter. I have zero interest in bars. I don't drink, don't like loud places and again am not trying to pick up women.

I have my disability as income, it isn't much about 1300 a month, and when I turn 60 in 4 years I will start drawing my retirement from the state of GA, probably won't be much but will at least be a boost. The disability is for bipolar and depression not anything physical. Another thing I want to do is a more typical tourist thing I guess, I want to explore the ancient Wats. I have long wanted to see Angor Wat.

So, I realize I am jumping into the deep end with the move. But for me, it is as close to being an explorer ala the 18th century as is possible to be. So I am doing this partly spontaneously, and partly planned out. Thats why I have sought out resources like this to try and gain further insights. I do admit that reading various posts in the different forums that the amount of snark seems discouraging. But I suppose that is human nature. OH, and I am hoping to manage not having to work at all. If it comes down to having to work I am really hoping a part time job will suffice. I really don't want to work unless I absolutely have to.