A positive view ...



The air is cleaner than in western countries!

newkidontheblock wrote: ↑Sat Jun 22, 2019 6:36 am A positive view ...



The air is cleaner than in western countries!

OK. Realism again... that’s a measurement @ 6 am After a night of rain....

I kept track of polution in PP And where I live the last year And PP is as bad as Bangkok. Where I live in the boonies pollution gets pretty bad at the end of the dry season, I guess mainly Because of farmers burning large areas.

hdgh29 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 11:12 pm Well I guess nothing is like it was in the old days, which would apply to anywhere, but obviously it must still be pretty good for expats to stay there and to continue to retire there in numbers. Although I have been a bit confused by some of the replies to my OP, seems to be some long term expats who think the city is a corrupt expensive dump. Makes me wonder why they stay....on the run? Hiding out? Maybe the cheap sex? Or maybe they would find something to complain about wherever they lived. Combination of all of those?

Aren’t you mixing up Cambodia with Phnom Penh? I don’t like Phnom Penh, And don’t Want to live there, But I do live in Cambodia.

I also love living in Phnom Penh, it’s easy and affordable and the live music scene is fabulous.

John Bingham wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 9:02 am

I often read through these forums, and usually its a depressing tale of crime, drunkenness, muggings, sh*thole bar areas, pedophilia, boredom and lonely expat deaths and suicides.

Sure, but those are the sort of things discussed in news anywhere in the world. When was the last time you saw a headline like "Everything Was Just Dandy Today, Absolutely No Problems"?

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 7:54 am
you can visit the park and library on ur way back as well.

Have you ever even been in a library?

There's a lot of pessimism on this site, but a lot of the posters don't actually live here and are still stuck in that mentality of comparing everything with how their home country is. They wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes here in the 90s.

Sir, I will have you know that I compare everything with how my home country is and I lasted 15 minutes there in the 90s. Now I am in my 90s!

In a way I agree with posters who say you have to live there for a while to know what it's like. Makes complete sense, and sure for folks who have come from a developed economy into a 'developing ' one will be in for a culture shock. I remember my first time in Hanoi in 97, straight from NZ....I was in a hotel in the old quarter and stepping into the street I wondered what the hell I was doing there! I doubt if PP is worse than Yangon...now that is one shithole city, I was there on a 6 month consultancy and could not wait to leave to get to back to 'civilization' in Vietnam.

hdgh29 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 22, 2019 8:49 am In a way I agree with posters who say you have to live there for a while to know what it's like. Makes complete sense, and sure for folks who have come from a developed economy into a 'developing ' one will be in for a culture shock. I remember my first time in Hanoi in 97, straight from NZ....I was in a hotel in the old quarter and stepping into the street I wondered what the hell I was doing there! I doubt if PP is worse than Yangon...now that is one shithole city, I was there on a 6 month consultancy and could not wait to leave to get to back to 'civilization' in Vietnam.

what makes Yangon a shit hole> Just cause there are no bars, no available women, little in the way of western food, More like SE asia than New York?
Is that what you refer to as "civilization" ?

I have always enjoyed my trips thru Yangon and Burma an find it refreshing to be in a country that does not cater for the westerner.

I also cant recall ever experiencing "culture shock" and have been traveling a while since the late 60's in some out of the way countries. into not just developing countries but NON developed ones as well.
I guess its cause I leave home and not expect where i am going, to be like home..

hdgh29 wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 7:18 am I often read through these forums, and usually its a depressing tale of crime, drunkenness, muggings, sh*thole bar areas, pedophilia, boredom and lonely expat deaths and suicides. I am sure there is plenty of this in PP, the same as any large city in the world - first world or third world. I come from Auckland NZ and can show you parts of that city that would match PP for poverty, crime and hopelessness. But I have visited Cambo on a few occasions, I have friends with families there, and I plan to retire in PP eventually, and all up I find its a pleasant city with good facilities, not Western standard but getting there. The local people are friendly and helpful to foreigners, the laws are fairly relaxed and can be relaxed even further with small donations (try getting out of a parking ticket in London with the offer of a fiver and you know what I mean), living is cheap compared to just about any other city in the world, the weather is either hot and dry or hot and wet so at least its predictable, and for a lonely single expat the hostess bars can provide somewhere for a cheap beer and a chat with a pretty girl for a few bucks. So whats the point of this post? Only that PP is like any place on earth - its as good or as bad as you want it to be or you make it to be. Just saying.

Your spot on, but remember bad news sells and/or gets peoples attention. It has too be more upsetting and depressing for people, and family members of any of the unfortunate happenings, being involved directly or indirectly, of true life anywhere in the world that you make your quotes upon, only unfortunate everyday occurrence's or mishaps.
Poverty is on a different scale, not many expats and certainly tourists would not see the worst situations in the country or the city. I also don't doubt the homeless situation in Auckland is a sorry sight, but I can say you have probably never seen, or are likely to do so, for the fear of your own safety, the living conditions of the cockle sellers you see around pushing their carts along the streets, here in Phnom Pehn. It was 2011 I was asked to go along with some Khmer friend who had family living in the slums, granted it was on a smaller scale then I had witnessed in slum towns in India. The stench of open sewers was the first thing that hit me, has I walked up the dark narrow ally type entrance, fear too was strongly looming in the back of my mind. The floor I stud upon was a carpet of empty cockle shells, crunching underfoot with every step forward, If I didn't say a reluctant step I would be lying. Then my eyes cast upon the small shanty type town, and the eyes of the many people, looking at the guy who should not be in this place. I was flanked on both sides by my guides at this stage, with a crowed now gathering behind and around. Better the night time darkness or not.
We arrived at the friends/family members, the make do, kind of built from anything that they could get their hands on to make shelter. One single well for all, water for cooking and bathing, we were now sat waiting for their sister to come back with her cart, I was offered a plastic cup of water, one of my chaperones took it from my hands and shook his head. When the sister arrived she tipped the unsold shells from the cart, another younger girl took it and put her stock on.
It was a warm happy welcome for the family, she gave me a can of beer, "barrang" they tell me you come. other members of the small household went into action now, cooking and bringing food for us, it was hard eating with the stench of the place, we were joined by two women with half white kids without papa. I estimated around 300 people, my friends said many more, due to people coming and going for work.

^^That doesn't sound all that different than living in the ghettos of anywhere really. Not saying it makes it great, just saying it rings a familiar tone to me.

I believe the key is to be honest about reality, then focus on the positive.

Some people seem to think, to be positive, you cant be honest about reality.