explorer wrote: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.

explorer wrote: ↑Sat Jun 22, 2019 7:32 pm 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.

explorer wrote: ↑Fri Jun 21, 2019 8:25 am

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.

After you have lived in Phnom Penh for 10 years tell us what you think.

explorer wrote: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.

hdgh29 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2019 2:49 pm guys like us, maybe a failed marriage or two behind us-, getting on a bit but still with a yen for one more adventure. And we wind up in Cambodia, one of the world's most exotic locations and so easy to live well on a small budget provided we learnt to cook and clean for ourselves at some point in our lives.

hdgh29 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2019 2:49 pm And some other posts have talked about boredom, nothing to do except wait for the evening to sit in a bar with a pretty girl telling us how handsome we are in return for a few drinks. So what would we be doing back in Manchester or Melbourne? Sitting around watching day time tv, off to the pub every night with a few mates.....but without the girls of course. Well I lived in Manchester for a year or so, and another year in Leeds, and grew up on a sink estate in Dartford outside London, and I can confirm.........despite whatever negatives you want to throw up, Cambodia is paradise on earth in comparison.

hdgh29 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2019 2:49 pm And we wind up in Cambodia, one of the world's most exotic locations and so easy to live well on a small budget provided...

A10 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2019 6:07 pm

hdgh29 wrote: ↑Sun Jun 23, 2019 2:49 pm And we wind up in Cambodia, one of the world's most exotic locations and so easy to live well on a small budget provided...

What's exotic about Cambodia exactly? I'm not saying that as a snappy comment, I just never thought of Cambodia as much of a travel destination. Hawai'i, The Bahamas, etc, that was my idea of exotic, but not SE Asia.