Cambodia Expats Online: Forum | News | Information | Blog

I’m just curious to know if there is anyone on this forum that has made the move from living in Pattaya to living in Sihanoukville ?
At the beginning of this week I returned to Pattaya after spending nearly 2 weeks in Sihanoukville. I have lived in Pattaya since 2007 and over the years have made many visits to Sihanoukville but when I got back this time I realised I really don’t like Pattaya anymore.
I used to like it and enjoy it nine years ago.
As a cyclist I have had enough of the hundreds of aggressive bus drivers carrying Chinese tourists by the hundreds that occupy so many roads here. this city has simply become too big for me.
Meanwhile Sihanoukville has grown over the years and now has a great range of restaurants and perhaps I consider it now has enough amenities to keep me content.
Did anyone else who has made this move have similar thoughts?
One restaurant owner I talked to in Sihanoukville said Kampot was even nicer although I’ve never made the effort to go and visit there. One place I know I wouldn’t live in is Phnom Penh where the traffic situation is now unbearable.

as a cyclist, go check out Kep ,
as long as u can make ur own entertainment its really nice

AS for Pattaya, it got to big for me back in 85
Phuket back than ( and still now) was /is just right

Livred in pattaya for a while in the 80's it went downhill as far as I was concerned in the late 90's
moved to pp in 96 and stayed. If your not strapped for cash pp is a great place to line
back then I was on $50,000 after tax. Now there are lots of great appts and wine bars rrstsurants etc. Liked visiting skv about 10 yrs ago but not now as it lacks amenities as far as im concerned. I thought of moving there in the past. Now I live chroy changvar which is only 10 mins out of pp

phuketrichard wrote:as a cyclist, go check out Kep ,
as long as u can make ur own entertainment its really nice

thanks Richard
maybe you are right and I will definitely go and check that place out soon. Should have done years ago.
P..S do you ever have the same feelings about Phuket as I do about pattaya and what keeps you living in Thailand?

As a cyclist I have had enough of the hundreds of aggressive bus drivers carrying Chinese tourists by the hundreds that occupy so many roads here.

Coming here to SHV will be out of the frying pan and into the fire then!

Kuroneko wrote:Livred in pattaya for a while in the 80's it went downhill as far as I was concerned in the late 90's
moved to pp in 96 and stayed. If your not strapped for cash pp is a great place to line
back then I was on $50,000 after tax. Now there are lots of great appts and wine bars rrstsurants etc. Liked visiting skv about 10 yrs ago but not now as it lacks amenities as far as im concerned. I thought of moving there in the past. Now I live chroy changvar which is only 10 mins out of pp

I don't consider it is a question of being " strapped for cash ". I just don't want to live somewhere where the car is king.
I can remember happily cycling around Phnom Penh eight or nine years ago.
Now all the sidewalks are occupied by cars and if you walk around them you are then confronted by five lines of motorcyclists who are riding against you!
where ever the pavement is too narrow to park cars several times I had motorcyclists actually mounting the pavement and riding towards me.
And I can only see things will keep getting worse.
What kind of a lifestyle is living in a city like that?

Fourkinnel wrote:

As a cyclist I have had enough of the hundreds of aggressive bus drivers carrying Chinese tourists by the hundreds that occupy so many roads here.

Coming here to SHV will be out of the frying pan and into the fire then!

you have to be joking?! The conditions are nowhere comparable

obelisks wrote:

phuketrichard wrote:as a cyclist, go check out Kep ,
as long as u can make ur own entertainment its really nice

thanks Richard
maybe you are right and I will definitely go and check that place out soon. Should have done years ago.
P..S do you ever have the same feelings about Phuket as I do about pattaya and what keeps you living in Thailand?

NOPE; I love it here, got good friends, can fly wherever i wish, buy/ eat whatever and i am addicted to the sea and have my little route i use for my bicycle workouts.
Dont go to bars or out at night and Kamala is like a village
i moved to phuket in 85, went to the states in 97/98
back to Phuket, up to PP in 2008/09 and back to Phuket,
My khmer gf and i went to Cambodia with the car in 2012 with the intention to move back
spent 6 weeks looking everywhere ( Batt, Skv, SR, PP, Kampot, Kep) no where was as good as we have it here

We drove up to Kep in Nov and the gf has family there and we have some land, I liked it , but very quiet yet only 2 1/2 hours to PP for shopping
30 minutes to Kampot.
If, for whatever reason ( GF thai visa) we had to leave i'd move there

There are other options than Pattaya or SHV. Why on earth you you narrow it down just to those two places?

Rutiger wrote:There are other options than Pattaya or SHV. Why on earth you you narrow it down just to those two places?

Only because I do want an ocean side location so I'm not interested in anywhere inland.
but what other options do you think I should consider?