Reply With Quotewhats the worse that can happen ?
while i was in Bangkok a day trip was to Cambodia to shoot a cow (horse) with a bazooka :) such fun
Bit left field but seeking advice and experiences of people living in Cambodia/Thailand. I've been offered a position working in Cambodia and whilst I expect it to be a massive change from the Uk, I'm not sure what to expect. I want to take the leap as it's working for a huge company and would present me with a hell of a life experience.
whats the worse that can happen ?
while i was in Bangkok a day trip was to Cambodia to shoot a cow (horse) with a bazooka :) such fun
I lived in Thailand for 14 years until last year and had a couple of trips to Cambodia during that time. Going to Cambodia was like going back 50 years, so life in these two neighboring countries is not really comparable.
As you may have guessed, I really love it in Thailand and now that I am in Brunei, I really miss Bangkok!
Coming to Asia is a huge leap, but it is very rewarding. If you are working for a big company, there will be a tendency to stay in what I call an ex-pat bubble. My advice is to get out of that bubble as much as you can - it is the only way to really experience the host country.
This fills me with confidence :) It would be a stepping stone and the money is tempting but I can't get away from the fact that it may be a big mistake.
Do you have any experience of Phnom Penh and the new coastal resorts that are beginning to be created. This would be where I would be basedOriginally Posted by earlsy
Well, Gary Glitter has, but I don't think he's a TZer!
Cambodia will be hot and humid at times so take that into account if you hate the heat. Lots of drugs and shady goings on in Phnom Penh, some areas are no go if you are a tourist, like the market in Phnom Penh at night.
In Phnom Penh people will hound you for money ie: women with babies, landmine victims, monks and everyone else in between. It is friendly enough but try and not attract a crowd, don't start flashing foreign money or your Rolex at the local bars in the main square. If you see men appear out of nowhere in pairs with big aviator shades pulling up a seat near you and watching you then gtfo.
On the coast there are a lot of ex-pats. Mostly Americans. You will meet all sorts. The coast is rampant with drugs. In some places you will be offered drugs several times by different people in the space of 5 mins.
It is a bit like the Wild West on the coast, you will see guys in 4x4's with guns , keep away from them don't cut them up on the road. Phnom Penh is ok, decent food and no trouble if you keep yourself to yourself.
Don't go and shoot a cow with a rocket launcher or chickens with an AK47. It is a scam. You will be arrested on the way back and will need to pay your way out.
Sounds like an amazing opportunity and its natural to feel some anxiety but embrace the country and it will be an experience of a lifetime
RIAC
You've painted a very vivid picture.......sounds bleeding awful!
Cheers,
Neil.
I lived in Pnomh Penh from 2003-4 and this is negative but accurate. PP is (or rather was when I was there) a near governmentless city with a serious drugs and HIV problem. Its often dangerous at night and many people are happy to use ordnance especially after a few beers and smokes. Locals will assume you are rich and willing to give money. In rainy season the city floods. Most of the other foreigners you meet are aid workers and life will centre around the French-run cultural centres. There is a very visible sex trade. Parts of the city seem reserved for Aussie or French teenage backpackers.
Having said that parts of PP are genuinely graceful and elegant and after chatting the locals are very friendly and interested in life outside. The FCC bar on the river is probably the best bar in the world. IMHO Cambodia has some of the best food in SE Asia- a cross between Thai and Viet with a spot of French. Apart from PP and Angkor Wat the rest of the country has barely developed at all since the war, and it really is like going back 50 years.
Its not an easy experience, but you will likely learn a lot about the world and quite probably enjoy yourself immensely.
Thanks for the contributions they've been very useful. I think I'm going to pass the opportunity up to be honest. I'm also going to see whether living in Thailand and commuting cross border may be an option. I'm only 26 so the experience would probably do me good but in reality I keep asking myself do I really need/ want the experience.
The troubled past of Cambodia had worried me but it would appear to be the a pretty scary place still.
I didn't mean to scare you. Cambodia has some really nice people and nobody will bother you if you don't bother them. The coast is fill of drugs and there are a lot of drugs tourism, you may be sitting in a bar and a drunk guy will walk in with an Ak47 but these things will not happen all the time and if you feel threatened by their presence then just leave with no fuss.
There are drugs but it is low key, you can live there without partaking.
On the coast the food is great and fresh, you can even get internet access in the main resort areas but outside these areas there is really only poverty and paddy fields.
You will quickly make friends with the ex-pats, there are a lot of Americans on the coast and you will find them running their own bars and owning houses there.
The locals will go out of their way to be friendly to you and get to know you especially the ones who rely on you for money, they will also look out for you.
You will find that if you get one of the local motorbike / tuk tuk guys to take you to a bar that he will probably wait for you until you are finished drinking even if you tell him to go, this can come in handy if the chit hits the fan and you get into a firefight on the beach with the local militia like i did. (ok i exaggerated the last bit). But they will wait for you.
If i was you i would go. You won't die (maybe lose a limb) but seriously it will be a great experience.
One more thing, don't be alarmed if you find yourself in one of the smaller hotels in Phom Penh and the guy at reception looks like Tung Po from the movie Kickboxer and he is dressed in full military gear and armed...
Seriously it will be fine. The biggest problem you will probably find will be the humidity especially in April etc.
As the Nike slogan says...
Just Do It.
Last edited by studly; 10th February 2013 at 15:12.
Listen up op anywhere else in the world except the Middle East and i would not have commented but Thailand is a lot worse than Cambodia, check out all the homeless farang's at the temples just off khao san road or sleeping on the beaches on the islands, the same phaggots who will be befriending your ass tomorrow in the bars and stealing your wallet after them telling you stories about them being a war hero or bodyguard to Tom Cruise or Martin Scorsese who is out in Thailand scouting for a new movie. Also in Thailand you are nothing more than a farang to the Thai's.
Get your ass to Cambodia for a real life experience.
I flew into Cambodia in 2006 with another guy and three female aussie doctors who were on an aid mission to the coast. The girls were fortunately very fit and also single (so they said). We ended up hitting the drink in Phnom Penh, getting shitfaced on the river and banging them in a hotel.
It was all great fun until we sent the girls on ahead and they got into trouble after taking a detour boat to Angkor Wat. We ended up commandeering a locals car to rescue them but were so shitfaced on Johnny Walker we ended up in Sihanoukville. Fortunately the girls rescued themselves and met us a couple of days later but not before we met up with a couple of yank ex-pats (one who knew all the local girls etc) who hooked us up with the local girls at that dodgy warehouse in Sihanoukville. (if you have ever been there you will know what i am talking about, the warehouse i mean not sihanoukville).
Put it like this...
If you want a real world experience go to Cambodia.
The third morning after i ended up on the coast i woke up with three Australian doctors in our apartment carrying backpacks and med supplies who we had forgotten were meeting us and who awakened me in a bed with a Cambodian girl and who found my friend in the other bedroom with a Viagra infused boner standing over a Mexican midget and a Cambodian girl in his bed, he actually opened his bedroom door and greeted the aussie girls completely naked and out of his tree with a boner. The aussie girl who he was banging was in tears (he still managed to bang her again the following day...). In the kitchen they were greeted by a yank and a blonde tranny (yeah a blonde Cambodian tranny) having breakfast who had a 9mm sitting on the kitchen table. srs.
My friend asked me later that day "do you remember us uploading videos to redtube ?" I don't remember and i hope i never do.
Forget Thailand, go to Cambodia. Seriously you will get a real life experience and make some great friends.
Either way good luck. And whatever you do don't be that guy who looks back and regrets not traveling and seeing the world, don't be the guy who watches the Discovery channel and who thinks that it is an ok replacement instead of experiencing the world first hand.
Get out there and see that the majority of people in this world are actually good. Open your mind, Plant some seeds, enjoy your life and don't be scared of the unknown. And make sure that you don't just carry condoms. Make sure that once you are over there that you have a good supply of viagra...no matter how old you are.
You only live once.
Good luck op.
Last edited by studly; 11th February 2013 at 05:40.
I haven't lived in either country though I have visited each multiple times, and three of my close friends still live in Thailand. I have though lived in Asia since I was 27.
Quite simply, if you are 26 and someone is willing to pay you to live somewhere other than the UK, don't over think it. The world is a big place, see some of it before such activities get tricky. And they will. Other peoples' experiences are good to obtain, but there is no such thing as a "typical" life in any country ( is there in the UK ? ). Thailand is very different to Cambodia. Bits of Thailand are very different to other bits of Thailand. For that matter, bits of Phuket are very different to other bits of Phuket. Depends where you are, what resources you have, what you want to do.
It really is what you make of it. Just a word from an old man though : the UK will, and can never, seem the same once you have spent some time away. Do think about that.
Paul
If you are single then I think you'd be daft passing up the opportunity. The only time it becomes a question is if you have a wife or long term partner etc.
After reading Studly's vivid and amusing description of Cambodia, I am seriously considering visiting if it all goes wrong with 'er indoors.
Fantastic stuff! OP - get yourself out there :D
I think I've seen Studly on Redtube.......
Cheers..
Jase
If it's a large company that's offering this opportunity then they should be in a position to place you out there with some kind of structure and support; this, in turn, should drastically reduce the likelihood of any future appearances on Redtube. Assuming that this is the case then it's probably too good an opportunity to pass in my view. The chance that you'll have to learn how to be professionally effective working with people from different cultures and backgrounds cannot be underestimated. Learning how to do this in the Far East especially will be increasingly valuable in the future. As you move into your thirties there will be an ever-increasing number of reasons why you won't be able to make the move; do it now.
In the Sotadic Zone, apparently.
But enough of the negatives
I've only visited Cambodia so i can't really comment on living there,but if i was 20 years younger and given the opportunity i would take it in a flash.
Go for it!
And always use condoms.Listen up op anywhere else in the world except the Middle East and i would not have commented but Thailand is a lot worse than Cambodia, check out all the homeless farang's at the temples just off khao san road or sleeping on the beaches on the islands, the same phaggots who will be befriending your ass tomorrow in the bars and stealing your wallet after them telling you stories about them being a war hero or bodyguard to Tom Cruise or Martin Scorsese who is out in Thailand scouting for a new movie. Also in Thailand you are nothing more than a farang to the Thai's.
Get your ass to Cambodia for a real life experience.
I flew into Cambodia in 2006 with another guy and three female aussie doctors who were on an aid mission to the coast. The girls were fortunately very fit and also single (so they said). We ended up hitting the drink in Phnom Penh, getting shitfaced on the river and banging them in a hotel.
It was all great fun until we sent the girls on ahead and they got into trouble after taking a detour boat to Angkor Wat. We ended up commandeering a locals car to rescue them but were so shitfaced on Johnny Walker we ended up in Sihanoukville. Fortunately the girls rescued themselves and met us a couple of days later but not before we met up with a couple of yank ex-pats (one who knew all the local girls etc) who hooked us up with the local girls at that dodgy warehouse in Sihanoukville. (if you have ever been there you will know what i am talking about, the warehouse i mean not sihanoukville).
Put it like this...
If you want a real world experience go to Cambodia.
The third morning after i ended up on the coast i woke up with three Australian doctors in our apartment carrying backpacks and med supplies who we had forgotten were meeting us and who awakened me in a bed with a Cambodian girl and who found my friend in the other bedroom with a Viagra infused boner standing over a Mexican midget and a Cambodian girl in his bed, he actually opened his bedroom door and greeted the aussie girls completely naked and out of his tree with a boner. The aussie girl who he was banging was in tears (he still managed to bang her again the following day...). In the kitchen they were greeted by a yank and a blonde tranny (yeah a blonde Cambodian tranny) having breakfast who had a 9mm sitting on the kitchen table. srs.
My friend asked me later that day "do you remember us uploading videos to redtube ?" I don't remember and i hope i never do.
Forget Thailand, go to Cambodia. Seriously you will get a real life experience and make some great friends.
Either way good luck. And whatever you do don't be that guy who looks back and regrets not traveling and seeing the world, don't be the guy who watches the Discovery channel and who thinks that it is an ok replacement instead of experiencing the world first hand.
Get out there and see that the majority of people in this world are actually good. Open your mind, Plant some seeds, enjoy your life and don't be scared of the unknown. And make sure that you don't just carry condoms. Make sure that once you are over there that you have a good supply of viagra...no matter how old you are.
You only live once.
Good luck op.
Wow, turn your back for 5 minutes and bang loads of replys. Cheers for the stories, they have made me smile after a tough day at work. The problem I have is that I'm married and have been for 4 years. Thats right, married at 22 I hear you say. Whilst I wouldn't condone getting married so young it felt right at the time and still does. I would be looking at leaving the wife at home to begin with rather than uproot her in case it goes a bit pear shaped.
Judging from your stories into a foray bigamy might be an interesting whilst over there. On a serious note, I find out within the next week whether the offer is concrete and then the decision will have to be made. I'm in the process of becoming a chartered surveyor so that is another thing to consider as to whether the experience will be relevant and recordable.
I've been to Mongolia, China, Russia etc in the past and seen a fair bit of the world but this opportunity is really tempting me.
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