Guys, I've not been posting on this board for a couple of years. I was mainly busy on FB, and found posting there easier.
Anyway, to catch up. In 2015, I left Ohio and went to Saudi. Went to Ukraine from there to get residency. Had to pay a lawyer $1000. Then, I hung out there for a while, went back to Saudi and did another contract but things began going sour. Jobs have dried up and salaries went down. My employed laid me off and the new one was not able to get me a visa. The old one got angry that I was still in Saudi on his visa and put a travel ban on me. I got stuck in the country for seven weeks, unable to leave. Eventually, I had to pay a fine, and left. Went to Ukraine, then the Philippines again, and then I found a job in Cambodia. Now, I am in Phnom Penh. Been here for 2.5 months.
Don't believe the bullsh-t propaganda by these NGOs that portray this country as desperately poor with kids begging. It appears to be very modern, with good infrastructure, excellent food and just beautiful everything. Good internet, good services and just a very pleasant place overall. It looks way more developed than the Philippines. To me, it's on par with Malaysia.
But it's expensive. I am making 2K a month but nothing is left in terms of savings. So, I am just biding my time until such a day when things get better.
The female scene is as follows: very old fashioned, and the locals don't speak English. No looks, even furtive ones, or flirting. It's a very conservative culture overall. Think India. There's very little dating going on. You see girls in groups and guys in groups. There is a red light district, but much more subdued than in the PH/ Thailand. No dancing, mostly beer bars and girls sitting with you as hostesses. Some cute ones, but no English. You just use google translate.
The people are very private and look closed, kind of like the Japanese. Very little eye contact, no staring except by some kids. Totally incomparable with the Thais who are way more open but who also can be way more hostile to Westerners and way more ill mannered. The Khmers are very shy, unemotional and subdued. The smiles are Asian smiles- they are just like masks. But at the same time, they are way more cultured, well behaved, without the wild, barbaric conduct that one finds in Thailand. Way more honest, way fewer rip offs, way more integrity. Cambodia is an ancient civilization with an incredibly deep culture and millennia old traditions. France was here and left. It just bequeathed some great architecture and frogs, snails, chestnuts and baguettes. You sometimes here French spoken on the streets.
Westerners are treated with no hostility, but there is no warm welcome, either. No smiles as in the Philippines. Just indifference. You are just left alone to do your own thing. Like you kind of belong here. They are used to seeing Western people since the French, and they think that every white person is another Frenchman. Black people evoke curiosity, and people want to take pictures with them.
Khmers are busy and work very hard. No one has even a second of free time. Unlike in the PH where you have people hanging out, there is not much of it here. These are Orientals thru and thru.
Some 10% of Phnom Penh are expats, so you have like 10 times more of them per head than in Manila. You see white and other foreign people everywhere.
Anyway, I guess I am here on some kind of mission, and time will show what treasures this place holds.
