Long term stay in Phnom Penh.

Hello.

Choices are always personal, what one likes another hates.

But to stick to my personal experiences, I have stayed for 9 months in Koh kong province, 2.5 years in Sihanoukville and just over a year in Phnom Penh, in that order.

Koh kong was a real choice with no alternative. I stayed in a remote village in the jungle and enjoyed photo shoots in the last rainforest of the SE Asian mainland (Cardamom mountains).
I even planned to stay there but I had to leave, due to the very high humidity (95%) which made my knees and hips hurt. On regular visits to Sihanoukville for coffee, cheese, money, I went to a clinic and doc said if you want to get cured, get out of there....

So Sihanoukville was my next choice, beautiful sea, beach and entertainment, fresh air and always wind from the sea side.
But it became a giant construction site due to foreign investment, resulting in hundreds of sand trucks in the streets and it was no fun anymore.

So I decided to go for the big city PP, found a great apartment and moved. In the meantime after one year I found an even better apartment and for less, so I just moved again, but in the same area in PP, Tuol Tompoung (Russian market).

The last was my best decision, as I tend to improve each time.

I love my part of PP, full of restaurants, coffee shops, small shops, the market.
PP of course has the best health care available, like the state of the art Royal PP hospital, no need to go to Thailand, it's all here (it's a subsidiary of Bangkok Dusit Medical care).
Of course the airport is here, avoiding hour long travels to get to the airport. City buses bring you everywhere for $0.75 per ride, rickshaws from e.g. PassApp bring you also everywhere, after you call them on your phone, and they are half price compared to tuktuks.

Reviewing with a few words:

Koh kong: boring city, but the jungle is a treasure of nature;
Sihanoukville: beautiful sea resort but one has to wait 2/3 years til the construction boom has stopped;
Phnom Penh: vibrant city with all you need.

Hope this helps.

Cheers.

Joe
Cambodia expert
Expat.com team

Thanks very much Joe.

I was leaning towards PP ,  the few times I’ve been there “the vibe” felt Good.     I was also in Vietnam for 2 years & the inevitable visa runs put me there.

Cambodia seems to have a welcoming policy towards retirees who want to look at long term association with a place.   Thailand ,  Vietnam , Bali & Malaysia have systems that involve jumping thru “hoops” , paperwork, stamps, notarised docs & sitting in airport terminals every second time you scratch yourself.

You always just feel like a transit tourist .  I’ve burned thru 3 passports in 10 years on the road.  Which means you travel light  & live accordingly.

I suppose the Cambodian “welcome mat theory “will pay off eventually since foreigners ( from what I’ve read) don’t have to exit the country to renew a Visa.   With that mindset, people will start nesting, maybe invest in a place, rent a better place, buy furniture etc & become more established knowing you’ve got a secure base to live.

I’ve loaded the Phnom Penh Post on my device to follow the media.
Hopefully when I’ve got a few more things sorted I’ll do a trial run.

I’ll give Sihanoukville a miss .....might have a problem taking a shower there soon.  Waters drying up.   Plenty of it flowing thru PP tho.

Again, thanks & take care.