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Off-topic. I visited Cambodia for 3 weeks in 2017. It's a beautiful country and I enjoyed every minute. My mind has pondered over living there long-term -- it s

Off-topic. I visited Cambodia for 3 weeks in 2017. It's a beautiful country and I enjoyed every minute. My mind has pondered over living there long-term -- it seems so affordable. How was your experience living there for a while, especially as a developer?

Ayesh 6y ago
I surely miss the developer/tech atmosphere that was there in Berlin, Frankfurt, etc. The life is quite simple, and the coffee culture is based around chatting with friends for hours, instead of sitting in a cafe and getting work done on a MacBook Pro or a Thinkpad X1 carbon. If you live like a local, which is not to say any lower living standards, it can be pretty cheap. At around 2x the living cost of a local, one can live comfortably here. I pay around third the rent which was once near Berlin, and now spend about half on food if I eat out. Internet is cheap but unreliable. I sometimes have to use my 4G mobile hotspot (1GB/day at ~€4 a month). I was born and raised in an Asian country, so there isn't much of a culture difference to speak of. However, Vietnamese is pretty difficult to learn, and even after six months here, I still cannot get the tones right and speak more than 50 words. Indonesia in that regard is amazing. If you are thinking to move to south East Asia, I can highly recommend Indonesia. They have countless mountains to climb, a good hiking/riding groups to easily join, similar living cost to Vietnam, and a much easier language to learn. Bahasa Indonesia is understood pretty much everywhere, and quite easy to learn. Internet is censored in both countries to some extent (Reddit doesn't work in Indonesia with a DNS blackhole that you can easily bypass), and has worse Internet in Indonesia in general though. There are many startups based in Indonesia (such as Gojek, Traveloka, Tiket.com), some of which are owned by SoftBank a few layers up. I feel it's more easier to I best/startup in Indonesia too.
- SXX 6y ago
  Where exactly in Indonesia have you lived? Bali is like two times more expensive compared to Vietnam. Also internet connection was generally much worse for me in Indonesia due to their island nature I guess. In Vietnam it's super easy to setup two 50-100Mbps FTTB lines for something like $80 / month (just in case one of ISP go down).
  - Ayesh 6y ago
    Yogyakarta, Malang, and Bandung (all on Java).
ed25519FUUU 6y ago
It seemed to me that Siem Reap was the logical place for expat coworking spaces but the internet there was really bad back in 2008. Not sure how things have changed.
SXX 6y ago
I haven't lived in Cambodia, but what's I dislike about it is that it's feels generally like it more poor than Vietnam in quite ugly way: there are more people begging on the streets; including children. Might be something changed in recent years, but I have no idea. In Vietnam / Thailand you just generally don't see this except in few tourist areas that you can easily avoid.
stingraycharles 6y ago
As the other commenter hinted, Siem Reap is a great place for expats, and that’s where I lived as well. The population is much more poor than the surrounding countries, but they are all so incredibly friendly and happy despite all this. You do need to make an effort really going into the country side to see the “real” Cambodia, I strongly advise against using only the cities as your reference, as they are generally very “tourist/expat savvy”, by lack of a different definition. I did freelance work for a few European businesses, mostly C++ and devops stuff, and for a long time I felt I was living the life. What drew me back, however, was ambition: before taking the sabbatical, I had successfully founded and “exited” (more like an acqui-hire with some pocket money) a startup, and I was craving for more. It was very difficult to find people that I could consider my peers in Siem Reap, and this left some void. This may also have to do with my nature as an introvert, they may have been out there, but most developers out there actually are web developers, which isn’t my cup of tea. All in all, however, the whole experience of being completely detached from my life back home for an extended period of time has made me a much more stable person, and I would do it again in a blink of an eye. As crazy as it sounds, I can now better appreciate the “rat race” and its good parts, and know that I also miss being challenged in that area. Feel free to reach out to me directly if you feel like it.
- momothereal 6y ago
  I was actually in the Puok district outside Siem Reap for the 3 weeks. Mostly stayed in the rural side living with locals. I also visited the city for the weekends and it seemed like a great place to settle. I also don't tend to go out of my way to meet peers in my local city. I guess I just prefer larger conferences for networking. Thanks for the input! Maybe one day I'll also get acqui-hired and move there :)

Ayesh 6y ago

I surely miss the developer/tech atmosphere that was there in Berlin, Frankfurt, etc. The life is quite simple, and the coffee culture is based around chatting with friends for hours, instead of sitting in a cafe and getting work done on a MacBook Pro or a Thinkpad X1 carbon. If you live like a local, which is not to say any lower living standards, it can be pretty cheap. At around 2x the living cost of a local, one can live comfortably here. I pay around third the rent which was once near Berlin, and now spend about half on food if I eat out. Internet is cheap but unreliable. I sometimes have to use my 4G mobile hotspot (1GB/day at ~€4 a month). I was born and raised in an Asian country, so there isn't much of a culture difference to speak of. However, Vietnamese is pretty difficult to learn, and even after six months here, I still cannot get the tones right and speak more than 50 words. Indonesia in that regard is amazing. If you are thinking to move to south East Asia, I can highly recommend Indonesia. They have countless mountains to climb, a good hiking/riding groups to easily join, similar living cost to Vietnam, and a much easier language to learn. Bahasa Indonesia is understood pretty much everywhere, and quite easy to learn. Internet is censored in both countries to some extent (Reddit doesn't work in Indonesia with a DNS blackhole that you can easily bypass), and has worse Internet in Indonesia in general though. There are many startups based in Indonesia (such as Gojek, Traveloka, Tiket.com), some of which are owned by SoftBank a few layers up. I feel it's more easier to I best/startup in Indonesia too.

SXX 6y ago
Where exactly in Indonesia have you lived? Bali is like two times more expensive compared to Vietnam. Also internet connection was generally much worse for me in Indonesia due to their island nature I guess. In Vietnam it's super easy to setup two 50-100Mbps FTTB lines for something like $80 / month (just in case one of ISP go down).
- Ayesh 6y ago
  Yogyakarta, Malang, and Bandung (all on Java).

ed25519FUUU 6y ago

It seemed to me that Siem Reap was the logical place for expat coworking spaces but the internet there was really bad back in 2008. Not sure how things have changed.

SXX 6y ago

I haven't lived in Cambodia, but what's I dislike about it is that it's feels generally like it more poor than Vietnam in quite ugly way: there are more people begging on the streets; including children. Might be something changed in recent years, but I have no idea. In Vietnam / Thailand you just generally don't see this except in few tourist areas that you can easily avoid.

stingraycharles 6y ago

As the other commenter hinted, Siem Reap is a great place for expats, and that’s where I lived as well. The population is much more poor than the surrounding countries, but they are all so incredibly friendly and happy despite all this. You do need to make an effort really going into the country side to see the “real” Cambodia, I strongly advise against using only the cities as your reference, as they are generally very “tourist/expat savvy”, by lack of a different definition. I did freelance work for a few European businesses, mostly C++ and devops stuff, and for a long time I felt I was living the life. What drew me back, however, was ambition: before taking the sabbatical, I had successfully founded and “exited” (more like an acqui-hire with some pocket money) a startup, and I was craving for more. It was very difficult to find people that I could consider my peers in Siem Reap, and this left some void. This may also have to do with my nature as an introvert, they may have been out there, but most developers out there actually are web developers, which isn’t my cup of tea. All in all, however, the whole experience of being completely detached from my life back home for an extended period of time has made me a much more stable person, and I would do it again in a blink of an eye. As crazy as it sounds, I can now better appreciate the “rat race” and its good parts, and know that I also miss being challenged in that area. Feel free to reach out to me directly if you feel like it.

momothereal 6y ago
I was actually in the Puok district outside Siem Reap for the 3 weeks. Mostly stayed in the rural side living with locals. I also visited the city for the weekends and it seemed like a great place to settle. I also don't tend to go out of my way to meet peers in my local city. I guess I just prefer larger conferences for networking. Thanks for the input! Maybe one day I'll also get acqui-hired and move there :)