1) Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville (no kidding )

2) That really depends on the Person,i know People who lives from ~$450/month and others who couldn't survive with less than $2k..

but if you spent around ~$1k/month in chiang mai you can also live from $1k/month in cambodia,just don't expect as much value for money as in chiang mai (especially for food in restaurants and accommodiation)

3) i would say in daylight and without drugs and drinking it's as save as chiang mai,night time depends on the location (especially if you're looking for cheap houses in rural environment)..

from what i hear/know most people who had trouble in cambodia where either on drugs/complete drunk or had a house/villa without any security..

4) Visa situation is a dream compared to thailand,you can get a multientry visa for up to 12month for around $30/month,and all what you need for it is the money in advance and your travel passport (and no you don't need to make a visa run every three month)

I'll try to address #2 as Pronto did a good job of answering the other questions. Here is a list of how my expenses break down:

1) Apartment (studio) - $178
2) Phone data - $15
3) Laundry - $20
4) Medications - $20
5) Groceries - $25
6) Transportation - $30
7) Food - $190
8) Haircut - $5

Other expenses:
1) Massages -$100
2) Drinking/Social - $300
3) Girls - $300

So in all I spend about $1,200 per month. You're obviously going to spend more on housing, but spend less or nothing at all for drinking and girls. I also get an unusual number of massages because of a physical condition. Hope that helps.

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I've lived in Sihanoukville and Chiang Mai. Virtually exact same cost of living overall (at least for me). Not sure about PP though.

I was just going to edit my last post and say that your cost will probably increase moderately in Phnom Penh from Chiang Mai. I lived in Sihanoukville also and it was definitely cheaper than living in Phnom Penh. Your expenses will go up probably in the areas of housing and food costs, especially if you eat out a lot. But that will probably be offset by the lack of travel expense as you would not have to make border runs anymore. There are other pros for living here as well such as the presence of multiple live poker venues and I've been told by several people that have lived in both areas that the quality of western food is much better in Phnom Penh. And I cannot emphasize enough how convenient it is to not have to worry about your visa situation.

Are there high rise condos in Phnom Penh, modern 30 floor complexes with gym/pool/sauna that kind of thing, for $400-600 ish, like Bangkok and Manila has? I think what puts people off Cambodia is the huge difference in how developed it is vs those 2 cities.

There's just nothing there like Thong Lo in BKK or the BGC in Manila. So that's why a lot of poker pros don't want to live there long term, alongside the much more limited nightlife, infrastructure, etc. Isn't it just fairly drab beer bars and a couple basic discos there, then if you walk down the street it's total blackness. No Uber service, superclubs, etc.

Yes the visa is amazing if you're there long term and not leaving. But for some that'd get a bit depressing cos of the underdevelopment. Not to **** on the country you've decided to live in. There's no uncertainty with spending 6-7 months a year in thailand, that's definitely doable. I did 9 months without a visa in thailand in 2016, used the free 30 day stamps and extended 4 of them, total average visa cost $18/month. Spent 2-3 weeks in other destinations between each stay that added up to the remaining 3 months (for which I could've been grinding live poker at higher stakes in better conditions in manila).

And the poker circles in bkk have quite a few contacts for weed, that shouldn't be that big a deciding factor.

And the difference is staggering for online dating, casual hookups, a 'middle class' of DTF girls. It's mostly two extremes of either conservative girls preserving virginity for marriage, or bargirls, of which on average they are the ugliest in SEA, or if they're hot they don't go home easily, they know they're a rare item.

Don't get me wrong I'd still choose Cambodia over the West in a heartbeat and I had a blast there

This is spot on, there are very few girls in that grey area inbetween, which sucks for single guys here. Like girls on Tinder here are like 90% white backpackers and the Khmer girls on there are mostly hookers and the clubs here are either full of hookers or Khmer clubs where you wouldn't even get acknowledged by the local girls and they're generally out with a group of guys anyway.

For guys who have no problem paying like PT for example it's no issue at all but for guys who like to go out to clubs and pick up girls for a ONS who work an office job in the week etc it sucks.

It's do-able but absurdly difficult when you compare it to somewhere like BKK.

The GTO approach here is probably adding random girls on FB and going from there and going on a date with ones you hit it off with, there's badoo is I suppose... I met an ex of mine on there and I believe Luke met his gf in there too but it's pretty much a minefield of hookers & ladyboys as well.

I've never lived like a baller here in Cambodia, nor have I sought to. I understand that there are those, especially poker players, who are basically looking to replicate a life they once had in the West or never had at all. But I wanted somewhat of a third world experience or I wouldn't have come to the third world. Sure there are days when I want to pull my hair out at the level of service or infrastructure here, but dare I say that is part of the charm. Perhaps I'm looking at this a bit romantically, but if I ever write about a life lived thousands of miles away from home, I don't want to do so describing one that is reminiscent of one that I'm already familiar with simply because it was cheaper.

In regards to the visa situation, I can't really speak of it from the other side since I've never lived in Thailand. I can only go by what I hear from the players that come here. For those that have moved to Thailand for the first time I usually don't hear anything negative. But for those who have been around for a while, it seems to me that the constant going out and in and worrying over getting a visa to return has worn on them a bit more. Coming to Cambodia for me has basically been for me the discovery of a new home as I really haven't traveled much from here. Everyone is certainly different but personally I don't think I could ever get used to calling a place home only to have to leave all the time.

It's the same in China. There's plenty of foreigners who basically try to replicate their life in the West to the greatest extent possible-I've even had people say that they basically never talk to Chinese people unless it's service staff. But then I don't get why they came.

Yeah I don't mind a bit of third world adventure, but in short doses, on visa runs. Tropical island, hike up a mountain, etc., then back to first world comforts in a developed city.

I don't think being in a developed city is necessarily recreating western life, Asian cities are totally different and a vibrant cultural experience, I've learnt the language, built relationships, improved as a person, etc. If anything you get to meet more people. Culturally and politically it's a very different country to mine even though it's developed.

Definitely agree that you shouldn't just live in an expat ghetto, avoid the locals and be an economic migrant just here because it's cheap. I spend pretty much the same amount I would back home but here my cash is helping the local economy and small businesses instead of going to taxes back home. Overall I think I've assimilated well and am a net benefit.

I still have that romantic feeling of travelling and 'finding myself' without pulling my hair out at the infrastructure as you put it.

Also forgot to mention Bangkok has $5/$5 live poker games with double straddle, most sit down with $10k buy in

Very cool...thx for info. I'm headed there from the US 8n a couple months. Can't wait

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Always look forward to more Americans coming here.

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I didn't fell in love this time, you can do better.

They can't all be 18 man.

As good as the cash games are in PP, you can still get on the bad side of variance.

Burned a few K playing cash games/tournaments here. :-/

The positive is that I get to go for my morning swim at Naga Pool and sip red wine. :-)

Love the lifestyle of a poker player. Hate the feeling of losing money. Oh well, that's life.

Well said

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be honest triad: she wasnt a prize 5 years ago either haha

I'm not saying she's a dime, but that chick is far from ugly. I've seen plenty of less attractive girls posted in this and the other threads by Jspill, Lonelybox, Poker Triad, etc. over the years.

you are right, there have been plenty of dogs posted, shes not the worst by far. we should make a greatest hits of 2+2 hookers. I was just reaponding to triads joke that shes just too old for lb.

jspillb ive only been in Thailand for a few daya, what percentage of longvterm expats have a good grasp of Thai? I know "Thai language schools" proliferate.

Maybe 1 or 2%

If I'm a decent 2/5 NLH and pot limit OHL.....would 25k be a good bankroll to travel and play live? I want to play online as well. Any advice would be appreciated

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I was always shocked by the amount of expats who had lived in China for 10+ years and couldn't speak a sentence of Chinese.

Is that your company advertising on that building behind you?

The other way around is also kinda annoying. There's always that guy that want to show everyone he can speak mandarin, even tough most around him can speak, so he's definitely not a special butterfly. Most recent exemple i can think of us that guy in my international football group. We were a mix of foreigner and Chinese, but everyone spoke English. Than that guy was always insisting on speak Chinese with the coach or send Chinese message in the we chat group. Some people couldn't understand, I think it's kinda douche