im not, just going for an extended visa run

Yeah, I'd be interested in that as well.

Well after a little research it seems like its pretty darn easy to open a bank account once you get a visa which sound extremely simple. Something like $25 at the airport for a 1 month visa which can then be turned into a 1 year multi entry visa for something like $300. Also read that bananas can be had for $1 a gram.

Still wanna see some pictures.

it looks like a 3rd world country though

Royal Palace in Phnom Penh




Killing Fields


Phnom Penh


Village


BBQ in Siem Reap.


Sihanoukville. 50 cent beers and wifi along this beach




market in Phnom Penh

Not hard (although I'm not American, I don't imagine there are special rules), but you can't depo to poker sites or even moneybookers, as far as I know.

any pictures of the ummm, bananas????


and omahakid u like pataya or angeles more?

Pattaya due to gogo bars.

you can't deposit to poker sites from Cambodia? Can anyone confirm this?

An American 2p2 guy I met here said that he tried depositing to moneybookers/pokersites with his Cambodian account (made the account specifically for this purpose), no dice. I'm sure if you PM him he can tell you the details.

Also, PayPal seems to be blocked here

Only one I have at the moment, it's a view heading out of town towards Victory Hill.

Sorry for the confusion, I was actually saying I'd be interested in pictures from Charlie's bar. But the bank information is helpful as well and was another question I had lol.

I'm American and opened a bank account a few weeks ago. The only thing the bank required was a letter from my employer with my address on it. For me that was no problem as my employer had told me to expect that and prepared a letter for me before I went. If you don't have a job here it may be a little more difficult. I have read that in some other developing countries that American players have moved to with similar requirements a trip to a lawyer's office with a little cash has solved that problem.

There doesn't seem to be any law against depositing on poker sites, but my bank has a policy against it. When I tried to fund my Moneybookers account, I was declined and the next day got a call from the bank telling me about their policy. I'm not sure how likely it is that the other 3 or 4 banks in town have the same policy.

Hey guys I am going to head to PP for 6 nights and would like to meet some poker players living near by. I plan on playing some live poker at Nagaworld while I'm there. I am also hoping someone could show me around for good night life spots - I'll buy the drinks for the help!

1usd a gram? I take it the quality is crap, but is the situation the same in Siem Reap?

i really am interested in seeing a pic of any bananas if someone can help

Living in cambodia for anyone who ever considered living here you must know this before you consider coming:
1) Food is cheap, of course for the most part if u only speak english then for the most part you shouldnt be buying food out locally, its nearly impossible and im sure for the most part you'd get ripped off because they know your a foreigner. If you come down to cambodia going into local restaurants are much better because they have set prices in there. Avoid burger joints for the most part, its probably more expensive then the US.
2)Majority of the big companys will speak english such as all internet service providers etc so thats not a proble
3)Getting a bank will probably be the hardest, you iwll have to pay monthly fees etc to go under a company, they restrict online gambling so youd have to do it third party. ALSO in order to get a credit card you have to be employed if you get that solved everything is done (for ANZ royal bank) for other banks i am not sure.
4)You will pay a 20-30$ fee when entering cambodia, THAT fee is not actually real but there is a way to avoid it you have to AVOID the people from the front and try your best to walk through the other line to approve your visa card. The people in the front are very corrupt and will try to take as much money from you as possible.
5)You can probably get by happily 500-700 $ rent will probably be like 200-300 but if u split it with someone, and internet is extremely expensive ranging from 30-300$ 30$ I had 1mbps 65$ US at Phnom Penh and it was more then enough to run 40+ tables at pokerstars, but i moved to a different province and now am getting a 512kbps for 26$ am not sure if it will be let you know

If you guys need to ask any questions mostly relating online poker let me know and ill do my best to help I dont really know anything about the live poker scene except when i went to nagaworld there was only 1 table of 1/2 NL holdem minimal buy in 200 available.

good write up. Got hit for $25 when i was there in 2011

Sounds sick wish i had the courage to move out my moms basement to a cool place like that, turned 23 yesterday. My bankroll is 30k$ so should be able to afford it, might try it out for a few months or something.

Yeah that was actually the policy a while back, they changed it recently i found out after i got scammed haha but live an learn i guess. Nah honestly i think going somewhere else instead of cambodia is better to play online poker things are kind of more expensive in cambodia because they get there stuff from thailand and vietnam and resell at a higher price thats why its almost equivalent to the US including internet. Unless you got connections in cambodia, but if your going to cambodia for other reasons its definently worthwhile, there are tons of places to visit. HAH with a 30k$ bankroll you can get by EASILY with tons of money to spare. I tested the 512kbps internet at cambodia it works more then fine and hardly ever disconnects you can get prepaid internet as your bank up and it still will run quick for poker but for everything else forget it

I dont understand how you can not pay the fee? When you arrive you pay for the visa correct?

- I think the fee you pay at the airport for visa is unavoidable. It's not done in a shady way at all, seemed legit to me. Maybe it's different at land borders
- The best "burger and related" food here is cheaper than e food in Canada, equivalent and it's not even close. Most expensive burger I've seen so far is at Naga, and it was $15, that may be the one exception, but most non fast-food burgers in Canada will run you around that after tax + tip. Had a rare steak with foie gras for $17 at a French restaurant, in Canada it would be at least $25+. Indian food here runs about $10-15 for me for takeout, compared to about $20-$25 for takeout in Canada, with similar quality food
- You can rent as low as $200 / mo, depending on your standards (lower if you're super into the third world lifestyle, I guess). I checked out a few places in a wide price range, basically the really nice is really expensive, and the really awful is really cheap. Overall I guess it's slightly more expensive than Thailand for decent accommodation, but not by much. I talked to my building management and they increased my internet speed to 3m down / 1.5 up on weekends, and 2m down / 1 up during the week. It's absolutely fine, can stream youtube without buffering, etc.

Well there is a part where you can go through the front and through the middle, if you avoid the front its possible you can avoid the fee. One of the girls working for the visa told me(she in the middle). Although i think if your confronted by someone in the front it seems kinda impossible to avoid. She told me that these fees are not necessary to pay for, but it seems as if its really unregulated and unmonitored, considering that she did nothing about it. But either way im not guarenteeing that you can avoid it for sure but i do think it is possible(I went to Phnom Penh) so maybe it is different at different places.
Well its probably because we have different lifestyles, i cant imagine myself spending more then 5$US on a meal in cambodia, which is why i avoid burger places becasue in my experience i think there more expensive then the US and smaller in portions and the place i went to did not offer refills for soda etc. Theres much better places in my opinion to eat at you just have to find the right places. I ate at many great places for 3-4$US and would much rather go there and save a couple of bucks a day. Although i guess its just personal preferences.
How much did you pay for internet? usually when the mbps go up they usually jack up the prices, Well over here they do(i moved to a different province) it was 26$ for 512 kbps but then 65 for 1mbps. Im not saying that cambodia is extremely expensive, its actually really cheap im just saying if your going to travel outside the US specifically to play poker thailand/vietnam is a much better option just because of the internet being much cheaper and stuff from the mart are imported from thailand/vietnam so prices cost a bit more, I mean except that for the most part its almost alike. Although you can just look around and choose they are so close to eaachother and you can take the tour buses there it cost 7.50$ US to take it so you can just decide yourself if you ever decide to move.

I tried street food once(chicken wings) in Cambodia (next to Heart of Darkness), and I got food poisoned pretty hard , so I would not recommend street food in Cambodia :P.

I could not lived there long term due to the amazingly annoying taxi-motorbike drivers. They are just harassing you every time you try to walk somewhere. And if you ignore or says no to one guy the next guy 2 meters away from the first will ask you too!

For people that likes live poker Naga World is pretty good now, with 1-2 and 2-5-10 games(the last games has automatic straddle because if the game had been 5-10, then one has to pay 2 dollar extra in rake. So a nice way to scam the casino. lol.

The fee you pay at every border in Cambodia is for the Visa, there are two types.

Tourist Visa, $20, valid for 1 month and can be extended for up to 1 month extra. Then you have to leave the country or pay $5 per day for an overstay.

Business Visa, $25, valid for 1 month and can be extend for up to 1 year ($300) without leaving the country. Just call into any travel agent or pretty much any supermarket.

Yes, there are scams, particularly at the border with Thailand, Koh Kong. Here when you enter Cambodia they'll only accept payment in Thai Baht and they'll ask for at least 1k baht, often 1.5k baht for the business visa.

They can be haggled down, though, but whilst i certainly don't condone it, the extra bucks aren't worth the 1 hour wasted exclaiming your 'rights' no matter what you've read in lonely planet.

You can get around it by getting an e-visa with is $25 and $30 online, but the border guys will still ask for a $5 processing fee.

Every country is corrupt, they're just a little more obvious about it here.